Never Run Out of Content Ideas Again
Most creators don’t have a creativity problem. They have a system problem.
Watch: 1-Minute 37-Second Summary of Content Idea Generation
Short on time? This quick video breaks down the system from this article so you can generate better content ideas faster and post with more consistency.
If you’ve ever stared at a blank screen wondering what to post, this is for you.
Start With Your Goal, Not Your Idea
The biggest mistake creators make is brainstorming ideas in a vacuum. Before you think of a single topic, ask yourself: what do I want this content to do?
Grow your following? Build your email list? Drive sales? Each goal demands a completely different type of content. Locking in your objective first cuts your ideation time in half and makes every piece of content intentional.
The Problem-First Method (Your Most Reliable Source)
Your audience’s pain points are an endless content mine. Here’s the process:
- Pick your niche. List every problem your audience faces.
- Turn each problem into a hook.
A speech coach, for example, could pull ideas from filler words, poor posture, lack of projection, and accent concerns — that’s already four content pillars from a two-minute brainstorm.
Once you post, track which topics get the most engagement. Double down on those. Over time, your data tells you exactly what to create next.
The Waterfall Method (For When You’re Truly Stuck)
Take one subtopic in your niche and run it through these questions:
- What are its key components?
- What are the common mistakes people make?
- What are the best practices?
- What’s the controversial or contrarian take?
For “email marketing,” this single exercise generates 15–20 distinct post ideas in under 20 minutes. Each answer is its own piece of content.
Pull Content From Reddit, YouTube & Social Media for Goldmine Ideas
This is one of the most underrated research tactics in content creation — and it costs you nothing.
Reddit is essentially a live database of real questions real people are obsessing over. Search any subreddit in your niche (r/entrepreneur, r/socialmedia, r/freelance) and sort by “Top” or “Hot.” The most upvoted posts and comments reveal exactly what your audience cares about most right now. A thread with 800 upvotes asking “why does my content get views but no followers?” is a ready-made content brief.
YouTube and TikTok are just as powerful. Search your niche keyword, sort by most viewed, and study the comments section — not the video itself. Comments like “I wish they’d explained the part about…” or “can someone do a video on X?” are direct content requests handed to you for free.
Instagram and LinkedIn work the same way. Find a high-performing post from a creator in your space and dig into the comments. Every question asked there is a content idea waiting to happen.
The principle is simple: go where your audience already vents, asks, and argues. Then show up with the answer.
Steal Smartly From Competitors (Without Copying)
Find a creator in your niche who’s growing fast. Study their best-performing titles and thumbnails — not their content. Identify why the packaging works (urgency, specificity, curiosity gap), then apply that same formula to your own original ideas. You’re borrowing the frame, not the picture.
Use AI as a Brainstorm Partner, Not a Writer
Prompt ChatGPT or Claude with something like: “What are the 10 biggest frustrations of a freelance graphic designer trying to get clients on Instagram?” Use the output as raw material, then filter it through your own expertise and voice. AI gives you quantity; you bring quality.
The One Metric Most Creators Ignore
After posting consistently, go into your analytics and find which single piece of content brought you the most followers or leads. Then reverse-engineer it. What was the topic? The format? The hook? Build your next 10 ideas around that winning formula.
The Short Version
Great content ideas don’t come from inspiration — they come from process. Know your goal, solve real problems, mine platforms where your audience already lives, and systematize the rest. Do that consistently, and you’ll never stare at a blank screen again.
Don't know where to start with your ideas? Check Content Ideas Vault →