Why most teams get content wrong
If you’ve spent any time scrolling through blogs, LinkedIn posts, or company resource pages, you’ll notice a pattern. Most of the content feels rushed, recycled, or simply pointless. It’s not just bad writing—it’s the approach behind it. Teams chase keywords they don’t fully understand, copy whatever their competitors just published, or use ChatGPT to churn out articles that read like filler. In other cases, content managers are under pressure to hit a quota, so they publish something, anything, just to check a box.
This approach creates what I call content noise. It fills the internet with pages nobody needs and nobody trusts. And even smart, well-meaning teams fall into the trap because they’re under pressure to “just get something out.” The result is a content machine that’s busy but not productive. Instead of being a source of clarity, it becomes a factory for shallow output. That doesn’t help you, and it certainly doesn’t help your audience.
The bigger problem is that this style of content doesn’t stick. Trend-driven posts get buried within days. Copycat articles never rise above the original. Generic filler confuses readers about what your brand actually stands for. Inconsistency makes it hard for people to see you as an authority. And if you’re spending time and budget to produce work that dies quietly in the corner of the internet, that’s not strategy, but waste.
Why research is a better way
The alternative is simple but not easy: build your content system on research. That doesn’t mean writing like an academic journal or stuffing every piece with statistics. It means grounding your ideas in evidence and insight, not hunches. When you do that, your audience can see the difference immediately. Research-led content feels smarter, clearer, and more trustworthy because it answers real questions and uses real data.
Think about the benefits. When you publish content grounded in research, you build trust because readers know you’ve done the work. You gain credibility because you’re not guessing; you’re showing your homework. Your content lasts longer because data-driven insights don’t expire overnight. You earn more traffic because problem-solving content gets shared, linked, and ranked more often.
The numbers prove the point. According to the Demand Gen Report, 61% of B2B buyers engage with three to seven pieces of content before ever talking to a sales rep. That means your content is the frontline of trust, not just decoration. Edelman and LinkedIn found that 54% of decision-makers read thought leadership before purchasing a new product or service. And in a 2023 Ahrefs study, researchers showed that over 96% of content gets zero Google traffic. The internet is drowning in words, but most of them don’t matter. The way to stand out isn’t to shout louder, but to publish content people actually need.
Where to find research inputs
So how do you do it? You start by collecting research inputs. Think of these as the raw ingredients in your content kitchen. The better the ingredients, the better the final meal.
One place to look is your page analytics. Google Analytics shows you which blog posts or landing pages attract attention. If people keep finding a certain article, that’s a clue you can expand the topic.
Next is profile analytics. Platforms like LinkedIn, X, or TikTok all provide insights into what resonates with your audience. Pay attention to which posts people share, comment on, or save.
Search analytics are another goldmine. Tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush show you exactly what people are typing into search bars. This is real demand—real questions your audience wants answered.
Customer touchpoints matter too. Look at your FAQs, support tickets, sales calls, or live chat transcripts. These highlight the problems people are actively trying to solve. If you see the same question popping up again and again, that’s content waiting to be written.
Don’t ignore audience sentiment. Reddit threads, Quora questions, or social media chatter often surface pain points in plain language. Sometimes you’ll see frustrations or confusions that no one in your industry is addressing yet.
Finally, consider market and product data. Internal usage stats, industry surveys, or trend reports can give you insights nobody else has. Sharing these makes your content feel fresh and authoritative.
Here’s a simple table to visualize it:
| Input source | What it tells you | Example |
| Search Console | Keywords people search | “How to budget as a Gen Z student” |
| Support tickets | Repeated customer pain points | Confusion about payment methods |
| Reddit/Quora | Real-world conversations | “Do people still use metshelo in 2025?” |
| Analytics | Top-performing content | Blog on mobile banking keeps ranking |
| Social insights | Resonant topics and formats | LinkedIn carousel shared 100+ times |
Turning research into a content strategy
Once you have data, you need to shape it into a strategy. This step is where most teams go wrong. They gather insights but never translate them into a plan. A strategy connects the dots.
Start by mapping research inputs to themes. If you’re in fintech and your audience keeps asking about debt management, that becomes a theme. If you’re in healthcare and surveys highlight access to care, that’s another theme. These topics become rooted in what your audience actually cares about.
Next, build a content calendar. This doesn’t need to be complicated. Even a shared Google Doc works at the beginning. The point is to stop guessing and start scheduling. Writers should know what question they’re answering, editors should know what to verify, and designers should know what visuals to create. Everyone works from the same playbook.
At Column, we do this every day. Our analysis of Nigerian Gen Z financial behavior came from patterns we saw in social conversations. Our deep dive into the State of Motshelo in Botswana 2025 was sparked by repeated chatter in online forums and personal conversations. Neither study was based on copying competitors, and the Motshelo report was the first of its kind. Both were grounded in insights that showed us gaps worth exploring.
Formats you can use
Research-led insights are too valuable to use once. That’s why repurposing matters. A single study can become a blog post, a LinkedIn article, a carousel, a podcast pitch, a webinar, or even a whitepaper. We’ve taken one dataset and turned it into five different formats that each reach a different audience segment. This multiplies the value of the work without adding much extra cost.
If you need ideas, we’ve published guides on content strategy and formats that explain how to make the most of your research. The point is to think beyond the first draft. Research is an asset. Each time you repurpose it, you compound its value.
How research-led content feeds into the PESO model
The PESO model is a framework for distributing content through four channels: paid, earned, shared, and owned media. When you’ve built a research-led piece, the model helps you make sure it doesn’t sit quietly on your blog but actually reaches the right people.
Paid media is the fastest way to drive traffic. Think about LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads, Google search ads, or placements in targeted newsletters. Paid works best when you want to put a new study in front of a defined audience quickly.
Earned media is what you don’t buy. It’s press mentions, podcast features, or journalists quoting your research. Editors love fresh data because it gives them something credible to cite. We’ve pitched research-led blog posts to reporters and landed coverage because the numbers gave them a hook.
Shared media is about reach through networks. This includes LinkedIn carousels, X threads, or employees sharing content. It’s where human storytelling combines with research. A single chart or statistic can travel far when framed in the right way.
Owned media is your foundation. Your website, newsletter, and resource library are spaces you control. A single research study can be turned into multiple blog posts, an email sequence, or a webinar hosted on your site. Owned channels make your work evergreen.
When you connect these four, distribution stops being random. Paid amplifies owned, earned builds authority, and shared expands reach. Together, they create a loop that keeps your research-led content in circulation far longer than a single post would on its own.
Tools to get started
You don’t need enterprise software to begin. Start small and scale up. Google Analytics and Search Console give you free insights. A LinkedIn company page shows you engagement stats. Google Forms or Typeform let you collect quick survey data. Even a basic workflow in Notion or Asana can keep your process organized.
The tools aren’t the bottleneck. The bottleneck is usually discipline: actually using the tools, tracking the inputs, and translating them into content. A spreadsheet is enough if you’re consistent.
Using AI wisely
AI can be useful, but only if you’re clear about its role. It’s not your research assistant. It’s your writing assistant. Use it to brainstorm angles, polish drafts, or reformat content into shorter posts. Don’t use it to replace your brain or your data. That’s how you end up with the same generic content as everyone else.
We’ve used AI to help outline LinkedIn posts, clean up grammar, or draft first-pass summaries of reports. But the research itself—the interviews, the data analysis, the insight—that comes from people. AI speeds you up. It doesn’t make you smarter.
Examples from our work
Let me show you what this looks like in practice. Our Nigerian Gen Z study earned coverage in TechCabal. Journalists cited it because it contained original data they could trust. Our Motshelo research in Botswana sparked national discussion because we provided evidence around a topic people were debating emotionally. A research-driven blog post we published got featured in BusinessDay because it offered something fresh. These results came from grounding content in data and building distribution around it.
If you want proof, take a look at your own analytics. Publish one research-led piece, and you’ll see the difference in how it performs compared to a generic filler article. You’ll get more time on page, more shares, more backlinks. That’s not hype—it’s the compounding effect of trust.
Get started today
The beauty of this approach is that you don’t need to wait. You don’t need a full research department or a six-figure content budget. Pick one theme. Collect inputs from your analytics, your sales calls, or your support tickets. Write one piece that solves a real problem. Publish it. Measure how it performs. Then repeat.
Over time, you’ll see a system emerge. Each step gets easier. Each piece compounds the value of the last. Instead of producing content nobody cares about, you’ll be building a library of assets that earn trust and drive growth long after publication.
At Column, we specialize in building these systems. We help leaders create scalable content engines that are grounded in research and designed to earn trust. If that’s the kind of system you want, get in touch. Let’s build content worth reading.
Gideon Onunwa is a research analyst at Column. With certifications in data science and IT he translates data into clear, actionable insights through visualizations and reports that inform smart decisions across industries such as health, science, communications, and technology.
