When it comes to digital marketing strategy, quality content is king. Compelling content can be used to attract new audiences (and customers) to your organization, create loyalty, show off new products and services offered by your business, establish your brand as a leader in its space, and establish trust and legitimacy with potential clients. With blogging being a low cost way to do all these things simultaneously, competition is naturally extremely high – the majority of your competitors are looking to accomplish the exact same goals with their content.

The key to beating your competitors and creating the most compelling content is to find the most engrossing blog topics. It’s not enough to copy what your competitors are doing, especially if there’s no actual evidence that what they’re doing is working. Repeating the same top 10 lists or recycling well-tread topics won’t do the trick either, especially since it’s likely that your competitors are doing the same. So how exactly do you find compelling blog topics in such a highly competitive landscape? The answer involves a mixture of research, instinct, data, and persistence.

Research only goes so far

When it comes to attracting new eyes to your blog, performing keyword research is very important to improving search rankings and making sure that people can find your content. However, too many businesses rely on keyword research to inform their content creation – while keywords can be useful to guiding you towards compelling and popular topics, it doesn’t make for instant success. 

Generally, the most successful blogs will be the ones that have been informed by data, real-world feedback, and a healthy dose of instinct – knowing what your audience reacts to will always go further than algorithm generated keywords. 

Pay attention to what are your customers looking at and talking about

The most effective way to find compelling blog topics is to have your ear to the ground – what are your customers and followers looking at on your website, and what are they talking about when interacting with your employees and on your social media channels? 

Answering these questions will make it very clear what issues and topics are most important to your audience, making it much easier to know what your company’s content should be focused on. If customers continually ask about how to properly use a product, turn this into a blog. If they’re repeatedly running into the same problems, turn it into a blog.

The best thing your business can do is focus on solving the problems and issues often encountered by your audience – there are people who clearly have questions and are looking for answers, and it’s up to your business to provide them with those answers. For example, if your tech firm is often asked about integrating pieces of software, write about how this can be done and how your business can do it. 

Problem-solving content not only satisfies your customers, but it also makes it more likely that new audiences will find your content when searching for these specific issues and questions. Solving common problems and answering common questions with your content not only attracts new eyes to your website, but when done well, can also be used to establish your brand’s legitimacy and thought leadership.

Take a look at the numbers

Another important aspect of finding compelling topics is to take a look at the numbers. Your website has content on it and analytics are available to you, so take advantage of this. What are people looking at on your website, and how can you turn that into a compelling blog post? 

If a large amount of users are looking at specific services or products offered by your business, you could create a blog post that highlights this and tells audiences why they should choose your business over competitors. If your analytics reveal that you’ve had a successful blog post in the past, how can you spin off from that topic into an equally compelling one that would make those same users want to read it? The data is available to you and can go a long way in informing the content being created by your business – use it to your advantage.

Survey your team for suggestions

Finally, don’t forget to consult your team members about what they think might be compelling content. Your employees have a direct line of contact to customers and social media followers, and thus might have a better understanding of what they’re interested in, what they’re talking about, and what issues they’re encountering. 

They also have a unique perspective when it comes to the products and services sold by your business, and could use that perspective to suggest content that otherwise would never have been thought of or brought forward. Use their suggestions, ideas, and pain points, and let it further inform the content being created for your business – these perspectives are invaluable and should not be passed up.

While there’s no exact science to capturing lightning in a bottle with a compelling blog topic, the right blend of instinct, data, and feedback can lead to your content becoming an instant hit. ion8 is an all-in-one business consultancy with a full team of digital marketing experts and a long history of successful content marketing. Our team will build a winning digital strategy for your business, combining our experience and proven track record with your data and feedback to create compelling blog topics that will attract new eyes to your business. For more information on everything that ion8 can do for your business, get in touch with us today.