Stuck for content ideas? Try these 5 tips!

To be totally honest with you, I struggled to think of something to write for this blog post.

Then it hit me - why not tell you how I come up with content ideas for my social media and emails?!

I know this is something that lots of you struggle with, as you've told me that you'd like this to be a focus for my workshop with Abbie Stratford about social media.

So, here are the 5 things I do to ensure I always have something to post or email about...

1. I use the notes app in my phone all the time. Whenever I think of an idea for a post, I write it in a note in my phone. I have a dedicated note called "business socials ideas" and I just quickly pop it in there.

2. I have a weekly posting pattern. I aim for 3 posts a week on each of my Instagram accounts, a newsletter every week for Kate Languages and this one, a LinkedIn newsletter, 2 blog posts a week, plus a couple of posts in my Facebook group every week. Again, in my notes app, I've got a dedicated note called "social media content plan", which reminds me of what I want to post and when. E.g. Monday is 'Kate Languages Instagram/Facebook engagement post and story'. I then have a look at my ideas note, or the social media post ideas I share in the Teaching Beyond the Classroom community, and go from there.

3. I repurpose old content regularly. This blog post started life as an email newsletter, and I will use it as a LinkedIn newsletter next week, and as a carousel on my @iamkateclifton Instagram, too. I remix old reels that have done well when I can't think of new ones to share, or I repurpose reels captions into carousels. I believe in this so much that in April 2026, in the TBTC membership, I set members a challenge to repost an old reel or carousel that performed well! It's not 'cheating' to do this - the way I see it is that Coca-Cola don't create new adverts for every single ad break on TV, so why can't we repost old content as well?!

4. I use AI for inspiration. Another thing that is definitely not 'cheating', when used well. I use Claude to help me come up with ideas, but then I tweak and change the copy to make it sound more like me. I even use Claude to help me come up with the social media post ideas I share with the TBTC community every month... but again I refine it to make it relevant for education businesses and the members' specific needs.

5. When all else fails, I put my phone down and do something else! I go for a walk, I have a shower, I cook dinner... anything that doesn't require too much brain power. I let my brain work away in the background and often get some of my best ideas that way! Remember I said I was struggling to think of an idea for this blog post? It came to me in the shower! Sorry, is that TMI?!

OK, on that slightly awkward note, I'll leave it here 😂

As always, I'd love to know whether you use any of these strategies or whether you have other tricks for coming up with content ideas?