TUTORIAL ARTICLE

Beginner

5 min

How to find new inspiration for social media content

The importance of refreshing your content strategy plus eight ways to find inspiration for new content

What you’ll need
Practice in the app

Are you crumbling under the pressure to come up with new and exciting ideas for your social media content? You are not alone.

Social media networks are incredibly saturated with a variety of fun, valuable, educational, and useful content in a variety of different forms. And with new features constantly being developed and released, alongside social media trends rising and falling in popularity, it’s no easy feat to keep up a steady stream of content that is original and interesting enough to maintain your audience’s attention.

Fear not: inspiration for fantastic new social media content can be found in a number of places. In the spirit of longevity, we’ll be explaining how you can continue to come up with fresh ideas for content over time.

The importance of a content refresh

Fresh content is essential if you’re hoping to grow your social media channel(s), but also looking to maintain the interest of the audience you currently have. Social media networks evolve over time — just look at how Reels has taken over Instagram since its introduction in 2020 — and the same can be said for social media trends. It’s important to adjust with the times and adapt your social media strategy to avoid getting left behind. Repeating the same content ideas for months or even years can cause them to become stale, and your audience can lose interest. When that happens — or better yet, before that happens — it’s time to reflect on which styles of content are working, what could be improved, and where new ideas are required to reignite your audience’s interest in your channel and help you continue to grow.

Getting inspiration: eight ways to generate new ideas for social media content

1. Refresh existing content

Sitting down to come up with new ideas for your social media content doesn’t have to mean starting from scratch. Take a moment to look back on how your existing content has performed and see if there are opportunities to develop any of your existing content themes into something more engaging. For example, perhaps one of your existing content themes might work better as a video or a live stream. Perhaps you can consider making something successful into a series with episodic content. Experiment with different formats to make old or evergreen content feel new again.

2. Competitor research

A great way to get inspiration for content is to have a look at competitors and those within your industry. Take a look at their social channels to see what kind of content they’ve been creating lately, and how it’s been performing. Nobody likes a copycat, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with producing ideas that are inspired by those within your sector.

3. Look outside of your industry

While competitor research is always a good way to get inspiration for your own social media content, you don’t need to limit yourself to getting inspiration only from those within your industry. Take a look at any companies that you consider successful or industry leaders in their fields. Can any of the content they produce be re-worked to be appropriate for your business?

4. Talk to other departments

Content ideation doesn’t have to sit solely on the shoulders of your marketing department. Many areas of your business, especially those from departments that interact with your customers or target market, are likely to have insight into what content your audience might enjoy. They may even have a few content ideas up their sleeves as it is. You don’t have to be in marketing to come up with great content ideas, so take the time to listen to thoughts and feedback from other departments and you could be pleasantly surprised.

5. Check out the news

You should always have your finger on the pulse when it comes to industry news, regardless of whether content ideation is on your mind or not. Awareness of the news will allow you to get a better feel for the landscape of your industry, as well as be able to predict trends and future events (which can make for some interesting reading). Not only that, but industry news can inspire the direction of your content by giving you a clue on what your audience might be thinking about lately or where there may be opportunities to offer guidance and position yourself as an industry leader.

6. Take a trip down memory lane

If you have any record of older ideas that didn’t make the cut, it’s time to look back on these rejected ideas with a new and fresh perspective. You might find that time and distance away from these ideas could put them in a different light or enable you to see how you can make them better whether it’s by changing the format or developing the concept further.

7. Audience research

When in doubt, turn to your audience. Carry out some audience research intended to discover what kind of content they want to see, what will resonate with them, and what they will find valuable. You can do this covertly by using social media to see where your target audiences are engaging with content as well as what they are posting and sharing themselves, or you can ask them directly by carrying out a survey or using polls on social media to ask for thoughts and feedback.

8. Take it offline

There is plenty of inspiration to be found outside all around you, so take a walk and absorb other mediums of advertising and presentation on the street, talk to friends and family and those within your target audience in person, and put yourself into the shoes of your audience by spending time with your physical products (if applicable).

Consistently finding new and fresh ideas for content is tough, there’s no doubt about it. But remember, we are all our own harshest critics. Take space away from your work regularly and come back with fresh eyes so you can more objectively judge whether your ideas are worth pursuing or not. Talk through your ideas with a friend or colleague and allow them to give you honest feedback and help you develop your ideas further. Before you know it, you’ll have a new batch of content ideas to try out.


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March 4, 2024

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