Great content ideas for your 2024 calendar

It is that time of the year when you take out the holiday decorations from your attic, draft an out-of-office email, plan your surprises, and get ready to put your feet up. Before you entirely slip into the holiday mood, as an entrepreneur or anyone working to improve lead generation or boost conversions, you might be thinking about your 2024 game plan. We have a simple yet an elaborate solution for you: content.

Before you dismiss it as a simple answer, we need to clarify that the way you plan and execute your content is where all the difference will lie. Now, without further ado, let's dive into the details.

How to brainstorm for content ideas 

Let's break down the basics. It is wise to plan the content ideas you will be working on before you produce a hodgepodge of random content. To determine them, you need to do the following:

1. Research your competitor's content. Go to your competitor's website, YouTube channel, podcast channel, social media, and any place where your competition might be addressing topics in a way that may not have occurred to you. Now, you don't have to copy them, but it will definitely serve as an inspiration to think in a direction previously unexplored. Remember to check for competitors within the same industry, field, and region first before exploring other brands' content.

2. Perform keyword research. This is the holy grail for ranking your content, and by extension your brand, right at the top of search results. Use a keyword research tool, often a part of SEO tools, and search various keywords to see the traffic it attracts, indicating how relevant it is to an audience. Note alternative keywords and also the organic, non-branded keywords your competitor is after. Pick the ones you think will resonate with your audience while increasing traffic, and then design a content plan around it.

3. Analyze customer interactions. Your customer leaves behind a trail of ideas every time they interact with you. It is either a comment on social media, a question raised in one of your webinars or AMAs (ask me anythings), or what they spoke about with your marketing or sales team member over phone or at an event. Collect these responses and find out the answers or information they are seeking. These queries or suggestions would be a great place to source content ideas.

4. Conduct polls and surveys. You can proactively reach out to your audience to ask what they want to read or watch. Conduct polls and surveys with questions on topics of their interest, specific subject points they want clarity on, topics that bore them and why, their favorite content medium, and more. The responses might surprise you, offering amazing insight into their interests, and as a consequence, your content plan.

Tips to design successful content 

There are a few common tips that can be broadly used to draft and disseminate content.

Consistency

You have a content plan, you work on writing and creating content, and you publish them. Great! Then comes a slump and you publish arbitrarily posts that leave your audience complaining that you're inconsistent. This is not so great.

Remember, it is crucial to create and publish high-quality content at frequent intervals. Content creation shouldn't be a lazy effort, but a part of your key focus. That is reflected in consistent, valuable posts. An instance of this is an increase in a brand's blog traffic to 90% which was attributed to consistent content.

Relatability

What's the point of churning content that won't be of use to the audience or is articulated in a way that they won't understand at all? In the race to upload content frequently, please don't forget to make them relevant to your audience.

First, know who you are talking to and what they want (which you can find out from the points in the previous section). Are they someone who finds long, comprehensive pieces boring and distracting? Do they hate videos? Is it a mixed bag of an audience? Design your content accordingly, and write in a language and on a medium that will reach them the best.

Usefulness

Some of your customers are just toying with the idea of purchasing something from you. Some are way ahead, getting ready to pay for your product or service. Others are lingering somewhere in the middle, not able to make up their minds. Marketers call this a funnel, labeling the three segments as top, middle, and bottom (the bottom being the place where leads become your customers). It is up to you to write content for all three segments, addressing their specific problems in lucid words and ways that will get them to understand the solutions to their problems.

Best content ideas for 2024 

Now comes the crucial segment, which will help you plan your content calendar better, along with the research you have done earlier on keywords, customer choices, and competitor's content. Here are some content ideas that may work well in the coming year.

Blogs 

Yes, the unassuming, simple blog does an amazing job of educating and informing your audience, reinforcing your brand, and improving your SEO. This written content has been a favorite content marketing tool for years now, and for good reason. A study showed that companies that blogged had more visitors and inbound links. There are various ways you can do this, so shuffle up the styles and keep things more interesting this year.

• Listicles: This is the best way to break down chunks of information into an easy and engaging read. They are easy to consume and are a hit with those who are looking to consume information quickly. Listicles could lead to higher CTR (clickthrough rates), and, consequently, conversion rates. You can even punctuate them with infographics or gifs and memes (don't worry, businesses use them)!

• Long-form blogs: If your audience is ready to become customers, it is likely they are curious to learn more from your content. The kind of information they seek can be addressed only by comprehensive, long-form blogs. Such content usually generates more backlinks, resulting in a higher SERP ranking. You can later repurpose them as short blogs, infographics, or other content.

• Short blogs: We are not talking about Seth-Godin-level 200-word mini blogs. We are talking about 500–800 word blogs that hit the sweet spot with people who are on your website for a quick glance.

• Guest blogs: Invite an expert to pen a column or blog for you, and you can choose to do the same for them. Not only does it offer a fresh perspective to the readers, but it also helps you build brand awareness among a new audience. Ensure to backlink carefully to avoid getting penalized by Google.

Videos 

With the advent of YouTube in 2005, the way we consume content changed forever. Marketers and businesses caught a whiff of its potential almost right away. From Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter), to websites, you will see videos everywhere, highlighting how it has been utilized by businesses.

Studies show that people worldwide spend nearly 19 hours consuming videos every week. It definitely helps with SEO and with conversions. It is a no-brainer to include content in a form your audience is already consuming. In the coming year, you can try some of the following video styles.

• BTS videos: You've likely come across behind-the-scenes (BTS) videos on your social media feed. In 2024, people are all about embracing authenticity! What better way to be authentic than offering a sneak peek into the everyday workings of your company.

• How-to videos: Explainer videos are a great way to help customers who are struggling to figure out your offerings. Given the challenge of fleeting attention spans, it is best to use videos to simplify complex ideas into engaging instructions. It's no wonder that about 70% of marketers created explainer videos in 2022. To get more creative, a lot of people use animated videos to depict their explanations.

• Testimonial videos: When your customers talk about your products and their usefulness, there's nothing like it! However, spare your audience from those long videos of your customers extolling your brand and talking only about your company. Stop using this trope for testimonial videos, and instead encourage them to talk about themselves, their backgrounds, their passion, their challenges and the story of overcoming them. Organically, ask them to mention how your company is involved in their story. This will be the most real and genuine video that resonates with viewers.

AMAs 

Think of thought leadership articles, but more engaging and interactive—that's ask me anything (AMA). Originally a trend that kicked off on Reddit, it is now used as a content marketing tool by many businesses and media houses!

Here, you invite subject matter experts from your company or an outside expert, and welcome questions from your audience. This is not orchestrated or scripted like an interview; AMAs should be fun and a tad more honest and personal. Perhaps this is the reason everyone from a fin-tech company to a technology company, and even a celebrities make use of AMAs.

Podcasts 

Podcasts reached the pinnacle of popularity during the Covid pandemic, but the popularity has not faded; they continue to be relevant. Data from a recent study estimates that podcasts will reach over 100 million listeners in 2024, nearly a 21% increase from 2021. The convenience of listening to an audio broadcast while commuting or doing a chore is one of the biggest reasons why podcasts are a favorite among many.

When creating a podcast as part of your content plan, don't make it a mundane conversation, reeling off facts or business information. Keep it conversational, and use storytelling to communicate with your audience effectively. Check for comments, some of which you can address in your next episode. You can then go on to link to these podcasts in your blogs, social media feed, newsletters, and more. Podcasts serve as an excellent way to improve brand awareness.

Research 

Market research could be the best way to get a full view of your target audience. It is a great opportunity to crack the market, and spin it off as content on your channels. When asked the right questions to the right target audience, you can get great insights and searing clarity about specific target trends in the form of an answer. Then, you can translate these interesting finds into content that businesses and customers will find relevant and useful.

Keeping attention spans in mind, make a note to ask concise and clear questions, and try to limit the questions to 20 or less. This might help you get more responses. With these responses, create mini e-books, articles, infographics, videos, and more. You can also have your research or studies referenced by other articles, backlinking to your page to create more traffic.

These are some of the content ideas that are bound to work well for you in 2024. In addition, you can always continue to explore other formats like whitepapers (which are well-researched report to guide customers), case studies (which analyzes the efficacy of your offering with regards to a particular customer), downloadable files (including e-books, brochures, infographics and guides), and webinars, among other options.

In conclusion 

Planning and executing your content strategy may seem like a task now, but it is going to be a rewarding experience! We hope our blog helps you brainstorm ideas, plan your content calendar, and explore content formats for the upcoming year. Just remember to keep it original, plagiarism-free, fresh, and relevant.