Professional Services Marketing

Using AI to Identify Trending Topics

Written by Accounting Marketing Writing Team | Feb 9, 2025 8:27:43 PM

In a world where financial insights move at the speed of light, content creators face a fascinating challenge: how to capture and share the stories that matter most to accounting and finance professionals. The game shifts daily – from emerging regulatory changes to evolving market dynamics and transforming business practices.

While technology is our trusted companion in navigating this complexity, the true art lies in weaving together human insight with digital intelligence to uncover the topics that resonate most deeply with financial professionals. This article takes you on a journey through the modern content creator's toolkit, exploring how we can blend technological capabilities with human expertise to identify and develop content that speaks to the heart of what accounting and finance professionals need most.

We'll discover practical approaches that help you stay not just current, but ahead of the curve, ensuring your content connects with and serves your audience in meaningful ways.

Content Discovery

Gone are the days when financial content creation meant simply monitoring major publications and regulatory updates. Today's options are more nuanced. According to recent research by the Content Marketing Institute, finance-focused content that incorporates trend analysis and predictive insights sees an average engagement rate 2.7 times higher than traditional reporting-style content. This shift reflects a deeper truth: our audience craves not just information, but interpretation and foresight.

The modern financial content ecosystem spans everything from social conversations and professional networks to academic research and market analyses. What makes this ecosystem particularly fascinating is its interconnectedness – a regulatory change in one market can trigger ripple effects across multiple sectors, creating rich opportunities for storytelling and analysis. A 2023 study by Thomson Reuters found that financial professionals spend an average of 7.2 hours per week consuming content across five different platforms, highlighting the importance of meeting our audience where they are.

Your Practical Toolkit: Where Art Meets Science

Let's roll up our sleeves and look at the specific tools and processes that can enhance your content creation journey. Think of these as your trusted companions, each playing a unique role in helping you uncover and develop meaningful stories.

The Daily Discovery Suite

When global markets catch their breath at the end of each trading day, OpenBB Terminal is a great tool for market sentiment analysis. This open-source platform excels at aggregating financial news and social sentiment, giving you early signals of emerging trends. Start your morning by setting up custom filters for your key topics – whether that's ESG reporting trends or cryptocurrency adoption in corporate treasury.

Moving through your day, Feedly's Leo AI is an intelligent reading companion. Train it to understand your specific interests within finance and accounting, and watch as it learns to surface articles and discussions that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks. One content director at a major accounting firm shared how Leo helped them spot the growing conversation around real-time tax reporting six months before it became mainstream news.

For keeping your finger on the professional pulse, FinanceGPT and MoneyScope AI offer specialized insight into financial discussions. The key is crafting thoughtful prompts that go beyond surface-level analysis. Instead of asking "What's trending in accounting?" try "What regulatory challenges are mid-sized accounting firms discussing most frequently in their quarterly reports?"

Your Weekly Rhythm

Consider this your content creation jam:

Mondays begin with what we call a "Horizon Scan" using Bloomberg's AI-powered Topic Tracker. Set aside 30 minutes to review the weekend's developments and emerging conversations. The magic happens when you cross-reference these insights with social listening tools like Brandwatch Finance, looking for disconnects between official narratives and practitioner concerns.

Mid-week, dedicate time to what we call "Deep Dive Wednesday." Use Claude AI to analyze lengthy financial reports and regulatory documents, asking it to identify patterns and potential implications that might not be immediately obvious. One financial writer discovered a fascinating trend in sustainable finance reporting requirements by having Claude compare regulatory filings across different jurisdictions.

End your week with "Connection Friday," using LinkedIn's Creator Analytics combined with Pulsar TRAC to understand which topics are resonating most deeply with your professional audience. Pay special attention to the comments sections – often the real gems of insight lie in how professionals are responding to and building upon each other's thoughts.

Monthly Insight Generation

Once a month, carve out time for what we call your "Content Workshop." This is where you bring together all your tools and insights to map out the bigger picture. Use Ahrefs' Content Gap Analysis alongside FinBERT's sentiment tracking to identify areas where important conversations aren't yet happening – these gaps often represent your biggest opportunities for thought leadership.

Start by feeding the last three months of your best-performing content into Claude AI, asking it to identify common threads and unexpected connections. Then cross-reference these insights with Semrush's Topic Research tool to uncover related questions your audience is asking but not yet finding satisfactory answers to.

The Human Side of Trend Discovery

While digital tools excel at processing vast amounts of information, the magic happens when we combine this capability with human discernment. Think of technology as your research assistant – incredibly efficient at gathering and organizing information, but looking to you for the crucial decisions about what truly matters to your audience.

Consider starting your day with what we might call a "content compass check." This isn't just about scanning headlines or checking trending topics – it's about understanding the conversations happening in your community. What questions are financial professionals asking in LinkedIn groups? What challenges are being discussed in industry forums? These human touchpoints often reveal the stories behind the data.

Crafting Your Discovery Process

The most effective content creators in finance have developed what might be called a "sixth sense" for identifying meaningful trends. This intuition isn't magical – it's built through a deliberate practice of staying connected to both data and community. Start by creating what we call "listening posts" across different channels. These might include professional networks, industry forums, and social media communities where financial professionals gather.

Data from PwC's Digital Pulse survey reveals that financial content covering emerging technologies and their practical applications receives 43% more engagement when it includes real-world case studies and implementation stories. This underscores a crucial point: your audience wants to see the human side of finance, not just the numbers.

Measuring What Matters

Success in financial content creation isn't just about traffic and engagement metrics – though these certainly matter. The real measure of success is the value you're providing to your audience. Are you helping them navigate complex changes? Are you providing insights that make their professional lives easier or more productive?

Looking Ahead

The future of financial content creation lies not in automating our way to insights, but in finding ever more meaningful ways to blend technology's capabilities with human wisdom. As we move forward, the most successful content creators will be those who master this balance, using tools to enhance rather than replace their unique human perspective.

Bringing It All Together

The art of discovering trending topics in accounting and finance is ultimately about serving your audience. By combining technological capabilities with human insight, maintaining a curious and investigative mindset, and always keeping your audience's needs at the center of your work, you can create content that doesn't just inform – it transforms.

Remember, at the heart of every trending topic is a human story waiting to be told. Your role as a content creator is to find that story and tell it in a way that resonates with the professionals who rely on your insights to navigate their own financial journeys.