I’ve started using AI to generate topic ideas for my content posts this year. After writing posts for many years as a way to share my expertise and connect with potential clients, I’m eager to identify new topics to write about. My past approach was brainstorming, and I still do that but I’ve added AI as a new helper. Often I ask for more posts than I need as the AI suggestions are not always great. But 10 percent usable posts is better than nothing. AI is also good at creating variations on themes and identifying new angles. Here are some prompts that my AI suggested I use to help it provide ideas that go beyond the generic:
The basic prompt: “Generate [number] blog post ideas about [topic] for [audience]”
The problem-focused prompt: “What are common problems that [audience] faces with [topic]? Create blog post ideas addressing these.”
The angle prompt: “Give me different angles on [topic]: beginner, advanced, contrarian, case study, how-to”
The question-based prompt: “What questions do [audience] typically ask about [topic]? Turn each into a blog post idea.”
The gap-filling prompt: “I’ve written about X, Y, and Z. What related topics haven’t I covered?”
The trend prompt: “What are current trends in [field]? Generate blog post ideas responding to these trends.”
Different prompts generate different types of ideas. Use multiple approaches to get diverse results.
Going deeper
Next, you can ask AI to offer subpoints for a post to see if it is viable topic. You can also ask for variations, for example, give me 5 different angles on topic 5. You can ask to go more general, or merge two ideas into one.
Once you have your idea batch, you can also ask the AI to create an outline or to generate 5-7 subheads that you can use as a starting point.
Once you’re there, you can get writing.
How do you generate blog post ideas when you’re stuck?
I also share these blog posts on LinkedIn – visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbowness/ to connect with me there. Or hire me to help you develop your content strategy!
