The Top 7 Content Ideation Tools For Unlimited Viral Ideas

Every friggin’ minute over 360,000 pieces of content are blasted onto X.

By the time you finish reading this, millions more will have flooded the platform. It’s an endless stream of total junk, blazing hot fire, and everything in between, all clawing for the same fleeting eyeballs. So the question then becomes:

Where does your content fit into all of this? And more importantly, how do you make it rise to the top of this endless sea of “content”?

Creating great content isn’t complicated per se… but it isn’t easy.

The difference between a Barbenheimer and digital tumbleweed boils down to one main thing:

The Idea.

You need ideas and you need em’ fast to feed the social media beast. So you put pen to paper and try to squeeze the water out of the rock in your head.

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR… Awwwhhhhh…. Shoot.

And you got all of: Nathan! Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

🤯 I know the struggle, my friend!

I’m on newsletter #3 and already struggling to come up with ideas. Yup!

And… wouldn’t you know it… that became my idea! (Use my pain as a framework)

Struggling? → Do that!

But I digress…

You and I need banger ideas on the regular to remain relevant and not be forgotten. 😢

But how do you do it?

I wasn’t able to find great answers online about this, so I’m going to share what I did to generate my own damn content ideas.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… coming up with “ideas” became the idea for this newsletter. So, how well did this escapade really go?

Well, I forced myself to develop a framework for ideation that goes beyond the scope of this newsletter. Why? Basically, so I’m not screwed next week… or any week after that…

But you don’t just need any content ideas. That’s the easy part. You need ideas that work!

The kind of ideas that help you grow.

They’ve got to be strategic. They’ve got to be calculated for social media engagement, SEO juice, and… cue dramatic music… “the algorithms.”

So, after a damn good deal of scouring, testing, and frustrating myself, I came up with a solution. Oh yeah!

One that’s designed to churn out not just content ideas but banger ideas. The kind that gets your audience hooked and drives growth…

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

🛠️ Content Ideation Tools

As both a Marketer and an Engineer, who’s worked in the corporate landscape - I tend to be a pretty data driven guy.

You learn fast when you’re in the corporate world that when money is involved, you better have some data to back up why you’re doing something, otherwise… “why am I paying you again?”

So when we create ideas, we must find ideas that are already proven to be popular, and have a decent amount of search volume or engagement behind them. Basically, we want to model what is already working.

There are 2 chains of thought around this part - and I think both are valuable to know and understand.

Both of them should work on the context that you need something that will gain traction fast on social media - so keywords are great, but we need a big enough audience to use those effectively. Start with testing different ideas on X, analyze what is working, and what isn’t, and go from there.

🦠 Option 1: Start Looking For “Viral” X Posts

First Things First: How do we define “viral?”

For smaller creators, virality isn’t about competing with megastars. It’s about crushing your own lane. The golden ratio? → 4% engagement. Why? Because this is where your audience moves from meh to "Gang!" I’m not hip to the new lingo, but I find “gang” particularly hilarious. Anyway…

Let’s break this down into real numbers so you’re not guessing:

• 1,000 followers → 40 likes/comments/shares = ✨ You’re starting a buzz.

• 5,000 followers → 200 interactions = 🎉 Mini-party status.

• 10,000 followers → 400 interactions = 🔥 You’re officially on fire.

• 20,000 followers → 800+ interactions = 🚀 You’re skyrocketing to big-league territory.

If your post hits these numbers, congrats, fool. You’ve cracked the viral threshold for your audience size. Anything beyond that? You’re a friggin’ disruptor. Be proud.

How to Spot and Create Viral Success

This isn’t just about numbers, rigging the system so you keep clawing your way back to the top, 80's style! With this approach, you’ll know exactly what to look for and how to replicate it.

Step 1: Engagement Breadcrumbs

Start by following other creators in your niche. Use hashtags like job-damn cheat codes: they’ll lead you to content that’s already killing it. Look for posts where the engagement rate is clearly bloated compared to a low engagement post… those are the diamonds you need to “lab grow” on your own profile.

Step 2: The Framework

Ask yourself: what’s the X-factor here?

• Was it the caption? Did it hit a relatable nerve?

• The imagery? Was it a carousel, a dope visual, or a sassy meme?

• Timing? Was it dropped when their audience was hungry for it (and awake)?

These sparks aren’t random, they’re patterns you can wield for yourself.

🥔 The Viral Creation Formula™ (Because You Deserve an Equation)

Let’s not just analyze viral posts → let’s engineer them. Here’s your new go-to formula:

Viral Potential = (Bold Hook + Relatable Pain Point) × Audience-Specific Timing

Translation?

• Bold Hook: Something that makes people stop scrolling. Example: "Why a potato wearing sunglasses is better at marketing than you are. 🥔”

• Relatable Pain Point: Address your audience’s struggles. Example: "Still stuck at 50 followers? Here’s why it’s not your bad content… it’s your losing strategy."

• Timing: Test what works for your people. Morning warriors? Late-night scrollers? Find your sweet spot.

The “Viral or Bust” Audit

Before you post, give it the Viral Audit test:

1. Would you stop scrolling? If the answer is “maybe,” scrap it.

2. Does it make your audience feel something? Anger, joy, inspiration… emotion is the engine of virality.

3. Is it actionable? Give them something to do next, whether it’s hitting like or commenting. Honestly just say follow for more or spark a debate in the comments for more viral juice - sometimes more exposure can be the best conversion.

📈 Option 2: Use Trend Spotting Tools

Ain’t no one got time to churn out mediocre content! You need content that’s timely, spicy, and has the data-backed chops to hit different.

Lucky for you, we’ve got the tools and framework to make it happen. Here’s how you use trend-spotting tools to ideate content that’s not just good but friggin’ unstoppable.

Step 1: Laser-Focus Your Niche

Before we touch the shiny tools, let’s talk about focus. Your niche is your home base, your bat signal, your job-damn bullseye. Who are you talking to? What problems are you solving?

If you don’t know who your target audience is, you might as well be selling air to fish… no one cares! Get it right, though, and suddenly you’re the big tuna. People can’t get enough.

Don’t be afraid to be broad-ish, just pick something and stick with it.

Step 2: Build Your Foundation on X

If you’re not on X, are you even trying? It’s the fastest way to test ideas, connect with your niche, and spot trends before they blow up.

• Find Niche Communities: Search for communities on X in your niche. Join discussions, comment, and make your voice known. Don’t be a lurker… be a leader.

• Post Daily: Seriously, consistency is key. Even if you’re dropping one-liners or hot takes, get in front of your audience every single day.

• Hit 1,000 Followers: Start small, but aim high. Interact like crazy (leave meaningful and contextual comments on other creators posts in your niche) to grow your base.

Step 3: The Idea Tools

Now we’re talkin’! This is why you wanted to read this post in the first place…

These tools are your one way ticket to the hot topics and viral trends. Sweet! Now, let’s use them in this order:

Keep in mind, you may not get results with every single one of these tools. That’s fine. But play with each one, mess with the settings, go from one query to another, try diving into localities or different search filters - play and discover.

(It’s not really fun, but it is… yeah… um… it’s pretty unfun… actually, but you tell me a better way to do it, ok!)

1. Google Trends (Free): Identify rising search topics. This is your crystal ball for what’s about to blow up.

2. Exploding Topics (Freemium): Like the name says—find topics that are about to explode. (Switch the main topics to find what’s trending in your niche!)

3. Ahrefs Keyword Generator (Free): Pick keywords your competitors are missing.

4. Ubersuggest (Freemium): Analyze keywords and backlinks like a pro.

5. AnswerThePublic (Freemium): See what questions people are asking so you can swoop in with the answers.

6. Feedly (Freemium): Aggregate your niche’s top blogs and news into one feed. Easy peasy. (This is more for finding recent news about your niche or industry)

7. HypeFury or Tweet Hunter (Freemium): Stay ahead of trends on X and utilize their vast libraries of “viral” tweets. These are both affliate links and I will be paid if you decide to use them - but I would not put them here unless I sincerely recommend them.

   Plus some super honorable mentions:

   Treendly (Freemium): Spot micro-trends before they become mainstream.

   Rose.ai (Free): Use AI to surface unexpected data insights.

   Checka.ai (Free): Keep tabs on AI trends because AI isn’t going anywhere.

   Mention (Paid): Track mentions of your industry, competitors, and brand to jump on discussions.

Step 4: The Bulletproof Content Creation Framework

With these tools in your hand, now you can turn trends into content that bangs. Here’s the planzo:

1. Pick High-Calibur, Popular Topics (In Your Niche)

Use your tools to find what’s trending. Honestly just start by typing in some of the broadest topics in your niche or your niche in general into Google Trends. EX: “Marketing” or “Branding.” Look for spikes in search interest and what sub keywords are popping off the charts literally. That’s your starting point.

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2. Curate Easy-to-Rank Keywords

Don’t be a jerk and just go for high-volume keywords, find the ones that are winnable. Think longtail keywords or topics that are relatively new, not generic.

Example 1: Skool - (recent) launched in early 2022, so it’s relatively new and there isn’t much historical SEO coverage on it (yet).

Example 2: How do you rank on ChatGPT? - (longtail keyword) For more on this, check out this 🔥 article I wrote to help you rank higher in AI search engines.

3. Craft Scroll-Stopping Hooks Around The Topics You Find

Look, I never said this would be easy. When you find “viral” posts, they probably went viral because the creator went above and beyond on value - I’m betting they aren’t just some wordsmith Savant…

Now, you know what to do (you have your idea) it’s just your job to frame the topic/keyword you find around a viral hook. So you can either use the post you found in option 1 as the frame OR if you are going off keywords, try one of these frames:

• “I did [crazy thing] and learned [awesome result].”

• “10 game-changing [niche-specific things].”

• “Before [problem] vs. After [solution].”

4. Incorporate Visuals

Use carousels, memes, and graphs. If it’s not scroll-stopping, it’s not working.

Check out these quick stats on how much visuals can help your posts blow up:

• Images:

  Posts featuring images produce 650% higher engagement than text-only posts.

• Video:

  Video is the most popular and effective media format, with 54% of consumers wanting to see more video content from brands they support.

• Infographics:

  Infographics are liked and shared on social media 3 times more than any other type of content.

Source: Sprout Social

If the post you found went viral because of an image, I’m giving you permission to “steal like an artist, hoss!” In other words, remix it and make it your own. I am NOT literally telling you to steal it - do NOT plagiarize, you must rebrand and re-imagine the image.

Just keep it on trend and on topic and you should be able to get similar results from your own version!

5. Post on X Daily: Own the Algorithm

Posting on X isn’t just about being seen… it’s about making your audience stop mid-scroll, drop their coffee, and go, "Holy friggin’ cannoli, I need to retweet this beluga right now!" (only I talk like that lol)

But here’s what I’m putting down… If your content doesn’t slap, what are you even doing? Why post it? Every post you put out into the wild should hit these marks like a dart to the bullseye:

In short, every post you drop should:

• Spark Curiosity: Your post needs to be the brain itch they have to scratch.
  Example: "Why I spent 7 hours researching cow behavior to improve my marketing strategy—and why it worked." 🐄

• Answer a Niche Problem: Be the lemonade stand on a scorching day—quirky, refreshing, and just what they needed.
  Example: "How to turn one viral tweet into a month of content without selling your soul to the algorithm. (Step 3 is 🔥)."

• Drop Value Bombs: Every tweet is a golden ticket. If they’re not bookmarking it, you’re not hitting hard enough.

  
  Example: "Steal my framework for creating tweets that slap:

  1. Hook

  2. Value

  3. CTA
     10K followers in 90 days, no fluff. 🚀"

Five posts a day. Every day.

6. Engage Your Audience: Build in Public

Building in public isn't just a stupid trend, it's a powerful strategy to build transparency and trust with your audience. Here's some quick tips on how to leverage this approach to your ultimate advantage:

• Run Some Friggin’ Polls 🗳️

  Your audience loves having a say—it’s human nature. Polls aren’t just cute; they’re powerful tools for engagement and feedback.

  Examples:

  • "Which headline grabs your attention: A or B?"

  • "What’s the ONE feature you’d kill to see next?"

  • "Team Coffee ☕ or Tea 🍵? (Totally unrelated, but we’re curious.)"

  Pro Tip: Use polls on X, Instagram Stories, or LinkedIn—they’re engagement magnets and give you instant insights.

• Share Your Journey (And Fails) 🎥

  Your audience doesn’t just want the highlight reel—they want the real real. Show them the mess, the wins, the “WTF am I doing?” moments.

  Examples:

  • Post a screenshot of your messy whiteboard and caption it, “The brilliance (and chaos) behind the next big thing.”

  • Share a story about a time you almost quit but kept going.

  • Celebrate a tiny milestone: “10% done, and it already feels like a victory. Who else feels this?”

  Pro Tip: Behind-the-scenes content makes your audience feel in the room with you. That connection? Pure gold.

• Invite Real Talk 💬

  Turn your audience from bystanders into collaborators. Ask for their ideas, listen to their pain points, and use their feedback. People love being part of something bigger than themselves.

  Examples:

  • "We’re planning our next newsletter. What’s ONE topic you want us to cover?"

  • "What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in [your niche]? Drop it in the comments, and let’s solve it together."

  • "Honest opinion: Does this idea flip or flop? I need your thoughts."

  Pro Tip: When someone replies, follow up! Acknowledge their input—it turns casual fans into superfans.

Why Building in Public Works 💡

• Transparency = Trust: People support what they understand. Show them the process.

• Collaboration = Connection: Let your audience feel like co-creators.

• Engagement = Growth: The more people engage, the further your reach goes. Algorithms eat this stuff up.

By building in public, you transform your audience from passive observers into active participants, enhancing engagement and loyalty.

7. Run the “Viral or Bust” Audit™

Before you hit post, ask:

• Would I stop scrolling?

• Does this make people feel something?

• Does this spark engagement (shares, comments, etc.)?

The "5x Content Formula"

Types of Daily Posts You Should Be Creating:

1. Trends: Post about something blowing up in your niche.

2. Data Finds: Share stats or visualizations you discovered.

3. How-Tos: Quick and actionable guides.

4. Personal Wins: Build in public and show your audience what’s working.

5. Offers: Your pitch… but more like an underhand toss - AKA subtly and strategically.

Iterate, Analyze, Repeat

Trends are fleeting, but your system isn’t. Here’s the move:

• Track performance.

• Double down on what works.

• Ditch what doesn’t.

With this framework, you’re not just playing the content game… you’re running the friggin’ board.

📝 Your Homework:

Now it’s time to leave the nest!

Right now, you’ve got a serious choice to make… You can either keep scrolling (cute) or you can start your first experiment today.

Pick a niche hashtag. Analyze the last 10 posts under 10K likes. Use the tools. Spot the patterns. Then, craft your own post that screams: YOU… SUM A MA BISH (As my late great and great-grandfather used to say).

So hit that damn publish button. And watch your engagement numbers skyrocket like the taco’s popularity on Tuesday.

The future of virality isn’t about chasing trends, it’s about setting them. So let’s friggin’ go!

Your next viral post? It’s waiting for you to create it. (Like now).

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