NEWS

5 Ways to Generate Fresh, Intriguing Audience-Targeted Content Ideas

Published

5 years ago

July 10, 2019

5 ways to generate fresh intriguing audience targeted content ideas via juliaemccoy

Are you out of content ideas?

If your brain feels wrung-out and your eyes hurt from scanning article after article about finding new topics and brainstorming, it’s time to come at the problem from a new angle.

Particularly, the research angle.

Instead of pulling ideas out of thin air, researching content ideas gives you concrete proof that, yes, your audience is going to love this. That’s because you’re relying on the source itself to provide the fodder for your content.

Lean in, listen to what your audience wants to read, note their questions and problems, and take stock of what interests them. This is the pathway to content gold.

Here are some practical ways to dig in and collect those audience-backed content ideas through a little bit of old-fashioned qualitative research.

1. Network, Connect, and Converse with Your Ideal Leads

To find your greatest content ideas ever, focus on networking and having real conversations with your ideal leads.

Obviously, to do this, you need to understand your audience and be genuinely engaged within your industry and community.

Then, it’s time to:

Find, follow, and interact with your people on social media.
Pay attention to your social feeds and take opportunities to share and comment on others’ posts.
When you see your ideal audience members having a discussion or asking questions, don’t be afraid to chime in.
DM people with which you’ve established a connection and ask to pick their brains.
Attend local industry events and conferences, and get into those topics you’re super passionate about in-person!
Take notes and record the topics and questions you see popping up during your networking adventures.

To truly make this work, you can’t do it for a month and call it quits.

You need to invest time in networking and get interested in other people.

Expand your social circles with friendliness and curiosity, and your brand will benefit along with your well-being.

2. Mine Live Chats for Content Ideas

Next up: If you employ a live chat feature on your website, those conversations are great fodder for content ideas.

At my online content agency, our live chat tool of choice is Drift.

5 Ways to Generate Fresh, Intriguing Audience-Targeted Content Ideas

One of Drift’s best features is the ability to review all opened and closed conversations.

Using this tool, I regularly mine the live chats that happen on our site and look for FAQs from clients.

What questions and topics do I see over and over? These are ones to jump on and write content around.

For example, our audience is largely made up of marketers who are interested in SEO topics. Here’s an example from a Drift chat – this user is asking about Google Carousel:

5 Ways to Generate Fresh, Intriguing Audience-Targeted Content Ideas

Because we get so many SEO questions, 30-50% of our blog content revolves around these topics.

Pay attention to the trends you see from conversations in your live chat platform and use them to create relevant, right-here-right-now content.

3. Listen to Phone Calls from Sales

Another sales channel you shouldn’t leave uninvestigated for content ideas: Phone calls your sales team has with prospects.

These calls are gold mines for potential content topics, especially if a user is calling with a series of questions about your service/product.

If you start to hear the same questions over and over, guess what? Time to answer them in some meaty content pieces.

If you use a CRM system for sales like HubSpot or Salesforce, these platforms should have call monitoring and recording available as baked-in features. Don’t leave these content resources unexplored.

4. Create a Channel for Your Team to Share FAQs from Leads

While you’re leveraging conversational marketing to come up with content ideas, don’t forget to let your other team members in on the intel-gathering.

In particular, create a specific channel where your team can share FAQs from interactions with leads. Collecting these insights in one place will make your research and analysis a lot easier.

Some great collaborative platforms this would work well on include:

The channel can be as simple as a shared Google doc or a dedicated Slack channel. Use whatever integrates best with your team’s workflow.

Bonus: The topic research you gather from leads and customers can generate not only blog topics but also critical webpage topics you might be missing on your site, otherwise. Win-win.

5. Step Away from Your Desk After Research-Gathering (Let Your Brain Percolate)

This final tip for coming up with content ideas is about giving your mind room to breathe. This is the step to take after your research-gathering session has ended.

Specifically, after you’re satisfied with the amount of qualitative data you’ve collected, step away from your desk for a while. Don’t jump straight into writing.

Why? Because that pause after research gives your brain the time to process what you discovered.

According to dozens of studies on the subject, taking mental breaks helps refresh your attention, improves productivity, and generates brighter sparks of creativity.

5 Ways to Generate Fresh, Intriguing Audience-Targeted Content Ideas

Give yourself space to let those new thoughts, ideas, and research nuggets percolate.

You’ll come up with better, more fully synthesized content topics that provide insight and value to your audience. (Yes, I’m giving you permission to daydream at your desk on the regular. You’re welcome.)

Look Beyond the Expected Ways to Generate Content Ideas

If you use the same techniques as everyone else to come up with your content ideas…

Yep. Your content also will look like everyone else’s.

To differentiate, try to find unexpected, research-backed ways to ideate. Look to all the sources of data at your disposal and do a little detective work à la Sherlock Holmes.

Finally, remember to try to find out what your audience wants – after all, they’re the point of this little thing we call content.

NEWS

OpenAI Introduces Fine-Tuning for GPT-4 and Enabling Customized AI Models

Published

2 months ago

August 21, 2024

Max

OpenAI Introduces Fine-Tuning for GPT-4 and Enabling Customized AI Models

OpenAI has today announced the release of fine-tuning capabilities for its flagship GPT-4 large language model, marking a significant milestone in the AI landscape. This new functionality empowers developers to create tailored versions of GPT-4 to suit specialized use cases, enhancing the model’s utility across various industries.

Fine-tuning has long been a desired feature for developers who require more control over AI behavior, and with this update, OpenAI delivers on that demand. The ability to fine-tune GPT-4 allows businesses and developers to refine the model’s responses to better align with specific requirements, whether for customer service, content generation, technical support, or other unique applications.

Why Fine-Tuning Matters

GPT-4 is a very flexible model that can handle many different tasks. However, some businesses and developers need more specialized AI that matches their specific language, style, and needs. Fine-tuning helps with this by letting them adjust GPT-4 using custom data. For example, companies can train a fine-tuned model to keep a consistent brand tone or focus on industry-specific language.

Fine-tuning also offers improvements in areas like response accuracy and context comprehension. For use cases where nuanced understanding or specialized knowledge is crucial, this can be a game-changer. Models can be taught to better grasp intricate details, improving their effectiveness in sectors such as legal analysis, medical advice, or technical writing.

Key Features of GPT-4 Fine-Tuning

The fine-tuning process leverages OpenAI’s established tools, but now it is optimized for GPT-4’s advanced architecture. Notable features include:

Enhanced Customization: Developers can precisely influence the model’s behavior and knowledge base.
Consistency in Output: Fine-tuned models can be made to maintain consistent formatting, tone, or responses, essential for professional applications.
Higher Efficiency: Compared to training models from scratch, fine-tuning GPT-4 allows organizations to deploy sophisticated AI with reduced time and computational cost.

Additionally, OpenAI has emphasized ease of use with this feature. The fine-tuning workflow is designed to be accessible even to teams with limited AI experience, reducing barriers to customization. For more advanced users, OpenAI provides granular control options to achieve highly specialized outputs.

Implications for the Future

The launch of fine-tuning capabilities for GPT-4 signals a broader shift toward more user-centric AI development. As businesses increasingly adopt AI, the demand for models that can cater to specific business needs, without compromising on performance, will continue to grow. OpenAI’s move positions GPT-4 as a flexible and adaptable tool that can be refined to deliver optimal value in any given scenario.

By offering fine-tuning, OpenAI not only enhances GPT-4’s appeal but also reinforces the model’s role as a leading AI solution across diverse sectors. From startups seeking to automate niche tasks to large enterprises looking to scale intelligent systems, GPT-4’s fine-tuning capability provides a powerful resource for driving innovation.

OpenAI announced that fine-tuning GPT-4o will cost $25 for every million tokens used during training. After the model is set up, it will cost $3.75 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens. To help developers get started, OpenAI is offering 1 million free training tokens per day for GPT-4o and 2 million free tokens per day for GPT-4o mini until September 23. This makes it easier for developers to try out the fine-tuning service.

As AI continues to evolve, OpenAI’s focus on customization and adaptability with GPT-4 represents a critical step in making advanced AI accessible, scalable, and more aligned with real-world applications. This new capability is expected to accelerate the adoption of AI across industries, creating a new wave of AI-driven solutions tailored to specific challenges and opportunities.

GOOGLE

This Week in Search News: Simple and Easy-to-Read Update

Published

3 months ago

June 30, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

This Week in Search News: Simple and Easy-to-Read Update

Here’s what happened in the world of Google and search engines this week:

1. Google’s June 2024 Spam Update

Google finished rolling out its June 2024 spam update over a period of seven days. This update aims to reduce spammy content in search results.

2. Changes to Google Search Interface

Google has removed the continuous scroll feature for search results. Instead, it’s back to the old system of pages.

3. New Features and Tests

Link Cards: Google is testing link cards at the top of AI-generated overviews.
Health Overviews: There are more AI-generated health overviews showing up in search results.
Local Panels: Google is testing AI overviews in local information panels.

4. Search Rankings and Quality

Improving Rankings: Google said it can improve its search ranking system but will only do so on a large scale.
Measuring Quality: Google’s Elizabeth Tucker shared how they measure search quality.

5. Advice for Content Creators

Brand Names in Reviews: Google advises not to avoid mentioning brand names in review content.
Fixing 404 Pages: Google explained when it’s important to fix 404 error pages.

6. New Search Features in Google Chrome

Google Chrome for mobile devices has added several new search features to enhance user experience.

7. New Tests and Features in Google Search

Credit Card Widget: Google is testing a new widget for credit card information in search results.
Sliding Search Results: When making a new search query, the results might slide to the right.

8. Bing’s New Feature

Bing is now using AI to write “People Also Ask” questions in search results.

9. Local Search Ranking Factors

Menu items and popular times might be factors that influence local search rankings on Google.

10. Google Ads Updates

Query Matching and Brand Controls: Google Ads updated its query matching and brand controls, and advertisers are happy with these changes.
Lead Credits: Google will automate lead credits for Local Service Ads. Google says this is a good change, but some advertisers are worried.
tROAS Insights Box: Google Ads is testing a new insights box for tROAS (Target Return on Ad Spend) in Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns.
WordPress Tag Code: There is a new conversion code for Google Ads on WordPress sites.

These updates highlight how Google and other search engines are continuously evolving to improve user experience and provide better advertising tools.

FACEBOOK

Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again

Published

7 months ago

March 20, 2024

Max

Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.

Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.

Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.

When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.

Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.

During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.