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Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pePyXZpDSW0
In this video, I show you what to do when you have no content ideas and how to find out what your audience wants to see. Let’s make idea generation simple and repeatable so you’re not staring at a blinking cursor wondering what to post next.
Mentioned
How to find ideas for your YouTube videos
If not knowing what to post is stopping you from creating content.
This video will show you exactly how to come up with great ideas and where to store them so you never lose track again.
I’ll also share 2 creative strategies that will help you find more personalized ideas based on your channel and goals.
Plus 3 ways to keep all your ideas in one place so you’re not digging through notebooks or phone notes later.
Start with a brain dump
Before going to search for ideas, let’s do a brain dump of what’s happening in your brand, business, or niche.
Think: upcoming launches or events, digital products or services you offer, frameworks or processes you use, affiliate tools, or trending topics.
Example of trending topic for my niche: the editing software, CapCut, recently changed its terms, so that led me to brainstorm DaVinci Resolve videos for CapCut users.
So start a google doc with this info — your offers, tools, FAQs from clients or customers, or even something that you struggled with and found a solution.
You’ll use this later on in this video.
1. YouTube Feed
Starting with the homepage, where you can find trending or relevant topics.
You can also use this to find inspiration for titles and thumbnails.
Scan for videos with 1K+ views in your niche.
If there’s a video while searching, ask “why did this title or thumbnail catch my attention?” and think of ways you could remix it for your audience.
A video titled _ and you’re in _niche_, you might make _.
If you have an affiliate link for _, this title could be _.
Whatever you find, add your notes to the google doc you created earlier.
You can copy the link or the title. I recommend copying the title, just in case it changes later.
Even better if you take a screenshot and paste it into the doc.
2. YouTube Search
The second way to find ideas is to use search.
Here you’ll know the exact phrases people use.
When you type in a topic, scroll through to see what people are searching for.
Once you’ve picked an idea, open a few videos to scan descriptions, chapters, and comments.
In comments, look for “This didn’t explain X” or follow-up questions.
That’s content waiting to be made and gaps to be filled.
Also, listen to just the intro to see how it’s structured.
Use all of this to help plan your own intro/content breakdown.
Don’t copy, though, remix it.
3. YouTube Studio – Analytics + Inspiration
Another way to find ideas – Youtube Studio.
Here, you’ll find what works and what your audience wants to see.
Look under Analytics, then top content this period.
Think about what you can update, extend, or remix.
Example: I had a video from 2021 that still gets views.
Lots of updates with Google Sheets, so there’s a faster way to create a YouTube content planner, which I’ll show you how later on in this video.
If you hover over any of these videos, you’ll see “brainstorm video ideas”.
Click on it to go to the “Inspiration” page. You can also click on Content on the left, then Inspiration tab here.
So, for the content planner video, I click to get ideas. [read off ideas].
Click an idea to see the hooks, outline, plus ideas for titles and thumbnails, and use the related videos for inspiration to see what title and thumbnail they used.
4. Community
The fourth way is the Community page. This is where you’ll find all comments and replies to your videos. Filter the comments by “Contains questions” to find more ideas.
5. Community Posts
The fifth way and the easiest idea generator is to ask your audience.
You can do this by creating a community post asking what they would like to see next.
Or if you already have some ideas from earlier, try a poll/survey.
To create a community post, click create in the top right, then create Post.
Then select text poll, and you can say, “Here are the next videos I’m working on. What do you want to see first?” Then add the titles/topics as options.
💡 Pro tip: In the last video you published, create a pinned comment where you share the link to the poll to get more responses.
Even if it’s just 1 or 2 votes, it’s still feedback. So use that!
6. Trends
Going back to analytics, go to the Trends tab for more ideas.
Same as search, you can find video ideas, see what people are looking for, or check out new videos to inspire you.
7. ChatGPT + Channel data
So that’s 5 ways to find video ideas.
Now, with AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, you can get more personalized ideas if you feed it the right prompts.
To do that, you’ll need to download your data.
In the Overview tab, click advanced mode, then this download icon here and download the .csv file.
Extract it, then upload the table data sheet to GPT by clicking the plus sign.
Now here’s where you can add your notes from the brain dump.
Paste it here, then share your goals, topics, target audience, and the types of videos you want to create, videos ChatGPT should ignore, in case you’re not interested in that topic.
Here’s an example prompt you can use:
“Based on this table data and info, list 20 video ideas, organized by category or pillar, and prioritize the best ones for the next 12 weeks. Ignore my __ videos and focus on __ content. I want to post long-form videos for these categories/pillars [list]”
Some example pillars include educational, inspirational, entertaining, and promotional content.
You don’t have to use every idea. Keep what fits and what you’re excited to create.
8. Strategies – SWOT + Blue Ocean Strategy
Those are just general ideas, though, so to get even better ideas, there are 2 techniques or strategies you can use.
These 2 frameworks help generate original and relevant content ideas.
- SWOT
- A way to look at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats so you can come up with smarter content ideas that work for your channel and fill in any gaps in your niche
- Ask GPT to do a SWOT on your channel
- What I did from there was ask it to then list 5 video ideas each under strength, weakness, opp, threat
- Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS)
- The second strategy is BOS. So instead of competing with everyone else in the red ocean, fighting for attention, create your own lane in the blue ocean where there’s less competition.
- Use this prompt – “Using the blue ocean strategy as a guide, give me video ideas that help me stand out in the creator/education niche.”
Using both of these strategies gave me personalized, creative ideas.
💡 Pro tip: Since you have all your info and ideas here, use this chat as a 1-stop hub. You can then use this to help you outline your next video idea, for example.
Bonus ways to find ideas
You can also get ideas from:
- Repurpose old posts use your blog posts or social media posts
- Pinterest (search your topic, see what pops up visually)
- Email newsletters you signed up for (which subject lines made you click?)
- Reddit/Facebook/Discord groups (look for “How do I…” questions)
- Google Search + “People Also Ask” (great for phrasing + structure)
- Amazon books go through the ToC to come up topics/ideas
Angle it like a pro
Here’s one more thing that’ll upgrade your ideas: adding an angle.
A great breakdown of this is from Aprilynne’s video, How to Find a Killer Video Idea. She explains how to take your topic, choose a format, like a tutorial, list, or vlog, and then layer in an angle like a topic with a twist, transformation, or comparison to make it more helpful.
For example, instead of just doing a book review, you could turn it into a list of things you tried or a tutorial based on the method.
In my last video, I combined a book review, a tutorial, and a listicle.
Instead of just talking about the 12 Week Year, I showed you how to add Feel-Good Productivity to your plan, plus how to create your 12WY plan in Google Docs.
That way, it’s not just “info,” it’s: “Here’s the takeaway and exactly what to do with it.”
Where to store + organize your ideas
So if you’re thinking, “Now what? What do I do with all of this info?”
I got you! Here are 3 ways to store these ideas.
- Google Keep – for quick ideas + templates
- Create a note to jot down video ideas
- Another note to use as a master note template – title, topic, thumbnail ideas, script outline – so the intro, content, ending
- Pin the note, then make a copy whenever you have a new video idea so you can fill it in on the go
- Google Docs – for fleshing out titles and outlines
- When you’re ready, you can now copy your note in Keep to Google Docs to flesh out the outline. There’s a character limit in Keep, so it’s a good idea to move it to Docs to write the full script.
- One more thing you can do, and I talked about this in the 12 week year video – create a table. Click Insert, then Building Blocks. Choose a table to insert – product roadmap – use an idea tracker or idea bank (where you paste your ideas) or content launch tracker
- Google Sheets – idea hub + planner
- can also create an idea hub in Sheets. One sheet for all your ideas, then create another sheet or, in the same sheet, create a planner.
- Go to Insert, pre-built tables, then insert the content planner.
- easily add or remove columns – remove owner if its just you, add columns for categories, film date or publish date
Your next steps
Schedule some time this week to:
- Do a brain dump
- Go through your YouTube feed + Studio
- Use AI with your data to pull 20 ideas
- Then organize them in your system (Keep, Docs, or Sheets)
Even doing one of these steps will get you unstuck.
By the way, if you want content ideas delivered to your inbox, I’m working on relaunching my newsletter for solo creators with weekly content ideas, including clickworthy title prompts and curated links to help you grow your creator business. The link is in the comments if you’re interested. https://briefgems.substack.com/
Ready to start writing your next video?
Now that you have your ideas and a place to organize them, watch this video next to write your first draft in 1 hour. How to write YouTube video scripts faster (Long-form videos)
Or, this video to pick from 5 ready-to-use scripts and fill in the blanks 5 content ideas for YouTube (for when you can’t think of anything)
About
Hi, I’m Marjy! Content Producer + Editor for creators and educators. If you’re enjoying this post, here are other ways you can connect with me:
- Subscribe to my newsletter: I send actionable tips about marketing and online business. Join the list here.
- Let’s work together: I help educational creators with YouTube content support and editing. I also have Clarity Call sessions if you need help organizing your thoughts. Learn more about my services here.
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