- I feel like every creator on YouTube reaches a point
where they kind of run out of ideas, right?
But we've heard it before.
Content is king.
If you want to grow on YouTube,
you need to consistently come up
with content ideas that are exciting and engaging,
day in and day out.
So today I thought I would help you out
by sharing 30 different resources
for coming up with new content ideas.
Some resources are online
and some of them are actually offline,
and I bet there's some in here that you probably have
not heard of before, but one thing I can tell you is that,
throughout all of these, there's something
in here for everyone.
Before we get into our first one, lemme ask you this:
What are you currently using to generate content ideas?
First on the list is question and answer websites.
Quora, for example, is a fantastic Q and A website
where answers to questions are actually uploaded by people
in the community, so the cream always rises to the top.
So just type a relevant topic into the search bar
and see what questions are being asked.
You can also find open questions
which are basically questions that don't
yet really have answers,
and if you wanna share some knowledge with people,
you can do that, too.
Number two is actually just gonna be from your own channel.
Take a look at some of your more popular videos.
Look at the analytics.
Look at the data and see what the audience has
really engaged with in the past.
Are there any types of follow-ups that you can use
to double down on that topic?
Number three, have you heard
any interesting podcasts lately?
Have you gotten any recommendations for industry podcasts?
Take a listen to some of the podcasts in your industry
and take a look at some of the reviews for those podcasts.
Both of these things can be used
to generate a bunch of content ideas.
Number four is Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
There are groups for all kinds of niches across Facebook
and LinkedIn, and people are just having discussions
about your industry right now.
And as you join these groups,
what you're doing is actually looking
for questions people are asking.
Can you answer any of these questions
in the form of a YouTube video?
And when you do this,
be sure that you're using similar language
to the people asking the questions.
So that includes your title, your description,
but even the video itself.
Doing that is gonna help you create a
very highly-targeted piece of content,
and as an additional tip,
you can actually go back to the forum post
where your question was being asked
and just share your video with the community
as a way to drive some more traffic to your channel.
This is one I use all the time,
but number five is Google and YouTube search suggestions.
Using the suggestions in the search bars
of Google and YouTube is a great way
to narrow down a topic that's a bit too broad.
For example, let's say that you are
a fashion enthusiast channel
and you're looking to make a new video
about getting dressed up, but on a budget.
Now, this is a rather broad topic,
so just enter the phrase into Google
and then take a look and see what comes up.
From there, you'll find examples
from people who are covering this topic
at all different angles,
and this should help you generate a whole bunch
of ideas to help narrow down your video.
Number six is gonna be a little bit hard to describe,
so let's call it looking at the inverse.
Let's say your YouTube channel is dedicated to running
and all of the health benefits therein.
It may seem obvious
to you that running is a beneficial thing to do.
But for example's sake,
let's say that you've recently learned
that running every day is actually
not super healthy and maybe you should be running once
every couple of days.
Number seven is a tool called Daily Ideas,
and yes, we made it, and yes, I'm promoting it right now.
But real quick, if you are in the top-tier plan,
the Boost plan at vidIQ,
you have access right now to 50 ideas every single day,
and this AI tool actually analyzes your channel
and gives you ideas that are specific
to your YouTube channel.
The link is down below if you wanna learn more,
but number eight on our list is Google Alerts.
You can actually set up Google Alerts
for any keywords you choose that are related
to your industry.
You get to choose the frequency,
and from there, Google is going to send you emails
about things happening in your industry
without you having to do anything.
For example, here's what this might look like
if you typed in the keyword "copywriting".
This tool can be a fantastic way
for you to get a jump-start on covering an upcoming trend.
Number nine is industry publications
and what you're doing here is actually
just looking up publications that talk about your industry,
and they share trends, tips, news,
basically everything you and your viewers like.
Staying up-to-date on sites
like this is gonna help you stay up-to-date
on the topic you cover on your channel
and help you generate a whole bunch of ideas.
Number 10 is BuzzSumo.
Based on a given topic, this tool is going
to rank stories, posts, and other content that are happening
in your industry.
You can use this to help you uncover some news stories,
some blog posts about your topic,
and then, from there, create videos on those posts.
Number 11 is industry videos on YouTube,
TikTok, or Instagram.
We talk about this one a lot,
but basically what you do here is put yourself
in your viewers' shoes.
Look for creators who are already covering your topic
on these platforms.
Trying to find videos that are already performing well
in your space will help you generate
some new content ideas of your own.
Number 12, predictions.
With regards to the topic you cover on YouTube,
where do you see things heading?
Do you foresee some kind of new industry trend
or do you see a trend coming to an end?
You can use some new videos to share these predictions
and perceptions that you have.
Number 13 is movies, and yes,
these can actually help you generate
some content ideas outside of just reviewing movies.
A quick example is,
let's say you hear a controversial quote from a movie
or you see something controversial that's starting
to trend online that was in a movie recently.
Can you make a video about this
and bring your perspective to the conversation?
Number 14 is article suggestions.
Have you ever been to a website
and scrolled down to the very bottom of an article,
only for it to tell you "You might also like"?
Well, popular publications like CNN
and "Time" magazine have these sections.
Look and see what other publishers are promoting
in these sections.
This could be some of their most important content,
and it could clue you into what's
really important to people in your industry right now.
Number 15 is comments on social media platforms.
Look for experts and influencers in your niche,
and then check the comments sections of their posts.
These really large channels don't
often have the time to answer every single question,
and that's where you come in.
Number 16 is one of my favorites,
because it's educational platforms.
These are platforms such as Skillshare,
Coursera, and Udemy.
As an example, let's say you type in "investing" in Udemy.
What you can do is click on the first course that appears,
and then just simply go
through the course description and curriculum.
This is gonna help inspire so many content ideas.
Number 17 is interviews, and it's kinda similar
to podcasts, depending on the type of content you make.
What you're gonna do is just find interviews
with industry experts.
In some cases, you could use clips
from these interviews in your own content,
but I would advise you get permission
before you do that.
Not only could you look for inspiration
in interviews that have already been done,
but you can actually go
and interview people yourself that are in your industry.
Reach out to them and see if they're interested.
Number 18 is something we do here all the time
at vidIQ, and that is update our old content.
Over many years now, we've accumulated all sorts
of videos in our video bank,
so we can go back and we can see what performed well,
and from there, we can look at those videos and say,
hmm, is there anything that we can update?
Can we remake this video
and talk about some new information?
Number 19 is polls.
You have an audience, right?
Well, you can poll them
and you can try to figure out,
what is it they're struggling with?
What could they use some more information on?
Polls can be leveraged in all sorts of ways
to make videos from.
Additionally, you can look for polls that
other channels are doing in your space
and learn from those, as well.
Number 20 is FAQ sections.
What the heck do I even mean?
Well, all sorts of websites
on the internet have an FAQ section,
frequently asked questions that people are asking
about things in your industry.
So let's say you make video editing content.
Well, what if you went to Fiverr
and you searched up some freelance video editors
and you checked out their FAQs?
What are the questions that they feel
like they answer so often that they had to create an FAQ?
Can you now make videos that help answer those questions?
Number 21 is family and friends.
If you have family and friends that are interested
in what you're doing on YouTube
and they have specific questions,
perhaps you can go and answer some of their questions
for them in the form of videos.
But the cool thing about dealing with family
and friends is that you actually get
to pick their brain a little bit more
and dive a little bit deeper.
Why were they asking you that question in the first place?
Is there something inherently confusing
about what you're doing on YouTube
to someone who may not fully understand it?
And is there a video that you can make that will help break
down those barriers?
Number 22 is cliches and stereotypes.
We live in a world full of cliches and stereotypes
and it can be entirely exhausting,
and I think that this goes into specific niches, as well.
So are there any stereotypes that you feel
like you can make a solid argument against?
Or perhaps can you point to why these stereotypes exist
in the first place?
Number 23 is newsletters,
and you should absolutely be subscribed
to any and all newsletters
that are relevant to your niche on YouTube
or wherever you make content.
The best part about these is
that you're gonna be getting ideas spoon-fed to you.
Once you've subscribed to that newsletter,
sit back and await the emails.
Number 24 is industry myths.
What are some things that your viewers believe
that maybe they shouldn't believe?
Can you go in and start busting common myths in your niche?
As you're busting these myths,
just be sure that you're using plenty of research
and examples along the way
to help support what you're saying.
I'm gonna talk about YouTube myths a little bit more
in a second, but first, number 25 is reviews and feedback.
Go in and see what people are saying about
not only your own videos,
but different tools and resources that you commonly use
and that people in your industry would use.
You could take this a step further
and even start mining Amazon Books for reviews, or webinars.
Looking at these reviews is a great way
to reveal concerns that people have
and point you to interesting things
that you can make videos about.
Number 26 is personal experience.
Have you been struggling with some aspects
of your niche lately?
Or have you experienced any recent success?
Have you made any avoidable mistakes?
What I want you to do is reflect
on your personal experiences within your content,
and if nothing else, this could be a fantastic way
to just build a stronger connection with your audience.
Number 27.
This next one is actually new from us here at vidIQ,
and it works within our own keyword research tool.
If you have vidIQ installed,
all you need to do is visit app.vidiq.com,
click on Keywords, and type in a keyword related
to your topic.
Then scroll down to see a list
of hundreds of questions that real people are typing
into YouTube search.
Our tool will tell you the volume
of search that each question is getting,
helping you to decide which one to focus on
for your next video.
Number 28 is theories.
Does your industry have any famous theories
or age-old rules that people always follow?
Can you find a new way
to approach something that people have been doing
for decades and help break the mold a little bit?
Number 29 is one you were probably expecting at some point,
and it's Google Trends.
People use Google Trends to determine
what kinds of topics and search terms are popular right now.
With that knowledge, you can use these trending topics
to create videos that drive traffic
to your YouTube channel.
Google Trends is an incredible tool
for analyzing the long-term interest in a particular topic,
and it's also really great for comparisons.
Not only that, it's also possible
to use Google Trends to determine
what's kind of started trending in the last 24 hours.
In fact, when you go to the homepage,
you can actually see a whole bunch
of topics that are trending in search,
followed by a list of conversation points.
Number 30 is industry studies and statistics.
Popular industry reporting sites
such as Nielsen and eMarketer can be great resources
when looking for data-driven stories
that you would like to tell.
Now, I did say there were gonna be 30 of these,
but we're not done yet.
Unfortunately we can't put any more in this video
because it would be a mile long, so I'll make you a deal.
If this video hits 3,000 likes,
we'll go ahead and make a part two.
In the meantime, I did mention myths earlier,
and recently we busted a whole bunch of YouTube myths,
and if you wanna keep yourself
from making any kinda mistakes,
you're gonna wanna watch this video right here.