Industry news is perhaps one of the easiest ways to find blog post ideas. Why? Because you know your industry best! As an authority in your field, your audience should look to you for your expertise on industry-wide issues. So use your blog to demonstrate what you know about what’s going on with unique and authoritative content. Your audience will be forever grateful for the information that might impact them and they’ll continue to look to you for more information in the future.
What to Look For
There are many key indicators that will dictate what qualifies as industry news. Examples include:
- overall industry-related trends
- recent law or policy changes
- studies (scientific or otherwise)
- software or technology updates
- local news that affects your business
- consumer habits
This may require some research on your part, but the best industry news to share is that which provides value to the person reading it. In this instance, it’s education. For example, when Google rolls out a big algorithm update that we know will impact how our clients’ websites will perform in search rankings, we want our clients to know that they need to do X, Y, and Z in order to be compliant with the new update. We want our clients to know what’s at stake if they don’t heed the update and what they can do to make sure they come out on top.
What’s Relevant to Your Audience?
When it comes to blog content, not all industry news is created equal. So how do you determine what’s the most relevant information for your audience? Keep an eye out for compelling industry-related topics and ask yourself:
- Does this directly impact my users?
- How will this affect them in the short term? In the long-term?
- Does an emerging pattern have greater implications?
If you’ve noticed something happening in your industry but no one else has written about it, this is the perfect chance to not only show how aware you are of the industry but to also inform and educate your users when no one else is.
What If Someone’s Written About It Already?
Just because someone else has an article about a certain industry-related topic doesn’t mean you can’t also provide your unique insight into the issue. If you agree or disagree with the point the author is making, use it as a reference in an article of your own that features an excerpt from the article. We call this “curating”. Just don’t forget to credit the author!
Put Your Expertise to Work
The most important thing to remember about this blog topic idea is to demonstrate your expert insight. It’s one thing to notify your audience about an event, update or trend. It’s another thing entirely to let them know a). how it will affect them, and b). what they can do to either benefit from it or avoid potential issues. So stay informed! And remember: what happens in your industry doesn’t have to stay there. It could provide you with plenty of awesome blog content!
Need more blog post ideas? Check out Quick & Dirty Blog Post Idea #1: Pain Points and #2: Customer Questions!
