Finding a story can be difficult. Always looking in every social media post for a scoop; someone to interview. Heck, sometimes you’ll have ideas and will just be too burnt out to write them. What do you do then? How do you keep coming up with creative and engaging ideas?
Keep reading and I’ll give you my top ten tips to keep the ideas coming.
1. Scroll your social media page mindlessly
Yes, you read the subheading properly. Scroll social media mindlessly! Sometimes when you are deliberately looking for a story whether it be through social media or by going outside, you won’t find a new idea. Looking at the content mindlessly will give you something to blog about. As you're no longer forcing the story there's no pressure! Ensuring you can see a good angle or hook more easily. Helping you find that next story.
2. Read others’ content
Reading content that is created by other people can point you in the direction of the next thing you should blog about. As you read you find out about something new; might find you want to talk about the same subject, provide a different opinion or. Either way, reading others’ content is good. It helps you find a new idea and results in you improving your writing skills.
3. Other areas of a niche you haven’t explored yet
When we have a niche we think we’ve covered it all! Therefore we don’t think we can bring anything new to the table. However, there might be a new development or an angle you hadn’t thought of. For example, let's say you blog about the special effects used in horror movies. You’ve exhausted all the articles you can write about fake blood and prosthetics. however, you can talk about the recent developments in AI and how that helps the SFX in horror movies. Maybe someone from an under-represented background has been employed in an important position. Why is that good (or bad depending on your opinion) sometimes going slightly outside your bubble can give you new ideas
4. Go outside
Now sometimes new ideas aren’t able to formulate due to being stuck in one place for too long, or restlessness. Going outside even if it's out into the garden and relaxing should take the pressure off. And enable you to be in a new space and in a better mood. Helping those ideas flow!
5. Research current trends
Seeing what is currently popular on the internet is always good- especially as people who use the internet are your target audience. Finding out what's trending on Twitter or Instagram can help you find out what's popular and inspire a blog post or two. Resulting in a popular post and a larger audience.
6. Brainstorm
Personally, I like to mind map/brainstorm when I’ve run out of ideas, or need a new one. It enables me to focus on one subject, then, put it into something that is smaller and more manageable as an idea. Allowing a focus on the important details and whether it would work for my audience. In comparison to a bog-standard list, it's much more fun.
7. Workshop ideas
Asking friends and family for ideas, or others whether they think a lead for a blog post is good. Asking co-workers what content is working for them at the moment and testing out whether that could work with your chosen subject.
8. Polls + asking your followers
If you have enough followers or good engagement you could ask them what they would want to see on a Twitter poll or something similar. It helps you come up with new ideas. In addition, it providing your audience what they actually want to see. Plus making an interactive poll or something similar gives you and your audience a way to interact. Boosting engagement, which is always a good move.
9. Try a different format
We find ourselves running out of ideas because we are getting a bit tired of producing the same type of content. Or the idea we currently have might not work with the format we use for our blog. Changing the word length would help or completely go out of your comfort zone for a couple of posts and make a very short Youtube video or a tik tok that will then link to the final blog post. It stops you from getting bored, spices up what you provide your audience, and enables you to be more creative, trying more things and it’ll open the door to new ideas.
10. Just write
Sometimes if you can’t come up with an idea in the end you just have to force it. You’ll stare at the computer blankly. So this is your time to just ramble. Put incoherent thoughts on the page for five maybe ten minutes at most and nine times out of ten after you’ll find a story to blog about in the incoherent mess on the word document. This is also similar to ‘Free Writing’ which I spoke about in my 3 top tips to fill the blank page.
If you follow this list then as a blogger- or a creative person in general, you’ll never have a problem with coming up with a new idea again!
Thank you for reading TOP TEN ways to find new ideas.
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