Knowing When to Welcome a Content Opportunity

The chances are great that if you are responsible for writing your own content, at some point in time, you will experience some sort of writer’s block. The truth is that you can’t just snap your fingers and the content will flow each and every time you want it to. Sometimes you need help writing and sometimes you need help knowing when great content concepts are right in front of you.

Recognizing the opportunity when it comes along

Whether you struggle with content writing or you find it pretty painless, you still need to recognize inspired ideas when they present themselves. In addition to recognizing those ideas when they appear, there are also places for you to look for them. Of course, the one thing that you don’t want to do is to sit back complacently and wait for the ideas to come to you because they never will. In your role as content writer, you will find that you must wear many different hats. In that situation, you will be the content writer, marketing specialist, and clairvoyant. 

You will begin to recognize the pearls of content that are not apparent to other people because your ability to recognize pearls will be so acute.

The fact of the matter is that if you are in love with what you are doing, you will most likely find that the content will flow from your fingertips quite easily. Now, those are two challenges that you have overcome already: recognizing top-quality concepts and successfully expressing those concepts in a way that is appealing to other people. You probably recognize the value in reading other people’s content in your niche or industry, which will help you to build your own content in an effective and appealing manner. It is quite remarkable that some of your most interesting content ideas may come from the most unlikely of places. One thing that all of your content will have in common is that it should always tell a story. The reason that the story is so important is because it presents a connection to other people on a human/emotional level.

At this point, you may be asking yourself where a person would go to find those ideas. Actually, there are many different places that you can go to find inspiration.

The people with whom you work: No matter where you work physically, you are still connected to people. That means that you still interact with those people and bounce ideas off of each other on a regular basis. You may be surprised at how many opportunities can present itself in the form of ideas. When you are interacting with work people, really listen to what they are saying. They may mention trends that interest them, they may bring up questions that plague them. Their questions may be easy for you to answer or they may be more challenging. You may have to do some research before you have any answers but the truth is that you have the ability to come up with the answers at some point. Once you do, that will elevate your relationship to the next level. Of course, that should be one of your constant goals. Some of the places at work where you might have been inspired are: group meetings, ideas on improving a system to make it more efficient, interesting company news, etc.

Your clients: There is no doubt that your clients have a wealth of amazing ideas for content. Take advantage of engaging your clients and really listen to what they have to say. Content ideas that come from clients have an automatic guarantee that your clients will be satisfied with whatever you write because the original ideas came from them. How much easier than that can it be? It is important for you to be as prepared as possible when it comes to satisfying their needs. If you aren’t sure about how to approach your clients, you may want to pick the brains of your sales people. They are probably really good at knowing what to do.

Your niche: Obviously, whichever industry you are a part of should serve as a source of inspiration. It is important for you to keep up with trends, news, people, etc, in your particular industry. Some good sources of information are your competitors, blogs and websites, magazines, and conferences and other events. You can set up searches in which you receive alerts that are tied to what you are doing and what you are offering. You may also want to pay close attention to what other people are saying on the various social media channels.

Your personal connections: You never know where you might find inspiration so it is important not to disregard anything. Many people (your personal connections) may have all sorts of brilliant ideas about all sorts of things. Keep your eyes and ears open at all times. It is important for you to stay as flexible as you possibly can.

Watch out for pleasant surprises: Part of your being open-minded means that you are open to whatever may come along. That means that you may be surprised by ideas that wouldn’t have thought of in a million years on your own. How wonderful that is! 

Conclusion

It is important for you to recognize great ideas when they are in front of you and to run with them. The more appropriate and valuable those ideas are, the more important you will be to your online connections. If you are excited by an idea, your readers will feel the same when you share the content with them. Remember to tap into any and all sources to come up with fresh ideas whenever you can.

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