How do you research and identify the topics and trends that matter to your audience and stakeholders?

As a thought leader, you want to share valuable insights and perspectives that resonate with your audience and stakeholders. But how do you find out what topics and trends are relevant and interesting to them? How do you avoid wasting time and resources on content that nobody reads or cares about? In this article, we will explore some practical tips and tools to help you research and identify the topics and trends that matter to your audience and stakeholders.

1 Know your audience

The first step to finding out what topics and trends matter to your audience is to know who they are, what they need, and what they care about. You can use various methods to gather information about your audience, such as surveys, interviews, feedback forms, analytics, social media, and online communities. You can also create personas or profiles that represent your ideal audience segments and their goals, challenges, preferences, and behaviors. By knowing your audience, you can tailor your content to their interests, needs, and pain points.

Add your perspective

Mark Chussil

High-powered innovations in competitive strategy: ForesightSims™ simulations, business war games, workshops on strategic thinking, teacher, prolific author including 13 HBR articles, nonprofit board member.
Report contribution
The customer is always right, in the sense that they have preferences. But the customer isn't always right for you. Find an audience that's as passionate about your subject as you are.

Like
Braden Kelley

Keynote Speaker, Best-Selling Author and LinkedIn Top Voice - follow for Human-Centered Change and Innovation Insights.
Report contribution
The best way to identify the topics and trends that matter to your audience is to maintain a running dialog with them so a big research effort to find out what they're interested isn't as necessary. Co-creating with your audience can be another great way to stay resonant with your audience. And finally, don't forget about the interaction analytics on your social media, email newsletters, etc. as a crucial ongoing steering tool.

Like
Teresa Fritschi

#ReputationManagement geek, highly skilled #communications professional and #data nerd. My superpower is distilling the #valueproposition for emerging technologies.
Report contribution
Data points! Whether you are managing an account for a client or your own regular review of the metrics attached to the account is critical. Even the free analytics should provide you with sufficient knowledge related to their job title to make an 'educated guess' as to why they are following and ensure your content resonates with your top-tier audiences.

Like
Sid Khaitan

Senior PMM @ Beekeeper
Report contribution
I personally think interviews, conversations, and communities are the only way to know your audience well enough to produce thought leadership. Thought leadership is communicating the ideas and trends people might notice but can't articulate. That requires understanding pain points and addressing them in an innovative way.

Like

2 Monitor the industry

The second step to finding out what topics and trends matter to your audience is to monitor the industry and the market. You can use various sources to stay updated on the latest news, developments, innovations, and issues that affect your industry and your audience. Some of these sources include industry publications, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, reports, webinars, events, and influencers. You can also use tools like Google Alerts, Feedly, BuzzSumo, or Social Mention to track keywords, topics, and mentions related to your industry and your audience.

Add your perspective

3 Analyze the competition

The third step to finding out what topics and trends matter to your audience is to analyze the competition. You can use various tools and techniques to research and evaluate what your competitors are doing, saying, and offering in terms of content and thought leadership. Some of these tools and techniques include SWOT analysis, competitor analysis, content audit, social media audit, and gap analysis. By analyzing the competition, you can identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and find ways to differentiate yourself and fill the gaps in the market.

Add your perspective

4 Validate your ideas

The fourth step to finding out what topics and trends matter to your audience is to validate your ideas. You can use various methods to test and measure the demand, relevance, and impact of your content ideas before you invest time and resources in creating and publishing them. Some of these methods include keyword research, content scoring, social listening, content experiments, and feedback loops. By validating your ideas, you can ensure that your content is aligned with your audience's needs, expectations, and behaviors, and that it delivers value and results.

Add your perspective

5 Plan your content

The fifth step to finding out what topics and trends matter to your audience is to plan your content. You can use various tools and frameworks to organize, prioritize, and schedule your content ideas based on your goals, resources, and audience. Some of these tools and frameworks include editorial calendars, content matrices, content maps, content pillars, and content formats. By planning your content, you can create a consistent, coherent, and compelling content strategy that supports your thought leadership vision and mission.

Add your perspective

6 Evaluate your performance

The sixth step to finding out what topics and trends matter to your audience is to evaluate your performance. You can use various metrics and indicators to monitor and analyze the effectiveness, efficiency, and engagement of your content and thought leadership. Some of these metrics and indicators include traffic, conversions, leads, revenue, shares, comments, ratings, reviews, and testimonials. By evaluating your performance, you can learn from your successes and failures, and improve your content and thought leadership over time.

Add your perspective

Bobby Umar

I land you a TEDx Talk Guaranteed | Keynote Speaker, Trainer & Coach | Expert in Thought Leadership, Personal Branding, Storytelling, Digital Presence | LinkedIn Top Voice | 5x TEDx & Inc Magazine Top 100 Speaker |💜Gaga
Report contribution
EVERY single time I deliver a keynote or workshop, I ask for feedback. Even when they say "OMG I loved that talk!", I still say "tell me what you'd improve" or "what else would you like me to talk about". Set your ego aside and consistently keep learning. Every thought leader needs to evolve. Over the years my signature talks have evolved because I listened, I read, I had conversations where I wasn't afraid to lack knowledge.

Like

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

Add your perspective

Shane Schick

B2B's go-to ghostwriter | CX storyteller | Event host and moderator
Report contribution
Never overlook the internal expertise that may be close at hand! Take your sales team as an example: in the course of trying to pitch prospects and customers and close a deal, they hear a lot about the issues and priorities that are critical to your audience. So do customer service agents, frontline staff like technicians and even your CEO. The topics may have nothing to do directly with your products and services, but that's okay. Producing great content is about earning trust, and that starts with showing your team has been listening. Organize a regular touchpoint or convene a special session to find the hidden gold these subject matter experts may not even realize they're carrying.

Like
Mark Chussil

High-powered innovations in competitive strategy: ForesightSims™ simulations, business war games, workshops on strategic thinking, teacher, prolific author including 13 HBR articles, nonprofit board member.
Report contribution
Six steps in the article above. I'm imagining a PowerPoint presentation with six bullet points, each of which will get expanded into slides with multiple bullet points. Are we yawning yet? Watch a five-minute video of you presenting. When I did, in my MBA program, I was mortified... and I learned how to do better. Learn how to present. With vigor. With imagination. With color. With humor. With surprise. With engagement. And remember that the reason why you're on stage, and the audience isn't, is because you know something they don't.

Like
Lea Worth, CMP

Event Content Strategist | Program Development | Speaker Invitations | Event Marketing
Report contribution
I would add just asking the person who is in charge of content at the conference. This person is sometimes called the conference producer, content director, event director etc. they have typically already surveyed, interviewed and conducted much of research of what the topics in the program should be to engage the audience. They will be more than happy to share the results of their research and the nuances of that community. Have a conversation with that person and you will save yourself days of time and effort.

Like

How do you research and identify the topics and trends that matter to your audience and stakeholders?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Know your audience

2 Monitor the industry

3 Analyze the competition

4 Validate your ideas

5 Plan your content

6 Evaluate your performance

7 Here’s what else to consider

Thought Leadership

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

More articles on Thought Leadership

More relevant reading

How do you research and identify the topics and trends that matter to your audience and stakeholders?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Know your audience

2 Monitor the industry

3 Analyze the competition

4 Validate your ideas

5 Plan your content

6 Evaluate your performance

7 Here’s what else to consider

Thought Leadership

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

Explore Other Skills