Lesson 2 12 min

Content Ideation and Writing

Use AI to generate content ideas, create outlines, write drafts, and develop a content calendar that keeps your audience engaged.

Great content starts with great ideas — and AI is the best brainstorming partner you’ll ever have. It never runs out of ideas, it never judges your bad ones, and it can generate 50 angles on any topic in 30 seconds.

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, you learned that AI handles production while you add personality. This lesson shows you the first step: generating ideas and turning them into written content.

The Ideation Workflow

Generating Ideas That Stand Out

Generate 15 content ideas for my niche:

Niche: [your topic area]
Audience: [who they are, what they care about]
My unique angle: [what makes your perspective different]
What I want to avoid: Generic advice, listicles that exist everywhere

Categories to cover:
- 3 counterintuitive takes (challenge common wisdom)
- 3 personal story ideas (experiences I can share)
- 3 how-to guides (specific, actionable)
- 3 trending topics with my take
- 3 audience questions (things my followers ask)

For each idea, include:
- Title (hook-first)
- One-sentence angle (why this is different)
- Best format (video, blog, carousel, short)

Content Calendar

Create a 2-week content calendar:

Platforms: YouTube (1x/week), Instagram (3x/week),
  newsletter (1x/week), TikTok (5x/week)
My niche: [topic]
My content pillars: [3 recurring themes]

For each piece:
- Platform and format
- Title/hook
- Core idea (1-2 sentences)
- Repurposing potential (can this feed other platforms?)

Make Monday a "hero content" day (YouTube or newsletter)
and distribute repurposed pieces throughout the week.

✅ Quick Check: You generate 15 content ideas with AI. Five are great, five are okay, and five are bad. Is this a failure? (Answer: No — it’s the point. Even professional writers discard most ideas. AI gave you 15 options in 30 seconds. You picked the best 5. Without AI, you might have brainstormed 3 ideas in 30 minutes and felt stuck. Volume of ideas is the path to quality ideas.)

Writing with AI

Write a first draft for this article:

Title: [your chosen title]
Audience: [who's reading this]
Main takeaway: [the one thing they should remember]
My perspective: [what I believe about this topic that others don't]

Structure:
- Hook: Start with a surprising fact, personal story, or question
- Problem: What the audience is struggling with
- My approach: What I've learned or discovered
- 3-4 key points with specific examples
- Actionable takeaway: One thing they can do today
- CTA: [subscribe / comment / share]

Tone: [conversational / authoritative / funny / vulnerable]
Length: [800-1200 words]
Include: Specific numbers and examples, not vague advice.
Do NOT include: Generic statements like "in today's world" or
"it's important to note that"

Script Writing for Video

Write a YouTube video script:

Title: [title]
Length: 8-10 minutes when read aloud
Format: Talking head with B-roll

Structure:
- Hook (first 15 seconds): Something that makes viewers NOT click away
- Intro (30 seconds): What they'll learn and why it matters
- Main content (6-8 minutes): [3-4 key points]
- CTA (30 seconds): Subscribe + next video recommendation
- End screen (15 seconds)

Mark B-roll suggestions in [brackets].
Include natural pauses for editing cuts.
Tone: [your on-camera personality]

Write 5 Instagram caption options for this post:

Post type: Carousel about [topic]
Key takeaways in the carousel: [list them]
Audience: [who follows you]

Each caption should:
- Start with a hook (first line visible before "more")
- Include a personal touch or opinion
- End with a question or CTA
- Include relevant hashtags (10-15)
- Under 200 words each

Give me 5 variations: storytelling, data-driven, question-led,
controversial take, and personal experience.

Practice Exercise

Generate 15 content ideas for your niche using the ideation template
Pick the best idea and create a first draft with AI — then add your personal stories and examples
Plan a content calendar for next week that repurposes one core idea across platforms

Key Takeaways

Specific prompts = specific ideas. “Content ideas about finance for broke millennials” beats “content ideas about money”
AI writes competent drafts — your personal stories, opinions, and specific examples make them remarkable
Content repurposing is the highest-leverage AI workflow: one idea → 4+ pieces of content
Always add your unique angle after AI drafts — the perspective is what makes people subscribe
A content calendar prevents the daily “what should I post?” panic

Up Next

In the next lesson, you’ll learn to create video and visual content with AI — from thumbnails and graphics to video editing and repurposing.

Knowledge Check

1. You ask AI for 10 content ideas about 'personal finance.' AI generates generic titles like 'How to Save Money' and '5 Budgeting Tips.' These are boring. What went wrong?

AI can't generate good ideas The prompt was too vague. Better: 'Generate 10 content ideas about personal finance for millennials who earn $60-80K but feel broke. Focus on specific, surprising angles — not generic advice they've heard a thousand times. Think: counterintuitive tips, common mistakes nobody talks about, or real scenarios with numbers.' Specificity in the prompt = interesting ideas out Personal finance is too competitive

2. AI writes a 1,500-word blog post about productivity tips. It's well-structured and grammatically perfect. But it reads like every other productivity article online. What's missing?

Better grammar Your personal experience and specific examples. The article needs: 'I tried this system for 30 days and here's what happened,' or 'I used to waste 3 hours every morning on email until I...' Personal stories, specific numbers, and genuine opinions are what AI can't generate — and what readers connect with More words

3. You need 4 pieces of content this week: a YouTube video, 2 Instagram posts, and a newsletter. AI can help you create all 4 from ONE core idea. How?

Create each piece separately from scratch Start with the deepest format (YouTube video or newsletter), then repurpose: the video script becomes the newsletter, the key points become Instagram carousels, and a surprising stat becomes a social media quote graphic. One idea, researched once, produced once, distributed four ways Let AI generate 4 unrelated pieces

Answer all questions to check

Complete the quiz above first