“I have too many topics for my blog!”
Said no school marketer ever.
Managing a blog and consistently creating new content is difficult. Doing this as a school marketer is even harder. We know how busy schools can be, so it can feel like a luxury to block out time to write your next blog. But you can certainly make things easier for yourself by having a few tricks up your sleeve. The next time you have writer’s block, try one of these ideas to keep your pen moving across the page.
Here are five ways to find new ideas for your school blog.
1. Identify staff with specialised knowledge
It’s impossible to be an expert in all areas of education when you are not an educator. Luckily for you, as a school marketer you are surrounded by them. All you need is four to five teaching staff who are happy to contribute a piece once every couple of months, and you immediately have regular content for your blog. Word of warning though – it’s important that you proof every staff blog. We’re not questioning anyone’s ability to write, but only you – as the brand expert – can make sure the content aligns with the school’s style guide and has a consistent tone of voice.
2. Invite guest bloggers
Using guest bloggers is one way of showing that your school is well connected and informed in the direction that education is moving in. Identify key and accessible thought leaders in education and invite them to contribute to your blog. This could be as simple as using retired staff, or as elaborate as contacting a highly respected keynote speaker to use one of their articles on your blog.
3. Repurpose content in different formats
Your old blogs don’t need to gather dust on the virtual shelf. Try looking at your analytics to identify the blogs that have performed particularly well and consider how you might repurpose them. Perhaps there’s one that’s well suited to an infographic layout, checklist or how-to guide format. Or you may just want to expand on a section of a blog to provide more depth for your readers. Your existing blogs often have a much longer lifespan than you give them credit for.
4. Monitor industry blogs for new topics
Subscribing to education-related newsletters, podcasts or YouTube channels are a great way of finding new inspiration. This Edutopia podcast list is a good place to start. There are numerous lists of education blogs online as well, not to mention platforms like Quora and Medium. Keeping an eye on different news and blogging channels can provide inspiration all year.
5. Use online blog topic generators
Our last tip is to use online blog topic generators. The HubSpot version generates multiple heading suggestions based on three nouns that you provide. Portent’s Content Idea Generator also relies on keywords to suggest topics but with some extra personality. There are plenty more sites to choose from as you can see from this list.
Hopefully this blog has left you feeling inspired to keep writing. In case you are not entirely convinced, to find ideas for this blog, I started by reading some industry blogs that I subscribe to.
