contentideas

Content ideas are proposed topics or concepts used to guide the creation of media, including articles, videos, podcasts, and social posts. They serve as entry points for planning editorial calendars and campaigns. In a content strategy, ideas are typically sourced, refined, and evaluated before development.

The purpose is to align content with audience interests and business goals, maintain variety, and support discovery through search and social channels. Effective ideas are actionable, assignable, and adaptable across formats.

Types include evergreen ideas that stay relevant, seasonal or timely topics tied to events, topical ideas on current trends, pillar or cornerstone ideas, and repurposing ideas that convert one format into another.

Common sources are audience feedback, customer questions, search data, analytics on past content, competitor analysis, internal subject matter experts, and content audits of existing assets.

Methods to generate ideas include brainstorming sessions, mind maps, topic clustering, keyword research, asking what problems the audience seeks to solve, and reverse engineering best-performing content. Maintaining an idea backlog helps.

Evaluation criteria include relevance to audience, alignment with brand and goals, feasibility, potential reach, originality, and potential for reuse across formats. A simple scoring framework can help prioritize.

After selection, ideas are assigned to editors, given deadlines, and tracked in a content calendar. Performance is measured after publication to inform future ideation.