content-ideas

name	content-ideas
description	Use when Content Ideas Generator is needed to produce a prioritised idea set for social-media or digital-marketing work; use `caption-writer` when its narrower outcome is requested.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"]}

Content Ideas Generator

Use When

• Use this skill when the requested outcome is specifically a prioritised idea set and the supplied brief falls within content ideas generator.

Do Not Use When

• Use caption-writer when its narrower output is the real deliverable; do not use this skill as a generic substitute.
• Do not use it to publish, send, spend, alter a live account, or make unsupported legal, platform, performance, or certification claims.

Required Inputs

Artefact	Source/provider	Required?	If absent
Content brief, channel, audience, message, format and call to action	Requester or approved brief	Yes	Stop and request the missing decision context.
Brand voice, offer facts, constraints and approvals	Client source pack or authorised owner	Conditional	State assumptions; do not invent names, prices, results or approvals.
Performance, platform or research evidence used for claims	Traceable export, URL, document or named source	Conditional	Issue a qualified finding and identify the evidence needed.

Capability and Permission Boundaries

Default to read-only: inspect supplied material and report findings. Editing, publishing, contacting people, spending, or changing live systems requires separate explicit authority. Minimum capabilities are read access to supplied files and search across the authorised evidence set. Use only the files, tools, accounts and evidence made available for the engagement, expose every unassessed check, and obtain explicit authority before any mutation.

Degraded Mode

Fallback: if files, network access, platform data, language review or production tools are unavailable, return the narrowest useful qualified prioritised idea set; mark unavailable checks not assessed and never convert them into a pass.

Decision Rules

Choice	Action	Failure or risk avoided
Channel, format and audience commitment level are known	Choose the hook, structure and call to action native to that context.	Copy that could be pasted unchanged onto any channel or brand.
A required fact or approval is missing	Stop that claim or action; request it or use an explicit placeholder.	Fabricated facts, implied consent or unauthorised publication.
Evidence is partial but a useful draft is possible	Deliver a qualified draft with gaps and the next verification step.	Treating an unassessed requirement as passed.

Workflow

1. Confirm the exact prioritised idea set, consumer, market, channel and approval boundary; route to caption-writer if it is the closer match.
2. Inventory supplied facts, source provenance, constraints and missing inputs; stop if the objective, audience or authority is unknowable.
3. Select the domain method and record the material decision behind it before drafting.
4. Produce the smallest complete prioritised idea set; keep facts traceable and placeholders visibly unresolved.
5. Test the result against the decision table, domain quality criteria and anti-slop gate; recover by narrowing or qualifying unsupported portions.
6. Deliver the artefact with evidence, assumptions, unassessed checks and the next approval or verification step.
7. For each idea, name the audience situation, narrative job, emotional or practical tension, proof/source need, choice or CTA, format/readability risk, and the learning signal it can generate.

Outputs

Artefact	Consumer	Observable acceptance condition
Prioritised idea set	Requester, client reviewer or delivery team	The prioritised idea set addresses the named audience and objective, records assumptions, and passes the skill's domain checks without invented facts.
Decision and gap note	Approver or next workflow	Names the chosen route, evidence used, unresolved inputs and any action requiring authority.

Evidence Produced

Evidence	Format	Acceptance condition
Finding-to-source register and unassessed-check list	Inline table, checklist or linked source note	Every material claim, decision and unavailable check is traceable.

Quality Standards

• Preserve the domain guidance and East African market context below; replace it only when the requester names another market.
• Use British English unless the target language or market requires otherwise, and verify names, figures, quotations and platform rules before use.
• Make the key choice visible, cover failure and edge cases, and keep the result ready for its named consumer.
• Run the repository's anti-ai-slop ship gate; a blocking factual, cultural, safety or permission defect stops release.
• Use story structure and audience empathy to make ideas specific, but do not invent customer stories, results, permissions, cultural facts, or platform behaviour.

Anti-Patterns

• Writing before the objective and audience are known. Fix: stop and obtain the missing brief fields.
• Reusing a neighbouring skill's template because the headings look similar. Fix: route by the requested prioritised idea set, not vocabulary overlap.
• Adding a price, result, quotation, platform limit or cultural claim without a traceable source. Fix: verify it or qualify/remove it.
• Treating missing access, evidence or native-language review as approval. Fix: mark the check not assessed and narrow the result.
• Publishing, sending, spending or changing a live account from drafting authority alone. Fix: obtain explicit action-specific authority and retain the approval record.
• Generating a list of hooks without a job, audience situation, proof, or next action. Fix: add the missing narrative and measurement fields or narrow the idea set.

References

• caption-writer is the nearest routing comparison for this skill.
• Repository agent guide defines the engine-wide market, safety and anti-slop gates.

How to Use This Skill

Collect the Required Input below. Generate 30 content ideas in the table format specified, followed by 5 evergreen content series. Apply all 8 idea generation frameworks. Distribute ideas across all active platforms proportionally. Ideas must be specific to the client's industry and audience — not generic social media advice restated.

Required Input

Ask for the following before generating ideas:

• Client name — trading name of the business
• Industry — sector (e.g. fashion retail, food and beverage, health services, NGO, professional services)
• Country / city — default Uganda/East Africa
• Primary goal — what the client wants to achieve through content (awareness / community / sales / recruitment)
• Target audience — who the content is for (demographics, interests, location, key concerns)
• Active platforms — all platforms the client posts on (determines platform distribution)
• Content pillars with percentages — the agreed content mix from 10-content-pillars (e.g. Educational 40%, Behind the Scenes 20%, Promotional 20%, Community 20%)
• Brand tone (3 words) — from 04-brand-voice-intake
• Upcoming campaigns or seasonal dates — any launches, promotions, or cultural moments to plan around

Output Format

Generate the 30 ideas in this table:

#	Idea title	Platform	Content type	Pillar	2-sentence brief
1	[Title]	[Platform]	[Type]	[Pillar]	[What it covers and why it will work for this audience]

After the table, generate the 5 evergreen series.

Distribution Rules

Apply these rules to every batch of 30 ideas:

Platform distribution — minimum ideas per active platform:

• Facebook: minimum 5 ideas
• Instagram: minimum 5 ideas
• LinkedIn: minimum 4 ideas (if active)
• WhatsApp: minimum 3 ideas (broadcast messages or Status content)
• TikTok: minimum 4 ideas (if active)
• YouTube: minimum 2 ideas (if active)

If a client uses fewer than 5 platforms, redistribute proportionally so every active platform has at least 4 ideas.

Content type mix — include at least one of each across the 30: Image post, video (short-form), carousel / multi-image, Story or Status update, poll or question post, text post, broadcast message (WhatsApp), Reel or TikTok

Pillar distribution — ideas must reflect the content pillar percentages from the brief. In a 30-idea set:

• A pillar at 40% should have approximately 12 ideas
• A pillar at 20% should have approximately 6 ideas
• Adjust proportionally if pillars are different

Content category mix — across all 30, include ideas from each of these categories:

• Educational (explains, teaches, or clarifies)
• Entertaining or relatable (humour, recognition, shared experience)
• Promotional (product, offer, service — direct but not pushy)
• Behind the scenes (process, team, sourcing, workspace)
• Social proof (testimonial, result, number served, review)
• Community (local connection, customer spotlight, partnership)
• Seasonal or cultural hook (Uganda/EA calendar — see Framework 6)
• UGC prompt (encourages customers to create and share content)

8 Idea Generation Frameworks

Apply all 8 frameworks when generating the 30 ideas. Each framework should contribute at least 2–3 ideas to the final set.

Framework 1: The 5 Ws Answer each question as a content idea:

• Who are your customers? → Spotlight them
• What do they need to know? → Educate them
• Where do they use your product or service? → Show it in context
• When do they need it most? → Create timely content for that moment
• Why do they choose you over alternatives? → Make the case clearly

Framework 2: The FAQ Bank List the 10 most common questions customers ask. Each question is a content idea. Frame the post as an answer — not as an advertisement. Formats that work: short video answer, carousel "we get asked this a lot", WhatsApp broadcast tip.

Framework 3: The Anti-FAQ Bank What do customers wrongly assume about the product, service, or industry? Each misconception is a content idea. Formats: "myth vs. fact" carousel, short video rebuttal, text post that opens with the wrong belief and corrects it.

Framework 4: Behind the Scenes What happens that customers never see? Options:

• Production or preparation process
• How ingredients, materials, or stock is sourced
• Team morning routine or day-in-the-life
• Quality checks and standards
• Packaging, presentation, or setup
• What happens after a customer leaves

Framework 5: Social Proof Content Content that shows others trust the brand:

• Customer testimonial (written or video)
• Before-and-after result
• Mini case story: customer's situation → what they did → result
• Number of customers served, years in business, units sold
• Awards, certifications, press mentions

Framework 6: Seasonal and Cultural Hooks — Uganda and East Africa Plan content around these dates and moments:

Occasion	Date / Period	Content angle
New Year	1 January	Goals, fresh starts, new product launch timing
Valentine's Day	14 February	Gifts, couples, special offers, love
Easter	March / April	Family, community, long weekend
Eid al-Fitr	End of Ramadan (date varies)	Celebration, community, greetings
Labour Day	1 May	Worker appreciation, team spotlight
Martyrs Day	3 June	National reflection (handle respectfully — not promotional)
Eid al-Adha	Date varies	Community, sharing, celebration
Independence Day — Uganda	9 October	Patriotism, local pride, Made in Uganda angle
Christmas	25 December	Gifts, celebration, year-end reflection
Back to school — Uganda	January and August / September	School supplies, children, family planning
Harvest seasons	Varies by region and crop	Agriculture, freshness, sourcing story
Rainy season	March–May and October–November	Weather-relevant product or service content

Note: do not force cultural or religious occasions onto brands where it is not authentic. Only use occasions that genuinely connect to what the client does.

Framework 7: Trend-Adjacent Content Identify a current trend in the client's industry or in EA popular culture and show how it connects to the brand — without chasing the trend directly. The post should make the brand look current without being reactive or superficial. Approach: "Here is what [trend] means for [our audience]" or "Our take on [trending conversation]."

Framework 8: Collaboration and Community Content Who could the brand feature, partner with, or recognise?

• A supplier or producer story
• A local business the brand admires (not a competitor)
• A customer whose story would matter to others
• A charity or cause the brand supports
• An influencer or community figure relevant to the audience Collaboration content generates goodwill, extends reach to a partner's audience, and creates genuine warmth around the brand.

Output: 30 Content Ideas

[Generate the full table here once Required Input is received. Provide titles that are specific and vivid — not generic. The brief must make it clear what the content looks like and why it will work for this specific audience.]

Example row (Uganda — food and beverage brand):

| 5 | The matoke that travels 40 km to your plate | Instagram | Short video (Reel) | Behind the scenes | Follow the matoke from a Wakiso farm to the restaurant kitchen in 45 seconds. Shows sourcing story and freshness credentials without a word of advertising copy. |

Evergreen Content Series

After the 30-idea table, generate 5 evergreen series — content formats that can be repeated weekly or monthly without running out of material.

For each series, provide:

Series name: [A distinctive, brandable name] Concept: [What the series is about in 2 sentences] Frequency: [Weekly / fortnightly / monthly] Posting day: [Recommended day — e.g. Tuesday for educational content, Friday for community] First episode idea: [The specific first post to launch the series — title and brief]

Example series formats to adapt:

• Ask [Brand Name]: Weekly Q&A post answering one customer question — sourced from comments, DMs, or common enquiries at the counter. Run every Tuesday on Instagram Stories and Facebook.
• Made with care: Monthly behind-the-scenes of one ingredient, product, or process — 60-second video. Run first Thursday of each month on Instagram Reels and Facebook.
• Customer of the month: Monthly spotlight on a customer who agreed to be featured — photograph, 3 questions answered in their own words. Builds community, generates UGC goodwill.
• [Industry] myth of the week: Weekly myth-busting post from the anti-FAQ bank. Short carousel or text post. Educates and builds authority.
• [City] spotlight: Monthly post featuring something the brand loves about [city] — a local supplier, a community event, a neighbourhood. Builds local identity and partnership goodwill.

Generate 5 series specifically tailored to the client's industry, platform mix, and brand tone — not generic formats restated.

Human Authenticity Gate

All content ideas and briefs produced using this skill must pass through the ai-content-humaniser before the resulting content is delivered to the client. AI-generated or AI-assisted content ideas must meet the Golden Rule: every idea brief must be specific, culturally grounded, and audience-relevant — as if developed by the most skilled human strategist with deep knowledge of the client's market. Generic, formulaic, or culturally misaligned idea sets are not acceptable regardless of how efficiently they were produced.

Quality Criteria

• All 30 ideas are specific to the client's industry, audience, and location — no generic filler
• Every active platform receives its minimum allocation of ideas
• All 8 idea generation frameworks contribute at least 2 ideas each to the set
• All content types (image, video, carousel, story, poll, text, broadcast) are represented across the 30
• Pillar distribution reflects the percentages provided in the content pillars input
• Seasonal hooks use Uganda/EA dates, not US/UK calendar defaults
• Evergreen series are named, specific, and immediately actionable — first episode idea is fully described
• British English throughout