How to Use the Cloud to Brainstorm Social Media Content

When it comes to creative ideas, some people just bubble over with innovative, out-of-the-box concepts. Even people who come up with impactful campaigns and inventive methods of grabbing customers’ attention, run into a wall every now and then. The reality is that even the most creative minds get stuck every once in a while. With so many people, businesses and brands vying for users’ attention, it’s crucial that one succeeds at brainstorming inventive social media content. Thanks to the cloud, the time taken to generate new ideas and present them on social media has been effectively cut in half. Here are some ways in which you can use the cloud to create some truly unique social media content:

1. Break the Mold

The most common cause of any creative block is usually because you get caught up in a content loop, which almost forces you to think along the traditional lines of content creation. You’re probably only thinking about your blog, or a social media campaign, thereby confining yourself to limited content. The content loop is a visceral trap. You’re going to have to break the mold if you want to get out of it. The cloud gives you instant access to countless formats for video, audio, infographic, blog posts, and so on. So, when you feel overwhelmed, hit the restart button and create a campaign around some fresh new ideas. This removes your creative block, or can change the way you think!

2. Watch the Competition

One of the major benefits of social media is transparency. One of the biggest advantages of the cloud is its reach. The two of them put together can be an inspiring source of ideas for your social media content creation needs. Social media gives you a front row seat to what your competition is doing. And what they’re planning on doing. The cloud lets you view all of their content, and can also hint at the specific keywords they are targeting. The cloud can also give you data on how successful their marketing efforts are, in real time! Social media and the internet, in general, tend to keep posts live for months, or even years. You could use older content to inspire yourself to create something unique.

3. Research Keywords Carefully

SEO and social media content creation doesn’t have to be only about data. It can also be a stepping stone for you to improve your current and future campaigns. You can use search engines like Google to find out what keywords your industry and competitors use, or you could follow them on social media. This will give you insights into popular keywords, as well as trending hashtags. It also helps you pay attention to the topics that content creators use, as well as the keywords that users are searching for. You’re basically looking for anything that will add value to your reader’s experience. The cloud allows you to scan social media for the most popular terms so you can add your input in the form of opinions or related sentiment.

4. Real-time Learning

Just as you can spy on your competition using the cloud and social media, you can also generate your own ideas by learning a thing or 2 from the market leaders. You can get information about the leaders in your specific industry. Or just generic advice that allows you to streamline your B2B and/or B2C processes. When going through a market leader’s campaign history, you’ll effectively have access to all their marketing efforts, right from seasonal campaign data, to results on viral and guerilla marketing. Learning from the best on how to integrate social media and the cloud with real-life is bound to inspire you in some way or the other.

5. Leverage Social Intelligence

The basic premise of social media content is to improve user engagement levels or to connect with them on some relatable sentiment. Your social media campaigns should focus on your audience. What better way to do that than to make them the focus of your content. But in order to leverage social intelligence, you’re going to have to dive into users’ online behavior, among other things. Social intelligence can offer you unprecedented insight into the needs and wants of your customer base. These can then be used to create an amazing social media campaign.

There is constant stress put on social media marketers to develop innovative and interesting social media content. And although most professionals can deliver, creative ideas can run dry without any notice. But with the cloud and social media, it isn’t impossible to cater to the evolving demands of an industry that thrives on fresh ideas and unique content.

Mauricio is the CEO of Cloudwards.net, a data and user feedback driven comparison engine for cloud apps and services. He enjoys writing and producing educational videos around the cloud to help people find the best cloud service for their needs.