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1. socialmediaexaminer.com
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http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/11-ways-to-find-new-content-for-your-social-
strategy/
11 Ways to Find New Content for Your Social Strategy
Is your business running out of content ideas?
Content is the fuel for your social media rocket ship and the foundation of
any solid presence in the social sphere. Your content cannot be everything
to everyone; however, you can be relevant and provide value to your
target market.
Generating compelling content that people want to consume can increase
your website traffic and help you attract and retain a dedicated
following. In order to produce quality content, you’re going to need a
good source of raw material to continually draw upon.
Here are 11 proven tactics to help you never run out of content:
#1: RSS Reader: Scan It Daily
A great way to get fresh ideas and inspiration is to sign up for a free RSS reader such as Google
Reader. Then use the Google Blogs search option and search blog directory sites such as Technorati and
Blogcatalog for blogs that are relevant to your product or service. When you find what you’re looking for,
simply subscribe by clicking on the RSS feed and adding it to your reader.
Organize your feeds into folders and sort by category for easy scanning; you can combine topics
you find in your industry’s blogs with your own commentary to create posts that stand on their own.
#2: Make Every
Employee a
Marketer
Encourage employees to
contribute to your blog by
writing posts on a topic of
interest in your industry.
Ask your customer
service and sales teams
about their most
frequently asked
questions, then have them
write blog posts about the
solutions. Creating a simple
blog template for
employees to use can be a
great tool to eliminate any
objections to writing a post.
Click here for some sample
templates.
#3: LinkedIn Groups
There’s no shortage of
opinions on LinkedIn. You
can join up to 50 groups
per individual profile. Find
the most active groups
related to your industry by
searching the Groups tab.

2. You can read it later, manage your subscriptions and create new folders.
This template will help you get started.
You can search by group name, keyword, company or school.
An easy way to tell which
groups are most active is
by the number of members
and discussions. LinkedIn
Answers is also a fantastic
place to tap the
knowledge of your
professional network.
#4: Forums
If social media has a
grandfather, its name is
Grandpa Forum. These
open and free discussions
are a fantastic way to find
out what’s going on in
your niche. A simple
search on Google for
“<your topic> + forum” will
yield thousands of results.
#5: Make a Tag
Cloud
Use entire conversations
based around your relevant
keywords to build a tag
cloud. For example, find 15
tweets that mention your
brand, product or industry
and drop them into a tag
cloud application such as
Wordle. You’ll often find
new keywords you may not
have thought of as well as a
few surprise topics of
association. This is a great
way to really stretch your
content dollar and find
emerging trends to blog
about.
#6: Eavesdrop
Be nosy. Listen in on
conversations offline as well
as online. Tune in to
conversations while waiting
in line at Starbucks or by
ear hustling the table next
to you at lunch. Find out
what people are talking
about, what they care
about. Carry a small
notebook or use Evernote
to jot down and keep track
of interesting points you
overhear and the ideas
they spark.
#7: Crowdsource

3. You can find thousands of articles, blogs and much more.
You can create "word clouds" from text you provide.
#7: Crowdsource
Post a social networking
status or blog asking your
audience for content topics
and suggestions. Online
survey and polling tools can
be invaluable resources for
collecting and prioritizing
these ideas in an organized
way. Embedding a survey
or poll directly into your
website or blog engages
your audience in real time,
and lets their voices be
heard. You can also
launch a survey or poll
directly in Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn
asking for feedback.
#8: Audio Books
A wise man once said “Why
read when you can have
someone do it for you,” and
the audio book was born.
Because everyone is
severely pressed for time
these days, audio books
are a fantastic way to
listen to books on the
go. Just listening to 15
minutes in the car or 20
minutes at the gym can
spark several ideas for
content and enable you to
“read” a book or two a
month. Check out Audible
or eMusic for a nice
selection of titles.
#9: Google News
Want to keep your content
relevant to current events
and hot topics in the
media? Sure you do.
Google News aggregates
headlines from news
sources worldwide, groups
similar stories together and
displays them according to
each reader’s personalized
interests.
Simply search for
keywords related to your
industry and click on the
news. Scanning the results
will immediately provide you
with headlines to tie your
topic to what’s happening in
the world.

4. Make it easy to remember things big and small using your computer, phone and the
web.
A new way to receive information and knowledge.
Google News offers links to several articles on every story.
#10: Attend Industry
Events
Meetups, Webinars,
Tweetchats, Conferences.
There’s a wealth of events
hosted on- and offline on a
weekly basis with many
offering a free exchange of
ideas and knowledge. Look
for events with topics
related to your industry and
jump right in. Chances are
you’ll leave inspired with
new ideas and a new-found
vigor to turn them into
remarkable content.
#11:
Frankenblogging
“A Day In The Life” is one of
the Beatles’ most influential
songs and it came together
with two seemingly
unrelated bits, one written
by John, the other by Paul.
This is a perfect example of
how bringing together two
distinct segments written
independently of one
another can spawn
greatness.
Like most bloggers, you probably
have a growing number of half-
written posts. The idea here is to
find a common theme or link
between two of them and
combine. For example, I took a
half-written post about identifying
influencers, combined it with another
half-written post about using Twitter
lists, and came up with a fabulous
post about finding influencers on
Twitter and following them efficiently
using Twitter lists.
Where do you get your content
ideas? Have we left anything
out? Leave your comments in the
box below.
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5. These events can help you connect with your social community.