Wouldn’t it be great if you always had amazing content ideas? You could just pop a coin into a machine and a great video idea would pop out any time you wanted. Well, what if I said this can be your reality? Ok, well, not the candy machine, but you can have a never-ending stream of YouTube video ideas. I’ll tell you how.

Why We Running Out of Ideas

So many creators really focus on themselves. They think, “What do I want to talk about?” At some point, they have covered everything they can think of and then the ideas run dry. But, if they shift their view off of themselves and instead think, “What does my ideal subscriber need and want to hear about?” so many new ideas will open up. To do this well, you really need to know who your idea subscriber is.

So, once again, it all comes back to target audience. When your ideal subscriber comes looking for your channel what do they want? What are they looking for? What is the emotion behind it? Why do they love cars so much? Why can’t they stick to a diet? Why do they want to learn to cook, etc? What is at stake for them if they don’t subscribe to your channel? What is their pain point? How do you want them to feel? What is their age? – Your demographics might show a large range, but if you hone into one age, you can really lean into their struggles and flesh out their story. Are they in college? Maybe retired? Married? Kids? All of this affects their perspective and changes how you pitch your content. Coming up with these details should spark so many ideas for you. Whenever you feel a block, go back to this.

Use Comment Section

Another tool you have is your comment section. Are your viewers suggesting things? If not, ask them what they want to see videos about. Use your community tab for this as well. Look at other people in your niche and check their comments as well. Not getting a ton of comments, use a survey! Ask them some question and find out their story. See where they are at and what they want to see. It doesn’t have to be fancy! You can create a google form and see how many ideas you can get from their responses.

Try Different Techniques

Maybe you are just bored creating the same type of video. If so, try different techniques! If you’ve always done a talking head video, try more of a story where you are outside of your studio. Get as creative as you can to try different things.

Another thing I would suggest is to write down any ideas that you have. Once you have an idea, write it down immediately – even if it’s just a portion of an idea. I always think that I will remember it later, but I won’t. So make a note in your phone, keep a notebook by your bed, etc. But, if you jot down ideas as they come, regardless of how complete of an idea they may be, you’re going to really help yourself out down the line.

After you create an outline for a video, analyze it. Ask yourself, is there a way I could show this instead of just talk about it? Maybe that means driving to a different location to add some b-roll. Maybe it’s just a different angle or adding some editing techniques. Playing around with shots can really spark some creativity.

Use Your High Performing Content

I suggest this with clients all the time. Look at your content and see what is performing best on your channel. Is it old content that is performing the highest? What would it look like if you updated that content? If it’s not very old, what if you made a part two?

Dig into that content and ask yourself why did that video do so well? What made it different? Is that a video where you left your studio? Steal those ideas from yourself and apply it to new content.

You can also use your analytics and see why that video performed well. Are the impressions & CTR super high? – Check out the title and thumbnail and see what makes it so catching. What is the retention like? If it’s super high, why? Did you tell a good story? Was the hook super catchy? After you figure that out, see how you can recreate those things in your new content.

Tap into Trends

Think of the season you are in or the season approaching. Does the season have any affect on the viewer in your target audience? Think about school starting, holidays coming, sports seasons beginning/ending, new technology being released, etc. Does any of that spark any ideas? Can you be on the front end of any of these trends or seasonal content? Having the content up and ready to be found ahead of time, can set you apart from the competition. Can you make predictions of what to expect coming up in your niche? Can you livestream your reaction to a new tech release or popular show airing, etc?

If other people are already doing this, think how you can take a different perspective. If you are a tech channel and everyone is talking about the top 5 features of the new iPhone, instead talk about the 5 worst features. What spin can you put on popular ideas to stand out from the crowd?

Collaborate

Another great way to get new content is to reach out to other creators and collaborate. This can bring new perspectives and fresh content ideas. You can reach out to people in the same niche or a slightly different, yet related niche to pull in a wider audience. If you are a fitness channel, try working with a nutrition channel. Working with another creator can really help you come up with completely new ideas and be a ton of fun for you as well.

Create a Series

See if you can turn an idea into multiple videos. Recently, I worked with a travel channel and he had the idea of staying in smaller, lesser known, more “hole-in-the wall” hotels in well-known areas. He was planning to make it into one video. But, after talking it through, we decided it would be more interesting to tell more of the story of each stay and then pitch the next location at the end of each video.

When you make a series, make sure each video is able to stand alone. Remember that people may come in at any point in the series, so it needs to make sense all by itself. But, it can allude to the things that happened before or will happen after which makes it intriguing to watch more.

Also, don’t create 7 ways or 10 ways to do XYZ. I might catch some hate from this, but people can really only remember 3. Pick three ways and then at the end pitch the next video: “If you want to hear even more, check out this video and see 3 more ways to XYZ.” If they want to watch more, they will. And your retention on each video will be WAY better than if you had shared all your ideas in one video.

Watch More YouTube

I say it all the time, because it’s always true: The best authors read the most books and the best YouTubers watch the most YouTube. Watching YouTube inside and outside of your niche is SO helpful! Get inspired from other types of content. How do they present their material? What kept me intrigued? Why did I click out or skip past something? How did they present their hook? How did they get me to watch the next video? Experiment with combining types of content to create something new within your niche.

Use your Analytics 

You can use analytics to spy on your audience! Go to the Audience tab in YouTube Studio and see the top 15 channels and videos your audience is watching. This can be really helpful to see what other channels are appealing to your audience. What fresh perspective are they bringing? How can you improve on these ideas? Does it spark any ideas of your own? What unique perspective can you bring?

The well of creativity isn’t ever truly empty. With a proactive mindset and strategic approach, you can tap into a limitless reservoir of ideas. Let’s banish the fear of running out of content together and instead embrace the world of possibilities that exists within each of us. Create boldly and continue to inspire the world with your unique voice.

And most importantly, don’t forget about WHY you are talking to YOUR audience. Don’t be afraid to experiment. You can’t break your channel. Try some ideas and see what happens! You got this!

Power Tip

Unfortunately, scammer channels are becoming more and more prevalent on YouTube. Because of this, YouTube is putting into place an “impersonation policy,” which is making channels change their names and mark that they are not connected with other channels. This policy should cut down on scammer channels and make YouTube overall a safer place.

Keep Changing Lives!

Tim Schmoyer

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PS – Still feel like you need more ideas? ​I got you covered​.