Add New Idea captures content concepts, snippets, drafts, or inspiration quickly without developing them into full posts. Use this when ideas strike but you don’t have time to write complete content.
Ideas can be anything from single-line reminders (“write about time management”) to copied snippets that sparked inspiration, to rough drafts needing polish. The goal is capturing ideas before they’re forgotten, then organizing them into notebooks for future development.
Accessing Add New Idea
Go to Content Laboratory > Add New Idea.
Saving Your Idea
Choose Topic Folder (Notebook)
Select which notebook should store this idea. Click the dropdown list to see all existing notebooks, or:
Create a new notebook
If none of your existing notebooks fit this idea, create a new one by clicking New Folder on the right side of the dropdown list. Enter the new notebook name and click confirm/save. The new notebook is created and automatically selected for this idea. Future ideas can be saved to this notebook using the dropdown.
Create notebooks for any organizational system that makes finding ideas easy - by topic, content type, development stage, strategic purpose, or any categorization that supports your workflow.
Enter Your Idea
Type or paste content into the text box. What you save depends on where you are in the thinking process:
Single-line reminders:
- “Write about imposter syndrome”
- “Post idea: why most LinkedIn advice is wrong”
- “Share the story about the difficult client conversation”
Use these when you have a topic in mind but no developed angle yet.
Snippets from other content:
Copy text from someone else’s post or comment that sparked an idea:
- A phrase that made you think “I have thoughts about this”
- A quote that reminds you of a story you could tell
- A perspective you want to build on or counter
Include where you saw it if relevant: “Saw this in Sarah’s comment - made me think about [your angle]”
Rough concepts:
- “Talk about how relationship-building on LinkedIn is like gardening. You plant seeds, water regularly, harvest later. Could develop into full analogy post.”
- “Three mistakes I made with content strategy: 1) posting randomly 2) caring about likes 3) no CTA. Could expand each into lessons.”
These are more developed than single lines but not full drafts - enough to remember the concept clearly.
Draft posts:
Paste partially-written content that needs more work:
- Posts with strong opening but weak conclusion
- Content with good points but poor structure
- Drafts missing examples or calls-to-action
Save drafts here when you need to step away and finish later, or when the idea needs more thinking before completion.
Inspiration captures:
Save anything that might inspire future content:
- Interesting data points or statistics
- Client questions that would make good posts
- Observations about industry trends
- Personal experiences with lessons to share
There’s no wrong way to save an idea - save whatever ensures you remember the concept later. You can always edit and develop ideas further when you’re ready to turn them into posts.
Save or Cancel
Save
Saves the idea to the selected notebook immediately. The idea appears in that notebook’s list and can be:
- Retrieved later for development into full posts
- Edited to add more detail or refine the concept
- Moved to different notebooks as it develops
- Copied into Start a Post for full writing experience with Lime’s content coaching tools
Ideas remain saved until you delete them or archive them. They’re permanent storage for content concepts.
Cancel
Discards the idea without saving.
After Saving
Once saved, ideas live in their assigned notebooks until you’re ready to use them.
View saved ideas:
- Go to Content Laboratory main page
- Click the notebook where you saved the idea
- All ideas in that notebook appear as a list
- Click any idea to view, edit, copy, move, or archive it
Working with Saved Ideas
Scroll through your notebook to review what content exists and select ideas to develop or publish.
Managing individual ideas:
Click the three dots at the bottom right of any saved idea to open the actions menu:
Edit
Opens the idea for editing. Modify text, refine the message, add more content, or restructure completely.
Changes save automatically - return to the notebook when editing is complete.
Copy
Copies the entire idea text to your device’s clipboard. The text is now ready to paste anywhere.
Copying doesn’t remove the idea from Lime - it remains in the notebook for future reference or reuse.
Move to Notebook
Transfers the idea to a different notebook. Select the destination notebook from the list, and the idea moves immediately.
Set Post Purpose
Categorize the idea by strategic purpose. Choose from four post types:
Sales: Posts designed to generate leads, drive conversions, or directly support revenue goals. Sales posts might:
* Include calls-to-action (CTAs) to book calls, download resources, or buy products
* Combine educational content with offers
* Share results or case studies that demonstrate value
What qualifies as “Sales” is up to you - some users mark any post with commercial intent, others reserve it for direct-ask posts only. Be consistent with your definition to make analytics and planning useful.
Color code: Blue
Personal: Posts that help your audience know, like, and trust you as a person. People buy from people they feel connected to, so Personal posts build the relationship foundation that enables future sales. Personal posts might:
* Share aspects of your life (family, hobbies, experiences)
* Describe how you work or your daily routines
* Discuss tools, processes, or methods you use
* Reveal personality, values, or perspectives
* Show vulnerability, challenges overcome, or lessons learned
How personal you get is entirely your choice. Some users share deep personal stories. Others keep “personal” to professional-but-humanizing content like “here’s how I organize my workday” or “this tool changed my productivity.” Do what feels authentic and comfortable.
Color code: Pink
Informational: Educational or teaching content that demonstrates expertise without direct sales messaging. Informational posts build trust and authority. When you teach valuable information, audiences trust you know your field and are more receptive when you do make sales posts. Informational posts might:
* Explain concepts, frameworks, or strategies
* Share tips, how-tos, or step-by-step guides
* Analyze industry trends or news
* Break down complex topics into accessible explanations
* Provide actionable insights or tactical advice
Informational posts can indirectly support sales (demonstrating expertise makes offers more credible) but the primary purpose is education, not conversion.
Color code: Orange
Other: Any post not clearly fitting the above categories. Other posts might include:
* Company updates or announcements
* Speaking engagements or event participation
* Milestone celebrations (work anniversaries, follower counts)
* Collaborative posts or community initiatives
* Experimental content formats
Other is the catch-all - useful for content that doesn’t fit neatly into Sales, Personal, or Informational boxes but still deserves strategic tracking.
Color code: Yellow
Why post types matter
Categorizing posts enables strategic content planning. Analyze your content mix over time:
- Too many Sales posts (audience feels sold to constantly)
- Too few Sales posts (lots of engagement but no commercial results)
- Imbalanced mix (only Informational, no Personal - audience knows your expertise but not you)
Most effective LinkedIn strategies blend all types - Personal posts build connection, Informational posts demonstrate expertise, Sales posts convert the relationships built through the other types, and Other posts add variety and humanity.
Archive
Moves the idea to the Archive notebook immediately. Use Archive for:
- Published posts you’re done with but want to keep for reference
- Ideas that didn’t work out but might inspire future content
- Drafts no longer relevant (timed to specific events now past)
- Clearing active notebooks without permanently deleting content
Archived ideas can be retrieved later if needed - Archive is storage, not deletion.
When to Use Add New Idea
Inspiration strikes at inconvenient times
Ideas arrive during meetings, conversations, commutes, or late at night - whenever you can’t write full posts. Add New Idea captures them in seconds before they vanish.
Building content inventory
Batch idea generation sessions: spend 30 minutes brainstorming and saving 10-20 rough concepts. Later, spend separate time developing them into full posts. Separating ideation from writing makes both more efficient.
Preserving snippets and inspiration
When you see something on LinkedIn (or elsewhere) that sparks thoughts, save it immediately with your angle: “Saw John’s post about sales objections - made me think about the objection I hear most: [your specific experience].”
Capturing client conversations
After calls or meetings where clients ask great questions, save those questions as post ideas: “Client asked: ‘How do I know if my content is working?’ Could write post breaking down the metrics that actually matter.”
Drafting incrementally
Start writing a post during available time, realize you need to stop, save what you have as an idea. Return later to finish without losing progress or forgetting where you were going with it.
Organizing existing content
If you have scattered notes, voice memos, or documents with content ideas, consolidate them into Lime notebooks by adding each concept through Add New Idea. This centralizes everything in one organized system.
Add New Idea Best Practices
- Add context for your future self: “Write about time management” might make sense today but confuse you next month. Add brief context: “Write about time management - specifically the technique of time-blocking weekends that helped me finally have work-life balance.”
- Save abundantly: Don’t pre-judge whether ideas are good enough to save. Capture everything, you can delete weak ideas later. The cost of saving a bad idea is near-zero; the cost of forgetting a great idea is high.
- Use Inbox for unsorted ideas: If you’re not sure which notebook fits, save to Inbox. Periodically review Inbox and sort ideas into proper notebooks. This prevents decision paralysis from stopping you from saving ideas at all.
- Include source attribution when relevant: If someone else’s content sparked the idea, note that: “Inspired by Marie’s post about [topic]” or “Similar to what David mentioned in comments on my last post.” This preserves context and reminds you what angle to take (agreeing, disagreeing, building on, etc.).
- Save immediately after conversations: Client calls, networking events, podcast interviews, these generate post ideas. Save them right after while details are fresh, not hours later when you’ve forgotten the valuable specifics.
- Don’t worry about quality when saving: Ideas in notebooks are for your eyes only until you develop and publish them. Save messy, rough, half-formed concepts without self-censorship. You can refine them later.
- Create notebook structure that matches your workflow: If you work best with topic-based notebooks (“LinkedIn Strategy,” “Sales Tips,” “Personal Stories”), create those. If you prefer stage-based (“Ideas,” “Drafts,” “Ready”), create those instead. The structure should make finding ideas intuitive for how you think.
- Review Inbox weekly: Set a recurring reminder to spend 15 minutes sorting Inbox ideas into proper notebooks. This prevents your Inbox notebook from becoming overwhelming and ensures ideas are organized for easy retrieval.
