Idea generation is a constant struggle for content marketers. The task of coming up with new ideas on a continuous basis is tiring.
How to generate great ideas easier? How to keep yourself inspired and avoid burn-out? Let’s discuss!
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About Hans van Gent @jcvangent
Hans van Gent @jcvangent is Head of Growth with Accountable that is making the life of freelance and self-employed people in Belgium a lot easier by taking away the need for an expensive accountant, losing receipts etc.
#accountable is on 🔥 we love helping self-employee people in Belgium (and other countries coming in 2019) they are the new heroes in today’s society! https://t.co/GxzevbbHGj
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
Hans also launched Inbound Rocket as a way for struggling businesses to generate more leads through their (WordPress) website. And recently he launched Audience Builder that makes creating targeting audience in Facebook hassle free. Optimising them in such a way that you can get better results for your Facebook ads, for lower money spend.
In the past, he worked successfully on various campaigns and online platforms for some of the bigger brands of Unilever, Nestlé, Amnesty International, etc.
Connect to Hans van Gent via his website and on LinkedIn
Questions we discussed
Q1 How did you become a digital marketer? Please share your career story!
Becoming a digital marketer is not something I would have ever thought of when I was a little boy, I guess I just rolled into it. Got a background in computer science, but at one point I started surrounding myself more and more with people who were building companies.
Excited for today’s #VCBuzz
I’m CMO for @TheMOBNation and a small biz marketing strategist.
— Gwen Montoya (@gmontoyapdx) January 22, 2019
I got touched by the marketing side of things when I started seeing them struggling. Plus the fact that my girlfriend at the time worked in marketing / advertising, might have helped me steer away a little bit from startup marketing into more “traditional” advertising.
I’ve written about the proces on how anyone, with no experience can start in digital marketing on @Quora here > https://t.co/2lawFNLpmF
— Hans van Gent ? (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
CT where is that for us non-Americans? #VCBuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
I think nowadays, jobs are fluid and we move in all directions all the time. The thing that never runs out of fashion though is (copy)writing and having the ability to write down your thoughts #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
Q2 How do you come up with content ideas on a continuous basis?
For me it all starts with getting your definitions straight. What is Content Marketing? >> Content marketing is just solving the same problems that your product solves through media you create and promote.
Important point! So much of what folks call content marketing is really advertising #vcbuzz
— Meryl K. Evans (@merylkevans) January 22, 2019
@merylkevans which is only part of the equation. In the end just hitting publish is not enough. Especially when starting to put online for the first time. Roughly 80% of your effort should be put into promotion, compared to 20% on creation of the content itself #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
It can slightly shift over the longer term though, maybe even to 50/50 but most people forget how important the promotion part is #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
Take that as a basis and then figure out where people are searching for answers on their problems.
Some tools to use here: @BuzzSumo and @ahrefs to see what are the most shared posts for certain keywords already. Take these topics, put your own spin on it and start releasing it.
a2 Dig into what your audience is thinking – then come up with content that will educate, inspire & engage them. Sounds simple – but not easy!
— Debi Norton (@BRAVOMedia1) January 22, 2019
Amazon Book listings is another great one, look for best selling books in your niche. Open up the Kindle version, check chapter titles > BAM great topics to start writing your own content around.
Other online tools include things like #UberSuggest by @neilpatel, @answerthepublic or @FAQ_Fox to find topics people are searching for within your keyword.
Or things like @quora (posted a little hack on finding the best questions to answer here > https://t.co/Gi3XZ4cvwg), checking out popular podcasts on iTunes with their different episode titles. Checking out popular videos on @YouTube and their titles #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent ? (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
Or using questions that your customers are sending in via email to turn them into blog post is another great one.
Basically there are so many different options you can use to come up with inspiration. There is no reason to not starting to create content.
A2 Just published a video with some ideas on how to come up with winning content ideas -> https://t.co/2IrqxJk2v1 #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) January 22, 2019
Q3 How to better record and organize your content ideas?
I’m a big @evernote users already since years. All my content efforts, as a result, start in there. For example, I use their web clipper to save all the interesting stuff I find day to day on the web.
@jcvangent I love @evernote too! #vcbuzz
— HOW TO NOW (@howtonowdotcom) January 22, 2019
@howtonowdotcom people sometimes think I have shares in the company 😉 I use it for everything, also in combination with my scanner, to scan all my administration straight to @evernote etc. #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
When I then start producing content, and I start writing it gives me suggestions for related content, so I automatically have sources I can reference in my articles.
That by itself is such a lifesaver. That you don’t have to start searching for reference sources. Everything available while you start typing!
A2 I have this handy guide on using Google Spreadsheets to plan and organize just about anything including content ideas https://t.co/MlwqHS0RRb #vcbuzz
— HOW TO NOW (@howtonowdotcom) January 22, 2019
Interesting. I use Google Docs though with guest writers. Got my guidelines in #GoogleDocs and it makes it easy to collaborate and finetune the final piece.
Plus with #jetpack installed on WordPress you can sync those Google Documents straight to WordPress https://t.co/MMXnlWSrLB #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent ? (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
a3 I've sat with a pen and paper and just started writing any ideas I can think of and from there – pulling out what's most valuable to the reader / audience.
Then there is always https://t.co/KTsCDNzoOJ LOVE THAT! #VCBuzz
— Debi Norton (@BRAVOMedia1) January 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/GenePetrovLMC/status/1087765951796391942
A3 I’m a pen and paper person. I have a binder of notes and ideas. I call it “Gwen’s Brain”. #VCBuzz
— Gwen Montoya (@gmontoyapdx) January 22, 2019
Q4 What do you do when you feel stuck? What if life gets in a way? How to never stop generating great ideas?
If I’m really stuck and any of the ideas I mentioned earlier I just go back to Google.
Together with KeywordsEverywhere.com I can always find interesting parts, interesting searches of people to help me get new ideas to start producing content around.
Note from Ann: There’s also a free alternative called Keywords Nowhere (Google Chrome only_
https://twitter.com/jessytroy/status/1087766006456598528
Yups related searches etc. there is so much to be found there!
@gmontoyapdx every piece of content can be reused in multiple ways. Or as I like to call it "time to steal from yourself" > https://t.co/iji2t11TMa #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
Q5 What are your favorite idea generation tools? We love tools!
I don’t really have a preference, generating ideas can come at any moment at any place.
Having a great diverse set of tools and places at your disposal helps a lot. So I would definitely check out those mentioned earlier, and I’ve got a list of all of them including detailed descriptions on how to use them here > https://t.co/kd66qADyCr #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent ? (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/GenePetrovLMC/status/1087768422878990338
Personally, I think those are the best because you bring a ton of wealth from your previous experience to the table, which can give such fresh insights every day of the year!
It is not there yet I think, AI created content starts from the optimisation for ranking not for the user, which as a result gets you lower ranking.
Most important with the creation of the content though is to focus on the visitor and not Google. When you fully optimise an article just for Google, it is not valuable anymore to the visitor trying to fix their problem. Google start to understand this better and better every year.
a5 There is the opportunity to go into Google Search Console & Ck out the Actual searched terms – that are often posed as questions – you can find a lot there! Then I did mention the tool that I like https://t.co/KTsCDNzoOJ for coming up with some new ideas!#VCBuzz
— Debi Norton (@BRAVOMedia1) January 22, 2019
@BRAVOMedia1 Google Search Console for me is mostly to optimise existing content, to rewrite it a little bit to make them perform better… wrote a post about it in the past as well > https://t.co/DdmQYWYwZA #vcbuzz
— Hans van Gent 👓 (@jcvangent) January 22, 2019
Our previous idea generation chats:
- It All Starts with an Idea: with Catrinel Bartolomeu @glamatron #VCBuzz
- How to Use Your Blog as a Content Hub with Cheval John @chevd80 #vcbuzz
- How to Analyze if Your Pages Are Keyword Relevant with Eric Enge @stonetemple #VCBuzz
- How to Find the Right Keywords for Your Business with @BradShorr #VCBuzz
- Using Subconscious Marketing Techniques to Up Your Conversions with Neal Cole @northresearch #VCBuzz
- Writing to Impress: Content Marketing Twitter Chat with Don Sturgill @DonSturgill #VCBuzz
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