Content creation is a hot topic within the world of PR, social media and marketing. From blog posts to bylined articles, strategic public relations practitioners everywhere are helping navigate this new frontier. And while many organizations have accepted the task of regularly producing content, the quest to keep up with the demand for content can lead well meaning vendors down a dark path – plagiarism.

Image courtesy Iron Monk

Here are my five tips to help content creators keep those creative juices flowing:

1. Stick to what you know. Seems so simple yet too often we’re tempted to blog about something that’s really trendy. Stay focused! A true believer of my own tips, you’ll notice that this blog post is about content, not Instagram.
2. Feeling stuck? Chat with your sales team. If I ever am feeling out of touch or starved for content, I’ll chat with my clients’ sales team. They’re in the trenches every day and can often spot a trend well before it has gone mainstream.
3. When in doubt, just start writing. Your content will start out a little rough, but eventually it works itself out. Trust me on this one. Believe it or not, this post started out as an ode to Tupac‘s hologram.
4. Research what people are looking for. When I’m researching topics for content, I like to know what people are searching for and talking about. I like to use tools like Google Trends, Yahoo Buzz Index and search.twitter.com.
5. Listen to your data. Look at your website’s analytics to see what people are clicking on. And don’t forget press release reports. Typically, when you issue a press release via wire services like BusinessWire, you receive a report that indicates which links are being clicked on. Use this data to help you determine what topics people are most interested in learning about.

What are your tips for constant content creation? Leave a comment below.