How to generate niche-related content

[Cedric]

As we had a discussion earlier in the feedback section, the idea of this topic came up. Heck, I could even turn this into a snippet. As webmasters, we all know that creating fresh, relevant content is key to keeping our forums engaging and growing our audience. But what do you do when you feel like you've exhausted all the obvious topics in your niche? How do you come up with new and interesting ideas for content that your users will love?

Let's share our best tips and strategies for generating more niche-related content! Do you look to current events or trending topics for inspiration? Do you brainstorm with your team or turn to your users for suggestions? Have you found any particular tools or resources helpful in identifying new angles to explore?

And what about repurposing content? Do you ever revisit old threads or posts and give them a fresh spin? Or do you prefer to create entirely new content from scratch?

For starting, Listen to your audience: Your members can provide great ideas for new content. As proven with the origin with this topic. Pay attention to the topics that come up often, and think about creating content that explores those topics in more depth.

I'm also a fan of repurposing existing content: Don't be afraid to reuse content you've already created. You could turn a popular forum thread into a blog post or video, or use it as a starting point for a new discussion. Some topics are often overlooked and don't gain any engagement. Or maybe you can rewrite a topic created by a member that you can rewrite better in content and thus generate more engagement from.

Let's swap ideas and best practices, and help each other keep our forums thriving with great content.

 

[Tracy]

But what do you do when you feel like you've exhausted all the obvious topics in your niche? How do you come up with new and interesting ideas for content that your users will love?

For me.. it usually mans spending MORE money that I could use for other stuff to buy more items (that I personally may not be interested in) to create articles/reviews for the site. Since I'm a hobbyist site, those additional "toys" are paid for out of my pocket and not provided by others for my review. If my site ever gets "large" then that (the items provided for review) may change, but honestly, that's probably going to also involve me getting into "YouTube" type reviews. And personally.. i feel a lot more comfortable giving a review if I have "skin in the game". If the item didn't cost me out of my pocket, I (yes, even me) could let it slide on areas that if I had to pay for it I might not have.
For my niche.. there are always new toys to investigate... like the current $2000 ASI2600 Duo setup that ZWO recently came out with.. sorry, my pockets are not that deep that I can spend $2k here and $6K there to create content.. so I actually have to depend on others to help.. but it's a catch-22. You have to have content to get users involved, and then they have to be interested enough to participate... that IS one strong point of my niche... most that are willing to sign up will participate as this field is a "love".
Then you have the "time" involved.. usually a simple capture of one target can involve 8-200 hours before you process it... then processing the data can take anywhere from 3 hours up to 3-4 days (depending on the processing hardware) before you get one simple image.

This is a simple (not quite) 6 hour capture.. and a quick (and poor) processing that took several more hours.

Sometimes those that are in a specific niche simply don't want to take the time to get actively involved for some reason. I have an associate that spent around $30K for some land in Arizona... then he invested another $20+K in an observatory and static hardware.. and in the last 4 years he's captured a LOT of data..... but processed none.

If one is in a generic "chit-chat" area, you are going to have issues creating continuing interesting content that cannot be easily found elsewhere. In particular niches, it's much easier (albeit at times can get expensive).

Do you ever revisit old threads or posts and give them a fresh spin?

Personally... I have NO problems with updating an "old" thread with current pertinent content.. I realize that some admins would prefer a new post/thread be made, but to me, why? If it's topical, just because it may have laid fallow for a few months, why should you NOT want it updated... it provides continuity, instead of fracture into a separate topic.

I'm also a fan of repurposing existing content

The hardest issue I currently face is "Do I want to make an article, a review, a showcase or a post" on a topic.
There are a couple of causes where it can fit in multiple areas.... and to me, that is a simple weakness in the current "forum" setup.. those areas are siloed off from each other.

 

[Cedric]

The hardest issue I currently face is "Do I want to make an article, a review, a showcase or a post" on a topic.
There are a couple of causes where it can fit in multiple areas.... and to me, that is a simple weakness in the current "forum" setup.. those areas are siloed off from each other.

I'm facing the same issue. My experience has taught me that topics generate more active engagement, while an article or snippet in my case generates more traffic. It's better to have articles in long term, as it could bring in more niche related audience. But we can't forget about the active engagement, it's equally important. The real question is, how do you generate more engagement on articles?

 

[Tracy]

My experience has taught me that topics generate more active engagement,

What is nice, I use XenForo and Bob's Article Management System... it has the ability to crate an article and also create an actual discussion thread related to it (not comments, but an actual thread). His other add-ons have that ability, but I currently don't use them, but probably should have, like for my Link Directory.

 

[Cedric]

What is nice, I use XenForo and Bob's Article Management System... it has the ability to crate an article and also create an actual discussion thread related to it (not comments, but an actual thread). His other add-ons have that ability, but I currently don't use them, but probably should have, like for my Link Directory.

Definitely, @Bob 's add-ons are brilliant - they make engagement way better and easier for us to manage or generate. So, that's a good point.

 

[Tracy]

Definitely, @Bob 's add-ons are brilliant - they make engagement way better and easier for us to manage or generate. So, that's a good point.

I pretty much have every one of his add-ons other than the "gaming" ones... and have found a valid use for each. Could some of them be linked? Probably... but that's where we get back to the basic weakness of most forum software packages.. their "features" tend to be siloed off from each other.

 

[Cedric]

Also, before I forget - we should also involve our house developer @kolakube

His XFtoWP plugin for WordPress is brilliant too. And could also generate more traffic/engagement to your forum if your articles are posted on WordPress rather than Bob's Article Management System.

 

[Tracy]

Personally... I'd rather try to keep as much as possible into the same ecosphere. I like WordPress.. but bridging it with XF seems to regularly cause issues.

 

[kolakube]

Let's share our best tips and strategies for generating more niche-related content! Do you look to current events or trending topics for inspiration? Do you brainstorm with your team or turn to your users for suggestions? Have you found any particular tools or resources helpful in identifying new angles to explore?

I think more websites should create mico-content. If it's so addicting on social media why couldn't it be the same on a website?

Personally... I'd rather try to keep as much as possible into the same ecosphere. I like WordPress.. but bridging it with XF seems to regularly cause issues.

What issues do you see?

 

[Tracy]

What issues do you see?

One of the biggest issues is the further siloing of data. I have yet to see a bridge that allows easy finding of data from WP->XF or XF<-WP.
The other has been some "user sync" problems with a particular bridge add-on (think they got it fixed as I quit helping the person after they became somewhat demanding on other stuff they wanted done, all of which was being done at my normal price of free).
One other issue was WP updates causing some "breaks" with the bridge that was being used in XF communication. Won't mention that bridge's developer, but it probably won't be hard to figure out since there are so few.

 

[Jason]

You need to know a lot about your content. Well, in my case, I know a lot about drumming, minus drumming equipment. That helps out big time on my forum, but I do need to hire some other drummers who have more knowledge with equipment at some point.

Note: if you're trying to generate content but don't know much about it, it can be too hard to deal with. In that case, despite the money you might dream of, you shouldn't do it.