5 Ways to Find Inspiration for New Content

Inspiration is built from all great things. Without a personal catalyst to drive your creation process, there would be no authenticity to your final product. People do appreciate the authenticity in each content produced. So how do you hunt down that inspiration that ignites the remainder of your content marketing process?

1. Find the Good Stuff

Where else to begin finding content? Start by visiting websites that publish content you love. As a content creator, you will always have your ‘go to’ references, whether that’s visual content on Pinterest or any online editorials content that excites you.

Other than that, always push yourself to continually seek out new sources, not only when you’re assigned with the task, but also while leisurely browsing. Always remember, the content might not be popular content, but there’s always “hidden gems” of inspiration you’re looking for; you’d be surprised what can inspire you.

When you’re on the sites you’d like to explore, try these tips to find what you’re looking for:

• Click through comments and links in articles that catch your attention, and do a little digging.
• Be clear of your own content strategy, and jot down any related links, sentences, or ideas that might help you from the sites you’re searching
• Allow yourself to get a better picture of what a site contains by reading beyond the first article or two you come across.

2. Go All Out

Let your creative juices flow. Don’t limit yourself to text; all formats of creative content are on the table. Seek out photo galleries, videos, podcasts, print magazines,  anything at all.

Inspirational content is hard to come by, but once you conquered it, examine it all and ask yourself:

• Is there any pattern or similarities among the pieces of content I love?
• Or does the element of surprise work best to capture my attention?

When you have a better understanding of what makes you fall in love with content, you can recreate some of those elements on your own. With a proper plan like this in place, you can easily enter a more productive state of mind that enables you to produce something powerful with a wow factor.

3. Listen, Watch, and Learn

Follow people you find inspirational on their social media platform. Subscribe to their blogs and social updates, and read their stories. These people could be influencers in your industry, or they could just as easily be bold figures in other areas of your life whom you admire. Following their journeys and understanding what inspires them can inspire you, too. Plus, these influencers are likely producing killer content of their own (copy them or do it even better).

When observing these people of interest, find out where they find inspiration themselves or whether you can adapt any part of their working processes to your own. Monitoring social connections and subscribing to channels can simplify this task, be a stalker!

4. Transform It

Once you’re already inspired and got the wonderful idea, explore it. Don’t be afraid to make it into something new, be bold!

There are several ways to spice up your wonderful idea pieces:

• Combine two completely different ideas into one.
• Translate bold ideas from one format to another.
• Visually map out alternate ways for pursuing the original idea.

After you’ve explored your idea and you’re preparing to execute it, never settle for the first draft. The result of a series of revisions may not be what you originally planned, and that can be a good thing. If you’ve thoroughly explored an idea and its draft has undergone a few revisions, it’s sometimes equally necessary to let go and move on to the next idea. Don’t give up!

5. Focus

While looking out for several sources of content and actively pursuing different thoughts is good, dividing your attention too much can effectively hinder your concentration.

If you feel a productive streak coming on:

• Create an environment that you work well in.
• Focus on the task at hand.
• Don’t allow yourself to get lost on random links.

• Concentrate on the ideas with the most potential right now, and let the less-evolved ones come back later.

Ideas are organic and came when you least expected it. They need time and space to breathe. Take a break and do the things that take your mind off work, don’t force yourself to find ‘the extra ordinary content’. As artis David Lynch said, “You are the master of your creative process. Every idea that you fall in love with is a gift”. So, make the best of your gift.

Need more ideas & insights to grow your business, read WhyQ blog now.