📢 Engage Your Readers: How to Get Content Ideas Through Surveys & Social Media

Hello, writers!

We love fall, but the last thing we want is for you to fall out of your writing habits lol!

One of the best ways to create content that truly resonates with your audience is to ask them directly what they want to see. You can ensure your content aligns with their interests and needs by gathering feedback through surveys or social media polls. Here's how you can do just that:

1. Analyze Your HackerNoon Profile

Your profile page is the perfect place to begin your analysis. Head to your profile, and check out your most popular stories—these are the ones with the highest readership. Dive into your story stats, and think back to when you wrote each piece. Consider whether external factors might have influenced those numbers:

• Did you write about a trending topic at the time?

• Were you covering a breaking development in tech?

Look for patterns. Do certain topics consistently perform better? Maybe your audience loves your unique approach to a specific subject.

Take notes: Pay attention to your tags and structure. What tags did you use in your most popular stories? Are they popular tags on HackerNoon? You can check this by searching them and seeing the number of published stories and their average engagement.

Also, think about the structure of your high-performing articles:

• Did you format them differently?

• Was there a specific writing style or hook that worked better?

This analysis will help you cogitate theories on what’s working (and what isn’t).

2. Reach Out to Your Subscribers

As a HackerNoon writer, you have exclusive access to your followers—readers who love your work enough to subscribe to your updates. You can view your followers on the stats page and download a CSV list with their emails, handles, and profile links.

Start by browsing your subscribers’ profiles to gain a better understanding of your audience. Take note of whether they are professionals in your field, fellow writers, or tech enthusiasts. This will give you valuable insights into who’s consuming your content and how to tailor future pieces.

3. Craft a Compelling Email

Once you’ve done your background research, it’s time to engage your audience. Craft a compelling email, and send it to your subscribers asking for their feedback.

Here’s what to include:

• Introduce yourself and explain why you’re reaching out.
• Ask them what topics or formats they enjoy most in your work.
• Inquire about areas for improvement and what they'd love to see more of.
• Keep it brief and engaging to encourage responses.
• If you're including a questionnaire, aim for just a few questions to avoid overwhelming your audience.

To sweeten the deal, consider offering a sneak peek of 2 or 3 upcoming stories you're planning to publish, and let your subscribers vote on their favorite.

Need an example? Use this email copy as inspiration:

Feel free to add your style and personality!

If you prefer to include your questions in a questionnaire format, there are plenty of tools available such as Google Forms, Typeform, SurveyMonkey, JotForm, Microsoft Forms, Paperform, and others. Here’s a potential format you can use for your questionnaire:

4. Take It to Your Socials

The final step to gauge your audience’s interests is to take the conversation to social media. Choose the platform(s) where you have a strong following or where it makes the most sense to engage your audience about your writing. Then, start a poll. Ask your followers questions like:

• What’s your favorite story of yours?
• What topics are they most interested in reading?
• Have they read any of your stories? If not, give them compelling reasons to start.

Just like with your email outreach, you can share a short questionnaire and snippets of your upcoming stories. Be sure to highlight the best quotes to grab their attention.

Here’s an example of a poll HackerNoon ran to gauge our users’ interests:

As you can see, there’s no need to overcomplicate things. Keep it simple and direct. Your goal is to get a sense of what topics resonate with your audience while also promoting yourself and your work 😉

Try these tips and let us know how it goes—we’d love to hear your feedback.

Auto Posting Via API On Threads

Now, every published HackerNoon story is automatically shared on Threads and X, giving your content double the exposure across platforms. Each post includes your story's meta description, uses the first tag as a hashtag, and, if you provide it, tags your Threads/X handle. It's a great way to maximize your reach and gain more visibility with minimal effort!