Coaches: How to Easily Generate Blog Ideas and Social Media Content

Let's talk about something most coaches have trouble with: Generating new content and consistently getting it out to their audience – clients, prospects and followers.

So many of the coaches I know aren't getting enough of this done. And I often hear things like, “I can’t think up any fresh ideas for my blog and social media posts,” or, “Generating new content ideas takes me so much time and energy that I just end up blowing it off!”

If you struggle with getting this done, this blog is for you: I’ll give you One Weird Exercise that’ll generate tons of fresh ideas – even if you don’t think you have anything new to say.

And then I'll share how to use A.I. to improve the output of great ideas while still maintaining the integrity in the resulting content (i.e., not just asking ChatGPT, "Give me some content ideas."

But first, let’s be reminded of...

The Importance of Consistent Outbound Content

ONE. Most people who visit your site, read your blog or sign up for your Freemium Lead Magnet are NOT ready to buy. (Wouldn’t it be nice if they were?). So you HAVE to have follow-on outbound content that brings them back to your site or your social media platforms – again and again. Because…

TWO. A prospective client or buyer will require eight or more interactions with you before they’ll even consider hiring or buying from you. A consistent stream of value-packed content is the way to have those confidence-building interactions.

THREE. Like your freemium, your free outbound content is an indicator to your avatar that your paid content and services are worth the investment. And finally…

FOUR. Consistency (even if imperfect) is what keeps your brand top-of-mind. There’s a core principle in advertising media placement called Recency. It holds that the most important factor in making a sale when the prospect is ready to buy, is how recently your message was put in front of them.

So, in sum...

Your Content Ideas Are the Backbone of Your Marketing and Sales Ecosystem

...whether in the form of blogs, articles, podcasts, videos, Facebook Lives, tweets or Instagram Stories.

And again, I know that content idea generation seems HARD. But there are LOTS of hacks for sourcing great content, and I’ll share one -- a weird exercise inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk (a.k.a. Gary Vee) that’ll help you source ideas -- from your own fertile brain.

A Quick Story of Idea Generation

Fifteen years ago, when I was still a NYC ad exec, I was taking my seat on a flight to London to visit with a director and producer about my idea for a new multi-video instructional program for ADHD adults.

I had struggled for weeks to lay out even the outline of the 'curriculum' and now my meeting with them was the next day. And I’m thinking…

“There’s no way I can outline two hours’ worth of solid, strategy-packed video content in the next 24 hours!”

And the stuff had to be good cuz I’d be asking these two seasoned pros to direct and produce my videos for no pay – just a percentage of my not-yet-created company.

PLUS, I needed enough quality content to populate a new website, a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account.

Struggling to write in the first hour of the flight I gort panicky…and then paralyzed.

So I took a break and put on an audio book, Gary Vee's Crush-It!

Within minutes, he gave me the idea for an awesome hack to generate lots of content ideas on-the-spot, right outta my own brain.

I did the hack during the flight, landed at Heathrow with a really solid content outline, and the next day the director and producer signed on to help me create my award-winning “virtual coach” program, ADD Crusher™.

So, What Was That Hack?

I got the idea for it when Gary Vee said, “You think you’re not expert enough to create a powerful brand? Sit down for a couple hours and write 65 tweets about your area of interest. If you can get to 65, you’re a potential powerhouse!”

I knew I could generate valuable stuff for my ADHD peeps. What Gary Vee convinced me of is that it was already in my brain! But that I just needed to shake it all out of my head and onto “paper” – i.e., into my laptop.

Here’s why this hack works so well:

It frees you to not worry about writing entire blogs or scripts. It only asks your brain to poop out nuggets – tweet-sized nuggets, that can themselves serve as quick social media posts, but most of which are the seeds for a blog or a video or a podcast episode!

And so that’s what I did on that flight from New York to London. Just pooped outta my brain every little idea or insight or hack over the course of a couple hours. And when I landed, I not only had on my laptop a solid outline for the videos, but also about 80 solid insights, tips, tricks, quotes – all potential topics for short videos or blogs, and most of them ready for posting and tweeting.

So if you want a fresh batch of great content ideas to fuel your marketing ecosystem, some time in the next week, block off two hours, get some protein in your tummy and your favorite hot beverage, and write some tweets…

…About your own personal experience with challenges you coach around. Your quick-win solutions. Ways you manage your own fill-in-the-blank. Great quotes that are pre-loaded with ideas, solutions, insights. Believe me, you have 65 of these somewhere in your head right now!

But...Two Key Things to Make This Exercise Efficient and Super-Productive

First, you’re not writing tweets just to post on Twitter/X. But the reason you want to ONLY write tweet-lengths bits – let’s call it 140 to 280 characters long -- is that you are generating TOPICS. Not blogs or videos. TOPICS. IDEAS. INSIGHTS. BLURBS. QUIPS.

Cuz you DON’T want to get dragged down the rabbit hole of having a great idea and then, instead of generating more ideas, you end up writing half a blog about that one idea, and then you wipe yourself out…with only that half a blog to show for your two-hour work session!

And second, once you've generated a lot of ideas from your brain, you can then drop them into ChatGPT or Claude (the latter is a better 'writer') and ask it to...

Expand on each of those ideas (e.g., ask it for a 150-200 word post)
Suggest related topics based on your desired target profile, and...
Replicate your writing 'voice' in doing the above based on your original content

This maintains your integrity because the A.I. is using your writing as the primary source, and you're not just getting generic stuff from the internet.

To Recap

You gotta have a consistent flow of good outbound content. It’s the backbone of your business’s marketing ecosystem. The good news is, there are tons of sources of fresh content all around you – starting with the dusty corners of your own mind. If you give yourself permission to just poop out little nuggets, and not worry just yet about “The Big Blog Post,” more stuff will spill outta your brain.

OK, that’s all for now.

What are your thoughts on this topic? I'd love to know. Shoot me an email at [email protected] or DM me on Instagram @alanpbrown.

Bless!

APB