Struggling to Get Links? Learn to Brainstorm Linkable Content Ideas

Creating content that attracts links and engagement is a form of art, especially these days when marketers have to deal with content overload: There’s more content created than can possibly be consumed. Standing out is unbelievably challenging. 

You need to think outside of the box.

I know this sounds easier said than done. Where should we even start?

Our team has been coming up with linkable content asset ideas, executing them and promoting content for it to get links for more than 10 years. So I got some input from them to see how they are doing it.

We are also hosting a Linkedin LIVE session on Wednesday, 1pm est, to share our processes and answer your questions. Please join us!

Start by using your brain

This is the best and the first tool to use, for most people 🙂

We have had clients from almost every industry imaginable, even ones that typically might not be interesting or fun to the average consumer. However, some of our most successful campaigns have targeted really niche topics because we were compelled to really think outside of the box in order to find an angle that was both relevant and viral-worthy. It’s like a fun, challenging puzzle of psychology, creativity, and culture!

One of the first steps I take when brainstorming for a client or a specific topic is asking myself what I would want to know. We want our content to catch the attention and resonate with our fellow humans, so tapping into our human curiosity is a wonderful way to achieve that.

When brainstorming ideas, think of topics that will elicit a reaction. Whether it's joy, rage, or concern, ideas that pull a visceral emotional response from users tend to get the most engagement.

When we come up with ideas around any topic, we try to find an angle or a story that would trigger emotions. 

For example, for a real estate client, we won’t simply visualize the growth rate of housing. Everyone knows that houses are more expensive these days than they used to be ~5 years ago. Instead we visualize how much smaller a house has gotten for the same amount of money. This angle is much likelier to trigger emotional response, and hence engagements and coverage.

Think about who would care about the content you produce. Would it interest users in a particular demographic, geographic location, or niche hobby? You can create the most amazing content in the world, but if there's no audience that cares, it won't be successful.

Google it

Google is a great way to discover directions to explore. It offers lots of clues (related questions, related queries, image packs, etc.) to help you brainstorm.

Simply googling the topic (or a question surrounding the topic) and sifting through the “people also ask” section is a great way to find inspiration too. You can discover what people want to know about it and the answers they are searching for.

When searching Google, I’d often switch to the Image search because it can suggest some unexpected topics and angles visually, so you can get inspired by simply scrolling through Google images. I like how it clusters by query into subtopics helping me narrow it down to something more specific and often trending:

Google’s Dataset Search is often another great source of ideas. It lets you find related statistics and data to help you come up with a visual story.

Search Reddit

Reddit is a fantastic place to find inspiration too. Search for the topic or keywords that you want to target and explore relevant subreddits. Check out what is “hot” right now and also sort by “top” to see what has performed well in that community. 

You can find questions your target audience is asking, pain points, topics of interest, etc. and create a resource that fulfills those angles. Being genuinely helpful goes a long way on Reddit and beyond! 

Another great way to search Reddit is Buzzsumo’s “Question Analyzer.” You can limit to reddit.com when searching:

I often switch to the “Related Themes” tab to find some related terms and concepts to explore:

Search what journalists write about

Another cool feature of Buzzsumo is to search most shared content written by journalists. Simply type your keyword into Content Analyzer, choose the timeframe and select “View only journalists:”

You can sort results by total engagements, tweets, links or the “Evergreen score” (i.e. this content picks up more signals over a longer period of time)

Remember none of these tools will give you a complete idea. They are only good for finding a direction to explore and brainstorm further on. Use ChatGPT or Gemini to ask them come up with unique and engaging angles based on your research but - again - use it is a starting point.

It is not easy!

We have been creating linkable assets for years, so we have a process and experience to be able to come up with ideas that get links. Pick our brains!