Content creation is not an easy feat. Everyone knows the familiar feeling: you’ve got a whirlwind of creative ideas flowing mentally, but the second it’s time to start writing, you draw a blank. Whether you’re ideating a blog, building a presentation or creating social content, being creative and delivering content gold — on top of all of the other hats that you’re wearing each day — is exhausting.
The global phenomenon known as Writer’s Block impacts us all, and for social practitioners — who have to continuously create content to keep their social feeds full across multiple platforms — it strikes more often than not. Social marketers constantly struggle with a lack of ideas and readily-available content to post on social media, as well as a lack of time to find inspiration. In fact, in a recent survey of over 2 500 Hootsuite customers, 32.63 per cent of respondents cited difficulty coming up with content ideas as the most significant challenge they face daily.
That’s why today, Hootsuite has announced the release of ‘Drawing Blanks: a Creative Workbook for Social Marketers.’
‘Drawing Blanks: a Creative Workbook for Social Marketers’ can be downloaded here.
(No longer) Drawing Blanks
Tapping into one creative pursuit has been proven to drive innovation in others, with art being one of the most powerful driving forces in this realm. Demonstrating this, a study by Drexel University found that when people completed artwork — even something as minor as doodling — they felt happier and saw an increased desire to engage in additional creative pursuits.
Drawing Blanks: a Creative Workbook for Social Marketers was created with this at the forefront, combining fill-in-the-blanks artwork and wisdom from Hootsuite’s very own social team to help social practitioners unleash their creative potential — and overcome writer’s block when it inevitably strikes.
The workbook bridges the gap between a blank screen and a completed social post with:
- Colouring-book style illustrations inspired by popular social media memes and out-of-the-box visuals, encouraging social marketers to step away from the blank screen and get their creative juices flowing. Does taking a break to colour in Mona Lisa with an iPhone or the housewife-yelling-at-a-cat meme sound productive? Look no further.
- Content tips and tricks, providing social marketers with actionable advice to get started on creating impactful social content. From tips on using creators and connecting with Gen Z to capitalising on that viral post, we’ve got it covered.
“There is a massive void in the social media marketing space when it comes to supporting marketers with idea generation and content creation,” said Billy Jones, senior director of brand marketing, Hootsuite. “Creating social content is often not seen as a creative act. But it absolutely is — and coming up with fresh, engaging ideas on a daily basis, across multiple channels, is not easy. That’s where Drawing Blanks comes in; by providing the creative inspiration to get started, we’re helping marketers overcome their writer’s block and ignite their creative talent.”
Hootsuite Reveals Comprehensive Suite of Content Creation Aids
Furthering its commitment to helping social marketers feel empowered to be creative, Hootsuite has developed a suite of product integrations and features to drive inspiration across all touchpoints on the content creation journey. To help build its customers’ confidence in creating effective content, Hootsuite has launched:
- Recommended hashtags: an AI-powered generator within Hootsuite Composer, which generates hashtag suggestions by analysing the content of the social post or supporting image.
- Integration with Canva, allowing users to create and edit compelling visual content in Canva and share across social networks — all from directly within the Hootsuite dashboard.
- Content inspiration library: a catalogue of content ideas within the Hootsuite platform, organised into four categories — convert, educate, inspire and entertain — to help social marketers find new inspiration for content and fill gaps in their content calendar. Each idea is supported by a recommendation on why/how to use the theme (i.e., using ‘Throwback Thursday’ to revisit a memorable point in time for the brand), a fully customizable image, and templated thought starters to get started on post copy.
- Grammarly integration in Hootsuite Composer, helping users write clear, concise and mistake-free content through advanced copy suggestions, as well as grammar and spell checks.
“Even for the most creative social marketer, finding the inspiration to continuously create content can be daunting. What we know, however, is that tapping into right brain creativity is at our customers’ fingertips — and technology is the tool to get them there,” said Natalia Williams, Chief Product Officer, Hootsuite. “We have one of the most comprehensive suites of content aids in the social space. Through our suite of product features, we’re helping customers overcome the barriers in their content creation journey and making it easier for them not only to post, but to feel confident in the creative content they are sharing.”
