5 Tips for Coming Up With Blog Content
Blogs are the perfect opportunity to establish a digital voice for yourself. However, there is a catch with blog writing. The catch is that it tends to be a little more involved than 140 witty characters or a picture of your fancy dinner last night. #YUM! Blogs walk the line between too little content (which can end up being a waste of time) and too much content (in which case, ain’t nobody got time for that!). On top of length, you have to write to engage your audience. You must be hyper aware of spelling and grammar, and stay on topic to keep people interested. With all that in mind, we haven’t even considered one of the biggest obstacles bloggers face: finding topics for content creation. Fear not, this blog is written to help remedy at least one of those issues. The list below are some tactics to use when trying to come up with blog topics.
1. Use your tweets (the good ones):
Twitter is a great tool to get your thoughts out in a concise way, however, with only 140 characters at your disposal, the opportunity to expand and explain your thought is limited. Do you want to know where you have more than 140 characters to state the opinions you have been bottling up? Blogs! Your personal tweet library can serve as inspiration for a number of blog posts of varying topic categories. Take a look at your retweets and favorites also. Chances are that there will be more than a few things in there that will be worth writing about.
2. Everyday is an opportunity:
Great news! If you’re reading this, then you’re alive (I hope) and that alone means you have the chance to find a blog topic. It may seem weird to consider, but your everyday life is constantly offering you blog ideas; you just have to find them. As you work through your daily schedule, it will take you on an adventure (no matter how mundane or exciting). The adventures you have are worth sharing, contrary to what you may believe. Are you thinking about school being overwhelming? Talk about your coping mechanisms in a blog. Are you upset that your boss is coming down on you? Don’t rant or call anyone out, but blog about how you can handle workplace drama. Did you go on an adventure to Las Vegas? Tells us the top 5 places you think are important to hit-up. Each day is a chance to find a blog topic, you just have to think about it in the right way. Once you have found a good topic, simply make it relevant and useful to your readers.
3. Your experiences are valuable:
Here is a little secret for you: you’re living your own unique life in your own unique way. It’s ground breaking, I know, but with that information comes an opportunity. What you have done in your life to get to where you are today is a story worth sharing and reading. This isn’t the forum for the the little details and your readers are not your therapists, but your job, internship, education, research and other experiences have value. Please share them! Chances are that you have made some mistakes and discoveries in your endeavors. Chances are also likely that others will make those same mistakes or be looking to discover the same things. Let’s help each other out. Even if you are not able to help someone before the mistake is made, you will surely create a relatable post for people out there who have made the same mistake.
4. Opinions are good:
I will start this section reminding you again not to rant. Most people don’t want to read someone else goes on and on about how the airport lost their luggage or some other topic we hear our Aunt Viki (you know who I am talking about) fume about every Thanksgiving dinner. What people would be more likely to be interested in are your well thought out opinions about a common topic of interest. There is nothing wrong with having and promoting your opinion on a topic. Having a position is a great way to start a conversation and engage your audience which is a goal worth striving for.
5. Questions are key:
Here is one that I can struggle with, but it holds a lot of value. Ask your audience questions. I don’t know it all and neither do you. No one knows everything, but this is your chance to learn and broaden your scope of understanding. This is the ultimate audience engagement tool, why not use it? Use a blog to ask a question on a topic that you don’t feel overly confident in. Ask your cohorts what they have done or what they think about a particular topic. Their experiences and opinions are just as useful as yours. Plus, its not like you have to actually take their advice, but there may be something to be learned.
Use these tips to help in your blog topic selection process and you will be well on your way to becoming a blog topic selection master!
Jordan Punches is a senior at Grand Valley State University, majoring in Advertising/Public Relations with an emphasis on Public Relations. He is an enthusiastic account executive and the alumni relations chair of the Grand Valley PRSSA chapter. Jordan loves making connections with people and has lead a number of teams in various organizations, including serving a term in office at the state level for a leadership organization. He is organized, motivated, learns quickly and enjoys presentations and public speaking. Jordan actively looks for more opportunities to learn and develop his skills while always encouraging a good time.