How to steal content ideas from your audience

A common mistake creators make is creating content based on their assumptions. Meaning they are building something they think their audience will like.

Sometimes, they'll be right.

But most of the time, they won't.

The thing is that for content to resonate with people, you need to be 100% right.

It would be best if you spoke to them, their situation, and their pain points.

Your content is the solution.

But we can't get inside our audience's head.

So what's the alternative?

How can we create content that we know our audience will appreciate? Or better said, that we know that our audience needs?

Well, there are two ways. One works if you already have an audience. The second one works even if you don't have one.

Let's take a look👇

If you have an audience…ask them directly (but with a twist)

The quickest path to get what you want from your audience is to ask them directly.

Sounds easy, right? But a simple question won't do.

You might ask, "What do you want me to write more about?" and get a few replies.

The question is plain and boring and requires a ton of effort from your audience.

But imagine you ask this 👇

Now the question feels fun, way more nuanced and focused.

By asking the question from a different angle, they ensure their audience is more inclined to participate.

Another example:

Rob is not asking for “what do you want me to write about?”.

He’s asking for one specific topic.

He wants their audience to focus on one of their pain points. It’s clear and direct.

And it works.

I’m sure both Jay and Rob will use the replies to fuel their content calendar and future products.

These questions are not casual. These creators are well aware of what they are doing! 👇

TL;DR:

• Don’t make it boring. Give your question a twist
• Ask them to be specific (”one topic”)
• Make it feel like easy work (“reply with one word”

If you don’t have an audience yet…steal the replies

I know what you are thinking now "But Alex, how can I do this when I don’t have an audience?"

It’s true that an audience makes this easier. But, of course, not everyone has built one yet.

This is what I used to do (and still do).

1. Find around 3 to 5 bigger accounts in your niche (above 10k ideally for bigger sample size)
2. Do one of the following:
3. If you are on Twitter, use the advanced search to look for questions and keywords
4. If you are on any other platform, look for a post that explicitly tackles one pain point and dig into the replies

Let’s see it with two examples:

How to use Twemex to “steal replies”

Twemex is a FREE Chrome extension that automatically shows the best tweets from whatever profile you are visiting.

That itself is interesting, but the best part is that it has a search bar where you can type any topic, and it will return any tweet containing that.

What I usually do is type either “what,” “how,” or “why” into that search bar and then try to find a tweet where the author is asking things to their audience.

An example with Justin Welsh (who has my target audience) asking people, “How do you review your time spent?”

This is the first reply that pops up:

Now if I wanted, I might think my next thread could be a "How to do a weekly audit of your time." That could also be a Notion template or a fully digital product!

I didn't ask my audience directly, but I didn't need to. I stole the insight from Justin's audience.

Note: this is not sponsored; it's just that the tool is excellent 😅

Dig for a post and find replies

If you are not using Twitter, the alternative version is more manual but equally effective. First, you need to go to one of these "top" profiles we mentioned and look at their replies.

Right now, I'm trying to grow on LinkedIn. So I went through Jessie's profile, who is doing a great job at it, to find a few content ideas. Then I stumbled upon this post:

I struck gold! Here Jessie is asking his audience directly, I know for sure the replies will be gold. And there are 44 of them!

This is exactly why you should always be on the lookout

Note: I used LinkedIn for this example, but this works the same on Instagram and even Youtube.

Moving forward

Throw your assumptions into the trash. Make your audience your best content fuel. Doing that will make sure your content hits the sweet spot.

But of course, you still need to create what you want and feel like. You can’t let your audience dictate 100% of your moves. They got to follow you because they value your perspective too.

Don't forget to add that to the content mix; you'll do great!