My annoyingly simple strategy for coming up with new content ideas on the regular
AMA #2
Today's question I'd like to answer comes from a subscriber who wants to remain nameless, so we'll call them… Bobbie:
"The absolute GRIND that is posting on social is killing me. I know people say “repurpose your content" but it's still coming up with those ideas in the first place. You've been sending a lot of emails lately, and you post a lot on LinkedIn too… how do you keep coming up with new ideas?"
Okay, so first of all: I feel ya. Content can be a fkn grind at times.
Trout and Ries (famous marketing strategists who wrote the book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind) literally said back in the 70s: “We live in an over-communicated world.”
FIFTY FKN YEARS AGO.
Isn't that kinda mad?
Like… just think how much MORE of EVERYTHING we're exposed to on the daily now compared to in 1970.
More TV shows. More movies. More channels. More platforms…
The fkn INTERNET.
(Side note: When did the capital ‘I’ in ‘internet’ get dropped? About 10 years ago now I think?)
My point is… the sheer volume of content is overwhelming to the average consumer, so being a business owner trying to carve out a little slice of the market's attention amidst that that enormous volume?
As I and Bobbie said… absolute fkn GRIND.
Now that we've got that out of the way… what can we do about it? How do I keep coming up with new ideas?
It's actually annoyingly simple, and you'll probably roll your eyes at the simplicity once I reveal my “secret” lol. Sorry.
First of all, forget everything anyone's ever said about “content pillars”. 🥱
Pillars are just a fancy way of saying “categories”. I actually think the first time I heard it when I worked in an agency, I replied to the Account Manager: “You mean, like, what topic categories are we writing about?”
Pillars (or categories) constrain you, which can be useful if the subject matter you can cover is ridiculously broad. But it can also limit you… like, let's say there's something really topical and interesting you wanna talk about, but oh wait… it doesn't fit into your content pillars?
Yeah, fuck that.
Instead, I focus on content TYPES. Which, for argument's sake I suppose you COULD refer to them as “pillars” too, if you wanted to…
They are:
- Personality: For reach, relatability, connection.
- Perspective: For thought leadership, reframes, hot takes.
- Problem-solving: How-tos, frameworks, case studies, results.
- Promotions: High business intent, lead generation, announcements, offers etc
Now, if you're trying to grow your audience, you'd focus more on 1 and 2 as they have the broadest audience appeal… but if you're aiming to attract buyers, you'd obviously want to mix in more of 3 and 4.
The ratio really depends on the size of your audience, how engaged they already are, and what your goals ultimately are.
“But Cass,” you say. “What the fuck do I fill these buckets with, exactly?”
Or maybe you don't. Not everyone swears nonstop like me. But I'll answer the question anyway… you should:
Pull ideas from your “LiVeD eXpEriEnCe”. 🤪
I wrote lived experience like that because I'm a jerk. It's a term that's been thrown around a LOT lately that it's now bordering on “guru” territory so I must mock it… but it is literally what I do.
Practically, how it looks is this:
- I'll be chatting to a mate on WhatsApp about something and go “Ooh, this is a good post idea," and if I can, I'll literally write the post right away. If not, I'll put it in my “story bank” (a database in my Notion) for later.
- I'll go back through my week and look at the meetings I had, which will spark an idea to share a client case study.
- I'll see a post on LinkedIn and write an enormous comment, which will then make me go, “Hmm, I can make this its own post too.”
You get the idea. Things that happen. Use them as inspo and write about them. Then chuck them in the above buckets.
I'll admit, lately I've not been using the buckets.
I just kinda post whatever I want as I'm trying out new things. But if you're a beginner and that is overwhelming, it's good to have some structure to help you get into the flow of things.
I created those buckets as I wanted to create something flexible and easy to understand for my clients. They're less constraining than traditional content pillars, and far more simple than than “TOFU/MOFU/BOFU” stuff.
The last trick I'll share is something I've said in these emails before:
STOP TRYING TO BE EVERYWHERE.
Seriously. Content IS a fkn grind—especially when you're trying to grind it out on every bloody platform.
Pick 1 or 2, max. The ones that a) your buyers actually use and b) you won't want to smash your head against a brick wall being active on.
For me those are LinkedIn and email. You won't see me on Instagram or TikTok. I'm debating getting back onto Substack, but the last time I tried my attention on LinkedIn definitely waned… so really weigh up your priorities.
You're not a full-time content creator (unless you are… if so, please disregard), you've still got a business to run. Choose wisely.
Alright, that's it for tonight. I was gonna segue into a little CTA for one of my products but… it's Sunday, so… just assume I did a great job at convincing you to check out The Brief → cwh.cl/brief
Cool, thanks. I owe ya one.