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What is the BuzzSumo Brief Generator and how do you use it?
What is the BuzzSumo Brief Generator and how do you use it?

A quick and easy guide for generating a brief in BuzzSumo

Matthew Rayson avatar
Written by Matthew Rayson
Updated over a year ago

Ever struggled with creating a content brief? We’ve been there. Either you spend too much time briefing, or rush it and end up trapped in constant rounds of revisions.

BuzzSumo’s Brief Generator can help you put together a brief for yourself, your team, or your writers, at the click of a button.

What is the BuzzSumo Brief Generator?

BuzzSumo’s Brief Generator is a tool that automates the process of building a content brief – a document of content requirements handed over to a creator.

Bringing together data from across the platform, the Brief Generator automagically populates keywords, questions, topics, engaging content inspiration, and distribution tips, to help a creator produce top-notch content.

What are the benefits of using the Brief Generator?

  • Save time briefing, spend more time creating

  • Scale your content output

  • Achieve long term cost savings

  • Agencies and consultants: Impress clients with quick-turnaround content

  • Give your writers instant, data-driven content inspiration

  • Get more creative headspace, so you can add your own zing

  • Produce thorough, well-researched content

  • Create content that land links, shares, AND rankings

  • Still have ultimate control

What does a brief from the Brief Generator include?

Your brief is made up of 14 components – many of which will be auto-populated for you, using data and engagement insight from BuzzSumo’s 8 billion articles.

A few of these components will be left blank for you to fill in your own advice and guidance.

The 14 components of a Brief Generator:

  1. Your topic/keyword

  2. Your tone of voice

  3. Your target audience/persona

  4. This week’s top 3 trending articles

  5. Inspiring top-shared/linked articles

  6. Top 3 ranking competing articles

  7. Top 3 keywords

  8. 3 questions to be answered

  9. Topics

  10. Research on external sites

  11. Preferred format

  12. Preferred word count

  13. Preferred network

  14. Preferred day to publish

To find out more about the data behind the Brief Generator, check out: What data is included in the BuzzSumo Brief Generator?

How do you use the Brief Generator?

To build a brief you simply:

  1. Search the topic you want to create content around in the Content Ideas Generator

  1. Hit the “Copy brief to clipboard” button.

You’ll get a notification telling you when your brief has been copied.

  1. Paste your ready-made brief into a blank doc

Build a broader brief

If you want to build a brief around numerous topics, you can do that too. Simply adjust your Content Ideas Generator search to include your additional topics.

If you’re looking for inspiration, use the related searches and simply click “OR” to build out your search.

Here’s an example of the differences between a brief built around a single topic, and one built around multiple…

Single topic: “Content strategy”

Inspiring top-shared/linked articles:

Delete/replace these if you want. BuzzSumo found 23486 articles in total to inspire you

  1. 10 Content Marketing Trends To Watch In 2022 (searchenginejournal.com, 1K Engagement, 28 Evergreen Score)

  2. B2B Content Marketing [New Research for 2022] (contentmarketinginstitute.com, 505 Engagement, 25 Evergreen Score)

  3. Does Word Count Really Matter For SEO Content? (searchenginejournal.com, 492 Engagement, 19 Evergreen Score)

Multiple topics: “content marketing OR content strategy OR user generated content OR web content curation OR digital marketing”

Inspiring top-shared/linked articles:

Delete/replace these if you want. BuzzSumo found 131334 articles in total to inspire you

  1. Prepare for the future with Google Analytics 4 (blog.google, 6.6K Engagement, 71 Evergreen Score)

  2. 10 Content Marketing Trends To Watch In 2022 (searchenginejournal.com, 1K Engagement, 28 Evergreen Score)

Notice how content inspiration is broader and more varied when you build a brief from “Multiple topics”.

In this example, there are 100K more articles to inspire your writers, when you create your brief around numerous topics.

Enrich your brief

BuzzSumo’s Brief Generator leaves space for you to add extra details and advice for your writer.

Fill in the gaps for your focus keyword, audience, and tone of voice, and don't forget to reinforce your main content goal.

Remember: A piece of content is only as good as the brief it's built on. Make sure you give your writer the resources they need to succeed.

To build an effective brief, check out our guide: 13 Things To Include In A Kickass Content Brief.


Not yet tried the Brief Generator? Generate an example brief in your free 30-day trial or get full access via Plus, Large, and Enterprise plans.

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