One of the first things you read when you start a business is “you have to create content regularly”. And I’m not going to deny it. I strongly recommend to my clients to regularly publish quality content to make themselves known, attract customers, and develop an awareness of their business.
But often it’s much easier said than done!
You never know what to talk about or what to publish.
The impression that everything has already been said, or treated.
Finding original ideas, relevant content for each platform is a real challenge (and a full-time job !).
In this article, I reveal my method for generating 6 months of content ideas in just one hour (including social platforms and networks !).
So I warn you: this is not the sexiest method you can find. It will not transform you into Picassos of content (to produce 700 works per year). But it is extremely simple, and dreadfully effective (and you know how important simplicity and efficiency are to me !).
Ready to attack?
ASTUCES ON THE CREATION OF CONTENT
Okay, let’s start at the beginning, let me demystify the creation of effective content when you’re an entrepreneur.
What is a “good” content when you are an entrepreneur, and use of content creation as a digital strategy to make yourself known and develop your business?
Good content can be 3 things (not necessarily all at once, but at least one !) :
- Content that answers one of the questions your ideal client is asking (in relation to your theme).
- Or content that puts a brake on your ideal customer compared to the decision to buy your offer (product, service, etc.).
- Content that teaches your ideal client something simple and that they can quickly put into practice (always related to your industry, and therefore your editorial line of course).
These are the types of content that will allow you to challenge your ideal customer, interest them, allow them to discover (and adore you) and buy at home in the long term.
Content marketing, in addition to having the advantage of speaking at your audience, developing the notoriety of your company and showing your expertise, is also a wonderful tool for working on the SEO of your website (with lots of wonderful strategies like inbound marketing).
But sometimes it is hard to reconcile optimized content (which meets the rules of SEO) and content relevant to its ideal client. And not everyone is lucky to be an expert in web writing and brand content.
If one day you encounter this case, always favor (and this is my very clear personal opinion) the creation of effective content optimized for your reader rather than for search engines, even if it means making content some deviations from the natural SEO rules.
Already the latter change all the time, but in addition, the latest updates to the algorithms tend to favor this type of content!
And then, acquiring new customers must always have priority over your relationship with our friend Google (but again, this is only my humble opinion).
I know many of you are afraid of getting into editorial content (blog articles, podcasts, videos, emailing, etc.) in order to attract an audience because they feel like ” ! “.
Let me think you are.
First, no one can ever talk about this topic like you, in your own way, with your outlook and experience.
I also know that you’ve heard this argument hundreds of times, so here’s a second one that you must have heard less.
There is a peculiarity specific to online content that is not found in physical content.
This is the fact that Internet users will always be looking for several content (a lot of content !) on the same question. A person seeking to know “how to find customers” will want to read as much as possible about this ! It will not be satisfied with a single content.
It is therefore not because a subject will already seem to you far too much addressed that we must back off, on the contrary.
The second thing I hear a lot about creating content is the fact that you feel like you find the same things all the time. What good is it, in this case, to add your own grain of salt in this already much too salty sea (sorry for the ultra-zero metaphor ! ).
Again, this is a misconception.
Know already that with the method that I teach in this article, we will put forward each time your selection, your way of doing things or your experience. You will therefore always bring an original angle that will stand out from the others (even if your content is based on a subject already widely discussed).
Then, as we said above, an internet user will try to read several contents on the same subject.
And seeing redundant information will reassure them! It is reading the same main lines in everyone (with of course small nuances specific to everyone) who will confirm that this is the right thing to do.
For example: if I look for the deco trends styles in 2019, and I see that vintage and industrialists are taking me out of my head everywhere, I will not moan in my head saying “”. On the contrary, it will reinforce me in the idea that these are indeed the real trends of the moment, precisely because I would have read the same info in several people.
So now that the definition of good high value content is clear and we have put up any brakes you may have on creating content, let’s move on to the ninja method to create 6 months of content ideas in 60 minutes (I would have taken 1 hour, but it was 6 and 60 and I thought it was funny –-).
THE METHOD FOR GENERATING 6 MONTHS OF CONTENT IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
First step, take paper / pencil or any other note holder.
The theory :
This will involve listing:
- All questions that your ideal client asks / asks you.
- Which keeps him from buying your offer (his objections).
- And all the tips / tricks / methods you know that can help your ideal customer and bring them value.
The practice :
Once equipped, go hunting for questions. You will be able to find the questions / comments / brakes / objections / suggestions / needs / desires of your target audience on:
- Facebook groups (be creative in choosing which Facebook groups you infiltrate !).
- On Pinterest (looking at what type of pins work best in your theme).
- The answers you have already collected in your old surveys / quizz / others.
- The private messages you have received (all platforms included).
- The emails we sent you.
- The questions you were asked during your lives (if you did).
- The comments you receive on your different social networks.
- Comments on the social networks of other actors in your theme.
- On Amazon, comments / reflections / remarks left in “opinion” under the flagship books of your theme.
Continue this investigative work until you find at least 20 questions / remarks / requests that systematically return to your ideal client.
Then add to this list the topics you want to talk about, personally. Because yes, you also have the right to broach certain subjects just because it makes you happy !
(And if you don’t have inspiration, don’t panic ! You will see that already with the list of 20 questions we generate a lot more content ideas !).
And this is where all the beauty of this method comes from. We will now apply the secret technique, which I call “triad technique”.
This involves starting from each of the 20 (or more) questions you have noted, and creating 3 content that answers them.
But beware, not just any type of content ! For each subject, it is a question of creating :
- “List” content
- “How” content
- “I-I” content
Let me give you some examples to illustrate this method.
Example 1 :
Thematic: Entrepreneurship
Question noted with the ideal client: “I don’t know how to find clients”
Subject: “find customers”
List content: “5 online sites that find customers for you”
Content how: “How to find new customers easily”
Content myself: “My infallible method for finding new customers”
Example 2 :
Thematic: Organic and natural cosmetics
Brake noted with the ideal customer: “I have the impression that organic products are less effective than industrialists”
Subject: “The effectiveness of organic products. industrial products ”
List content: “10 organic and natural products which work even better than industrialists”
Content how: “How organic products are just as effective as industrial products”
Contained myself: “Crash test: 5 organic products vs their 5 industrial equivalents”
Example 3 :
Thematic: Decoration
Brake noted with the ideal customer: “I don’t know what style of decor to adopt”
Subject: “Find your decor style”
List content: “10 styles of timeless decor that will please everyone”
Content how: “How to find the style of decoration that corresponds to us”
Contained myself: “How did I find my own decor style”
Now, if you did the exercise above you now have no less than 20 × 3 or … 60 content ideas !
Which is more than the 26 content ideas (one content per week) you need to ensure the next 6 months !
So sort it out, keeping only the content ideas that you really want.
And for the smartest of you, nothing prevents you from keeping the 60 ideas and telling yourself that you now have a year of content ideas in your hands (in less than an hour of work)! Congratulations!
This is now all to generate your 6 months of content ideas.
But let’s not stop there.
Now it’s about reusing your main content ideas and dividing them, reworking them into secondary content (short and fun) for your social networks.
Take back each content idea, and see how you can divide it into multiple posts for networks.
A 5-step “method” (like this) can easily lead to 5 posts (one for each step) and therefore constitute a mini-series over 5 days.
A subject of the style “10 timeless decor styles that will please everyone” can give 10 posts, on which you present each style of decoration with, why not, an associated shopping list !
In short, be creative and do not hesitate to exploit thoroughly, to recycle your main ideas on your social networks (without forgetting also !).
And since I don’t want to leave you with a half-done job, now is the time to create your editorial schedule !
Completing your editorial calendar now (key tool for any good editor) allows you to concretely set up your future communication strategy and organize yourself to manage your social networks.
- Choose a regular publication day (Monday, or Thursday for example).
- Place your main contents there.
- Then place the secondary contents (the social media posts) in your calendar on the other days of the week.
- Fill the “holes” of social networks with posts like photos of you, anecdotes, more personal things, and more “promo” posts (remembering what you do and what you sell).
Little tip :
Regarding the social media posts that arise from your content, you have two options:
- Publish your posts the same week as you publish your content. It allows you to approach a theme over several days and “take” your audience with you, dig the subject.
- If you don’t like the idea of talking about the same theme over several days, nothing prevents you from publishing your content on a certain date and distilling the corresponding social media posts over the following weeks / months.
CONTINUE TO ENGINE CONTAINING IDES
Now that you have your superb editorial editorial schedule for the next 6 months, it’s time to introduce new habits!
Prepare a Trello table today, a note in Evernote, a document, a page in your newspaper bullet or a notebook …
And as soon as you come across a question on social networks, as soon as a potential client makes a comment to you, as soon as you think about it following an exchange, write it down immediately on your medium.
Then reapply the method by declining this new insight into 3 content ideas and several post ideas for social networks. You will be able to produce content regularly and more easily without spending your days there either!
If you do this, you will never run out of ideas again!
And here are the cookies, the step-by-step method to generate 6 months of high value-added content ideas in 60 minutes! I strongly encourage you to take your best note support and apply it as soon as possible!
And you, how do you find your content ideas? Where does your inspiration come from?
