Content marketing is all the buzz in social business, and the secrets of content marketing start with ideation.

What is ideation? Well, it is quite simple. Ideation is the formation of concepts or ideas. Easy, right? Much easier said than done. One of the great secrets of content marketing comes down to that simple task. In order to find success, you are going to need to have a great idea. Those aren’t always the easiest to come by. Luckily, there are ways to give your ideation a boost.

The strategies below are a few ways to go about finding inspiration for your next great content marketing campaign.

Use Tools at Your Disposal

There are plenty of tools out there that can give your ideation process a major boost. Trendsmap tells you what is trending on Twitter in different areas. Creating content around a popular event is always a great way to generate buzz, and Trendsmap is a good start.

There is also Ubersuggest, which describes itself as ‘suggest on steroids’. Type in a keyword, location and medium and watch the results populate with suggestions for other keywords and phrases with every letter of the alphabet!

Soovle is an incredible tool that provides you with the most searched terms based on your typed keyword – as it is being typed! See what popular searches look like and begin working with those terms to create highly sought after content.

Monitor Industry Chatter

Something as simple as watching your Twitter feed can give you the inspiration you need to create a great content marketing strategy. There is no greater inspiration than your industry’s conversation. Social channels offer us an opportunity to see what people are thinking, and what interests them at this moment.

Opening your eyes and ears to trends in conversations – either by simply monitoring your social feeds or with the use of a higher end listening tool – will help you better understand what people want to see. You can then use this insight to create a multi-channel campaign that generates significant engagement.

Incorporate Every Channel

The 2013 content marketing study by Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs shows that the most successful content marketing campaigns are using upwards of 14 social channels to share their content. You can’t ignore any channels when it comes to creating a successful content marketing campaign.

When searching for an idea, consider one that can expand onto every one of your social channels (and then some). Your story should be capable of being told on any platform, with a variety of media types (e.g. text, video, photo, etc.).

These are just a few of the ways in which you can create a successful content marketing strategy starting with ideation. The secrets of content marketing are pretty simple; success is going to start with an idea.

What does your ideation process entail? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!