If there is anything we hate, it’s boring and redundant content. It can be easy to fall into the trap of pushing out the same stuff when you're… well, trying to sell the same stuff. But that’s not a good reason to get lazy. At SI EQ, where we often reference the phrase “Content is King'', we believe developing engaging content that attracts your target audience gives you a major advantage in the marketplace. Part of making content engaging is making sure it’s new and fresh and not something you've seen done before a million times. This can be challenging for entities such as equipment dealers and agriculture companies who are constantly marketing the same merchandise and services. Nevertheless, there are ways to freshen up old topics and give them a new spin.

Relate your content to current trends and events

This is a common practice for many marketers, so much so that it can be easy to overdo it. (Think cringe tweets by large corporations). Regardless, this can be a great tactic for more engagement. This could look like using a trending topic on Twitter to promote your product or recreating a funny meme to post on Facebook or Instagram. For more long-form content, you can write a blog post on your website on how a current event or trend can affect your audience. But you must be warned to proceed with caution. Not every trend or topic is for your brand. It is important to use discretion when you use one of your brand’s channels to join a challenge or put your two cents into a viral debate. A good rule of thumb is to only engage in trends that reflect your company’s values and that are generally light, without any negative connotation.

Write seasonal content

Just like you can create content revolving around a current hot topic, you can also create content revolving around a current season or upcoming holiday. People would want to see your finance blog inform people on how to prepare for taxes in the spring. Around the holidays, why not create a listicle on “5 Perfect Gifts for Your Loved Ones” that feature your brand’s product. Each season brings new traditions and different sets of problems to be solved. So as a creative you can take advantage of this to write about your topic from a new angle. This makes your content more relevant and more likely to catch the attention of your audience. For example, the spring time is when consumers are likely to start getting their lawn together so for one of our clients we created a page titled, “Top 5 Things to Service on Your Mower Before Spring”.

Write from a new perspective

You might think there is nothing more you can say about your service or product that you haven’t said before, and this may be true. But one thing you can do is tell the same story with different characters. Take the topic of tractors for example. Tractors can be used by different people; farmers, homeowners, even construction workers. With this being said, you can create 3 different pieces of content that cater to each demographic. If you wrote a million pages on tractor implements for small farmers, think about how a homeowner could use those same implements for their home maintenance. You’re writing about the same thing, just looking at it from another perspective. This can also apply to skill level and knowledge on a topic. You might have written about a topic so much you’re basically an expert, but there are people out there who just need a starting point. So break your subject down into something that beginners can easily digest. It will be necessary for you to wear another person’s shoes sometimes.

Experiment with different formats

Another way to shake things up is by experimenting with different formats and types of content. For example, instead of writing another product review page, write a Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have over-exhausted customer reviews and “fun fact” social media posts, try recording video demonstrations. Turn a basic SEO Page into a “Buyer’s Guide” for a product. Another twist on this tactic could be recycling old content that performed well and featuring it new content such as a roundup of your favorite posts of the year or even a compilation video for your most popular Instagram Reels. All and all, this method can require some creativity (And that is why content creation is a job). If you find yourself stuck, don’t hesitate to brainstorm with some colleagues or search to see what type of content other people are creating about the topic for inspiration. 

Let’s get niche

You might have brushed over many things in previous pieces of content without going into much detail. Zoom in on these very specific things and create more detailed content on small niches and aspects of your brand/product that people might not know about. This could look like content dedicated to a specific product, or even more niche, a product feature. Look at things you have created in the past to see if you can turn a bullet point or paragraph into a whole page. 

Ask your audience what they want to see

You can absolutely use your posts’ past metrics and insights to see what has performed well with your audience, but if there is something your audience is craving that you haven’t been giving them, how would you know? Ask your audience directly with tools such as polls, Instagram’s Questions feature on Stories, or even encouraging your followers to comment on a post. You might be surprised by what people have to say. Of course, you might not be able to follow every suggestion if it doesn’t align with your marketing goals or there would be no ROI, but hey- it’s worth a shot.

Writing about the same topics for an extended period of time is bound to have you get stuck every once in a while. That’s normal, it's just up to you not to stay there. So take a breather, and zoom out (or in). There will always be another way to approach the subject and as long as you stay open and use creativity, you can always find a way to make the same old thing feel brand new.