#5 Why I don't run out of content ideas

(and probably never will)

Author

Smoul
September 02, 2023

How to become a content generating machine

Read Time: 3 min

It’s the end of the week - so you get to party?

But, you know you’re a content creator. You’ve been one for a long time now. So you know it’s time to create content for the upcoming week. You have a blog, a newsletter, an Instagram page to create content for,

or a Twitter account - content is the king.

You sit in front of your laptop and things go black

  • You don’t know what to write about

  • You’re out of ideas but don’t want to create the same old content

  • You’re helpless because writing 100 words now seems like the toughest task

If this is you, congratulations - you’re facing the same problem as all creators who start. There are people who spend 5 hours sitting in from of their laptops only to write 15 tweets. That’s not being productive - nor efficient.

Let’s hit the rewind button and analyze this problem a little shall we?
So how does your day look like?

  • Do you time block your calendar for when to work and when to create content?

  • Do you make sure to consume knowledge every day - in any format be it reading a book, doing a course, listening to a podcast, or watching a YouTube video?

  • Is the time you spend on Instagram/Twitter more than an hour (or two?)

Did answering any of these questions give you a response to why you lack content?

When I was starting as a creator - I did not know what to write about. I had no clue what ‘niche down’ meant or what people meant by ‘find a voice’.

It was months later I realized that my engagement was dead because my content did no good to anyone. So if you want to become a content machine:

Do some actual work. Gain some actual knowledge

It is as simple as that. If your definition of learning something new is reading tweets - that does not count.

How do you expect people to take you seriously when that last book you read was 4 weeks ago?

Here’s what you have to do

  1. Create a space for yourself. Either on Notion or on Whimsical.

  2. Build an idea repository where you start by noting down

    1. 3 people you look up to

    2. 3 books you think everyone should read

    3. 3 newsletters you like the most

    4. 3 ideas in your niche that are your favorite (for example, copywriters can write about 3 best methods of writing)

  3. This will create what I like to call ‘Brand Mood’.

  4. Now make sure you do actual work and refresh your knowledge in this niche.

  5. Create a mental map by starting a tree of resources.

    1. For each person you wrote about, write 3 more people like these people. You will now have 9 names.

    2. Do this for each category and you will expand your knowledge and inspirations.

This is the mental mapping I use to generate resources and create content.

Another thing you do is take inspiration from these resources and mix knowledge to create new content.

For example, if I have to write a tweet about building a newsletter.

  • I will look at tweets that talk about this.

  • I will find 1 piece of article I like

  • I will watch 1 YouTube video (if I am able to find one)

Now I know this might take some time, but trust me, once you consume good content, you’ll be done writing tweets in the next 30 min.

All you have to do is take learning from these 3 places and mix them to create 1.

Good things is you can rewrite all these types of content into single posts too - that gives me 3 news posts.

Next, change the format of tweets.

If the first 3 were storytelling form - rewrite the tweet and convert them to polls, long-form tweets, or threads.

The key is to consume good content and share it with your audience smartly.

Still unsure what to do? Here is a list of 11 different types of Twitter content ideas:

  1. Ask a question about your niche

  2. Do a poll based on popular opinions

  3. Share what you did in the morning with a GIF/picture

  4. Do a discount day for your product

  5. Share how you started your niche (story format)

  6. Create a visual about any learning

  7. Do a 7 day or 30 day challenge about giving knowledge

  8. Share motivational quotes

  9. Share tips

  10. Testimonials of people who bought your service

  11. Tell people what your vision is for the next 3 months

Just a reminder that I appreciate you reading till the end. If you find this useful - do share this externally and help me reach more people.

See you again!
Smoul (the content machine)