Are you an influencer who wants to create valuable content that stands out? You will love these 5 content research tools.

There’s something that anyone who works with content should be well aware of: a successful content creation process starts way before taking a picture or putting your ideas into words. In a world where the content itself doesn’t come with the surprise element that it needs in order to be noticed.

If you want to reach people and create an engaging community that will give you the influencer title, you need to be well aware of how to come up with content that your users will relate to.  And, of course, you also have to know how to make it right from the very beginning. In this article, I will give you some insights about content research and some of our favorite tools to approach this sometimes underrated content step. 

Why is research important for content creators?

Research is an essential step in the content creation process, as it sets the foundations to achieve well-oriented creative efforts.

 If you create work that is awesome but is not relevant for the people that you want to reach and impact, all those awesome ideas will be simply wasted. 

Source: Content science

In a world where 7.5 millon blog posts are shared every day, getting noticed by the right people requires creating content that is especially relevant for them. No matter if you are focusing your influencer career on YouTube, Instagram, or tik tok, you will always need to know what your audience wants from you. 

Knowing your audience as an influencer

As an influencer, most of your brand’s value comes from trust and reliability. And reliability starts with a clear vision of what your users are really like. You need to know who you are talking to and prioritize building a strong connection with them. And, of course, grow that connection with each photo, video and survey that you share. Research starts with questions, and it should take you to not only answers, but also a strong starting point full of ideas. 

What are the type of photos that they expect from you? What makes other creators in your niche successful? Or rather, what are they lacking? All of these questions and its corresponding answers are resources that will helpyou stand out from the crowd.

Tools for content research

Quora

Content research is about what people need. 

And there’s no better way to know what people need than seeing what they explicitly ask for, right?

Quora is an online platform gathered for knowledge seekers who are trying to find the best answers to their questions. Launched in 2009 with a question-answer format Quora serves as a great place for students, professors, and online learners in general. Anyone who is trying to engage with people who share their interests and can provide information based on their background.

This platformis free and open to anyone who wants to register, you just java to create an account, add s ome information about your background, and then start following the topics you want to learn more about.

Why you should use Quora for content research

There are a lot of specific niches that can highly benefit from Quora by taking advantage of its nice algorithm,  but that is not what we are focusing on in this article. For content research purposes, influencers can create an account on their niche and participate as a ho

Reddit

Okay, now let’s talk about one of the oldest communities out there: Reddit. First released in 2005, Reddit was created with an ambitious goal: being the front page of the internet. Its name comes from a simple word game of the words “read it”. Since its first pieces of content Reddit has built its own reputation that differs from what social media offers. Just like Quora, Reddit is a platform based on community building. Users share valuable information on different topics and its value resides in their reliability. 

It is not uncommon for people to say that, when they are looking for an honest opinion or review, they go into Google and type their question with Reddit at the end of it. 

But, why does this happen? Because Reddit is powered by quality. Users share information and answer questions, and the relevance or value of that answer will be based on how other users vote for it. In order to be part of Reddit you have to create a free account and start filling all the required information. Then you will add all your interests in order to have a curated feed that will show you different questions and answers on content from users. 

Why you should use Reddit for content research

Reddit is the best way to be part of those communities that you want to communicate with. Just by browsing different channels, and seeing what your audience asks and the type of content they share, you will have a strong starting point for any creative process. 

Also,  when approaching a specific research, you have the option to: 

• Use the search tool and find previous interactions regarding the topic
• Find an engaging community and ask the questions yourself. You can even find users to feature in your content or reliable sources to go to

Answer Socrates

This platform is one of my latest discoveries and one of the most valuable ones too. Answer Socrates is an online platform where you can have information that will help you know what people are looking for on google. With a first resource that showcases trending topics and also a keyword research tool, you have the chance to find out what people are talking about either in general or within your specific niche. Its research tool is pretty comprehensive and gives you different options for you to choose a specific segment, including country and language. 

Feedly

Feedly is the curation tool by excellence, and it comes to solving a problem that anyone can notice: the overwhelming amount of information that we receive on a daily basis. With a special focus on saving content and following specific topics, Feedly gives users the chance to create a niche platform where all the relevant content about a specific industry comes together. You can save articles, add interests and even follow creators based on the type of information they share.

There are no likes, algorithms or tricks: it is just a social-powered exchange of information that helps you stay on top of any topic that you might want to know about. 

Why you should use Feedly 

Having a curated feed full of all the topics that you can possibly talk about will help you stay informed. This will improve your creative process and avoid overwhelming research processes. 

Google Trends

Google Trends is the trend research tool provided by the best known search engine out there: Google itself. This platform shares a breakdown of most common searches by year, week, month or you can see even the progress of these data in real time. 

Instead of choosing languages you have the option to browse specific countries, and you will find a lot of different ways to display your data based on your needs.

Why you should use google trends

Incorporating google trends into your research process will help you stay relevant enough and create time sensitive content based on these data. For example, if there is some breaking news in the beauty industry, you can easily go find out how people are talking about it, and what is the approach that you can take in order to be on the same page. 

Remember that having an efficient research process is not only about good tools, but also about implementing the right systems. Choose one of two of these tools and create a step by step process to make the most out of them.

Do you have a go-to resource to find what your audience needs from you?