AI Writing
12 Ways to Use AI to Research Niche Content Opportunities
Learn how to use AI tools to research keywords, predict trends, understand your audience, and more. Create detailed niche content they’ll love.
These days, it’s not enough to just know that “content is king” and publish consistently. You have to take it one step further in order to stand out and get your content noticed.
The best way to do that? Seizing on underserved niche content marketing opportunities and answering the questions that people are really asking.
At the same time, how do you uncover these questions if you’re not even sure where to look? Enter AI.
When most of us think of AI, we think of ChatGPT, but AI itself is integrated well beyond that and forms a powerful part of many content creation and marketing tools
Short on time? Here’s what you’ll learn in this article:
With the tips below, you’ll be able to capitalize on new trends and create content that perfectly serves your target audience’s needs.
Keep in mind, that if you opt to generate AI content, it’s important to carefully review and edit it to make sure it aligns with your brand voice. You can also review potential instances of AI content across your website with the Originality.ai Site Scanner.
Using search engine optimization tools with integrated AI like Ahrefs, SEMrush and Surfer SEO can help you uncover lucrative keywords your competitors may not be targeting.
Using a free tool like Originality.ai’s Content Optimizer can help you compare your site against your competitors for several different keywords or phrases.
Then, try the “Export GPT prompt” feature to get a prompt that you can export and paste into ChatGPT. Expand your content to cover keywords it may be missing.
Think of it as a MarketMuse or Surfer SEO alternative to help you uncover content gaps
For example, if competitors are ranking well for a specific keyword or keywords the Originality.ai Content Optimizer will give you an AI prompt that can help you cover the content gap to stay competitive.
It’s a highly effective way to make sure you’re on the right track with your optimization efforts.
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, and Claude can help you brainstorm new content ideas and topic clusters. By covering every angle of a topic, you can improve your search engine ranking while making your pages highly relevant to search engines and users alike.
Prompt AI with a detailed question to generate possible topics.
For example try a prompt like: “Give me a detailed list of the types of content topics that would attract entrepreneurs.”
It could respond with options like:
You can also ask the AI to expand on these ideas and create outlines or content briefs for you so that every piece you write is detailed.
Micro-trends are small but powerful ideas and concepts gaining traction on social media.
Social listening tools like BuzzSumo and Hootsuite Insights are invaluable when it comes to learning what types of micro-trends and discussions are happening on major social platforms. Both platforms also offer tools with AI features.
For instance, you can run a Hashtag Analysis to see what niche-specific hashtags are currently gaining traction on social media.
You can also view sentiment trends to see how audiences are reacting to different topics. Areas of positive sentiment around your niche can help give you plenty of ideas for your next blog topic or video.
Speaking of sentiment analysis, there are a variety of AI-driven tools that specialize in this specific area, including MonkeyLearn or Lexalytics. Understanding sentiment analysis helps you also spot polarizing topics.
For example, let’s say you’re writing about AI and the job market.
If the audience you’re writing for has mixed reactions to the idea of “AI replacing jobs,” you could create a balanced take titled “How Will AI Impact the (Your Niche) Industry?”
Sentiment analysis is about more than just positive, negative, or indifferent reactions to content. This data will also let you know if your audience prefers more optimistic content, a more critical take, or something more neutral.
Niche forums and sites like Reddit can be a goldmine of content ideas. Then, AI-powered tools like Buzzabout.ai can give you potential content ideas as well as tell you what overall user sentiment is like. These tools can uncover possible topic ideas that are worth diving into.
Audience research tools like AnswerThePublic and Google’s People Also Ask can be used to pull together FAQs on a variety of topics.
Although you may think that common questions have already been gobbled up by your biggest competitors, you may be surprised at the opportunities out there.
Even what may seem like general questions can unlock a trove of content ideas where you can get ahead in the search results.
You can also further incorporate AI here, by prompting AI to generate a list of niche questions to expand on a more general topic.
Ever wished you could be the first person to get in on the ground floor of a hugely popular trend?
Sure, you could crawl through Google Trends, or you could use an AI platform like Exploding Topics (which uses both human expertise and machine learning) to identify popular and emerging topics before they become too saturated.
See how your content compares and conduct a competitor analysis using tools like Originality.ai’s Content Optimizer or AI workflow optimization tools like Content Harmony.
Even if you see that your competitors have covered several angles with their existing content, you can still branch out and secure a spot for yourself in that niche.
What’s more, these tools will help you see specifically what type of content (and which keywords) best resonates with your audience, whether it’s in-depth tutorials, simple listicles, or something in between.
If you want to go beyond scratching the surface with audience analysis and want to get deeper into knowing who you’re advertising to, tools like SparkToro or FunnelAI will tell you.
These tools may give you audience insights such as:
AI tools are a great option for transforming information into stunning charts and infographics.
AI-driven tools like Tableau, Infogram, and Piktochart are a few online platforms that do this. Additionally, you could look into making your charts clickable, to give your audience various areas to explore the data visually.
With a little finesse, Google Forms with Gemini, or SurveyMonkey Genius can be used to take advantage of AI while surveying your audience to get their thoughts and ideas on which niche content to create next.
AI will then collate the responses and pull out any recurring themes it spots. It’s great at finding patterns, so use these tools as an opportunity to conduct large focus groups at scale.
One of the best ways to use your content to the fullest is by repurposing it, and here again, AI can be a huge time-saver.
Tools like Descript, Otter.ai, and Repurpose.io can help you turn blog posts or text into visually-digestible social media posts, or webinar transcripts into blog posts or lead magnets.
Repurposing content itself can save you hours of time and help you reach your audience across different platforms!
AI has become so much more than a text or image generator. Today’s AI-powered platforms are helping content creators and website owners highlight trends, pull out patterns, spot content gaps, and create more personalized content on an impressive scale.
These tools in turn can help you create content that more closely resonates with what your audience is truly looking for, all while keeping you one step ahead of the competition.
By using AI to research niche content ideas, you’re saving hours of time, zeroing in on what your potential clients want, and creating a scalable content strategy that you can rely on for months to come.
Learn more about AI and content marketing with our top guides:
