Nobody wants that.
And once they find what they’re looking for, they will often share it helping you grow your audience even further.
But figuring out what your ideal customer thinks is valuable content can be a challenge. You need to understand how you can offer them what they want.
Valuable Content Tips
Knowing what your audience wants generally stems from thinking about the following and addressing it in your content:- Solving a problem your audience has.
- Answering a common question or clarifying something about your product, service, or industry. (For instance, attorneys produce a lot of content on whether someone has a case, what the process is, and how they can begin. A lot of people want to do research on this before they contact an attorney.)
- DIYing
- Entertaining the reader or watcher
- Showing a personal side to your business
- Inspiring the reader or watcher to something bigger and better
That’s generally what’s on your customer’s mind when they peruse your content. Every piece of content should educate, inspire, or entertain. Good quality content does several of those at one time.
You also want to use evocative images, memes, and/or GIFs to keep them moving through your article. If you’re producing a video, on the other hand, create a transcript with it or a blog post that hits the high points of what you’re saying.
Produce valuable content in a format your audience enjoys.
Make sharing and delivery easy.
That’s it. Those are the basics of what you need to know. Now let’s get into some awesome content ideas for summer.
Tuck these away somewhere or add them to your editorial calendar so you have topics all summer long.
Ready?
26+ Content Topics for Your Business This Summer
You can use these ideas for blogs, social media posts, or videos but it’s also helpful to tailor them to your business. For instance, “best places to cool down in town” can easily list your ice cream shop. No harm in adding yourself as long as everything you publish isn’t about you.Another thing…
You might think with this list that these topics aren’t directly about your business. That’s okay. They’re seasonal and the topics are relatable for most of your audience. The content topics should also be fun to produce.
And they will help your business because they’re designed to get a lot of shares. Before you think I’m way off base, consider the exclusive Michelin-rating system for restaurants came out of a travel guide written by Michelin Tires in order to get their customers to drive more. Look for similar complementary businesses or industries that you could write about that aren’t you pushing you. Shine the spotlight on something else your ideal customer likes to do or would be of benefit to them.
Now let’s get right into summer content:
- Best local road trips
- Worst advice for summer vacation
- Best BBQ tricks
- How to survive _____ (fill in the blank with something like Summer Vacation, Trips with the Kids, The Kids Being Off All Summer, or Summer With Hot Flashes. Whatever content would be valuable for your ideal demographic.)
- Our Team Rings in on the Best Things About Summer (poll or interview your staff)
- Best summertime playlist (offer yours and ask customers to add to it on social media or on your blog)
- Review a local tourist attraction
- Create a list of local day camps (This is something most parents need and having all the info in one space for them can save a lot of time.)
- Smart savings tips
- Best staycation activities
- Budget-friendly summer fun
- Gift ideas for graduates (brides, dads, etc.)
- Tips for preparing your child for the next stage in school (elementary school kids moving to junior high, junior high to high, high to college, etc.)
- Best summer foods and how to make them
- How to make your ____ better this summer (home, health, relationship, etc.)
- Fashion trends for summer or a funny post about things you won’t be caught dead in this summer
- Pet owner tips for the summer heat
- Back-to-school must haves
- Event planning tips for your summer events
- Best jobs for summer interns (this could also be how to land a job, local companies looking for interns, or best projects to give your interns)
A couple of other things that will help you round out your summer content calendar:
- July is National Ice Cream Month
- July 5 is Workaholic Day (maybe a post about work/life balance?)
- June’s birth flower is the rose
- August is back-to-school time and there are endless content ideas surrounding that
- August is Family Fun Month
- August 9 is Book Lover’s Day
I’ve shared over 26 ideas to get you started on creating the kind of content that gets shared. These topics require very little research and many provide an opportunity to showcase something in your area outside of your own business. Those types of nice moments mean a lot to the group you’re showcasing and may lead to an increase in audience numbers for you as they share the mention too.
Christina R. Green teaches small businesses, chambers, and associations how to connect through content. Her articles have appeared in the Midwest Society of Association Executives’ Magazine, NTEN.org, AssociationTech, and WritersWeekly. She is a regular blogger at Frankjkenny.com and the Event Manager Blog.
Christina is an introverted writer on a quest to bring great storytelling to organizations everywhere.
