How to Pick a Good YouTube Video Idea
There are a few things you should consider when choosing a good YouTube video idea. These include the following:
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UNDERSTAND YOUR NICHE
One of the most critical decisions for a content creator is to identify the niche they’re going to saturate. It’s no good trying to pander to every area, and it’s unfeasible to do so, you’re casting your net way too wide and it’s going to affect your channel’s growth and your morale. Picking a niche can be a difficult choice, but generally, it’s a good start to think about the skills you’re good at or the hobbies you enjoy. Whether it’s video game reviews, or makeup tutorials, or living room setups, YouTube has a space to accommodate any creative endeavor. The first step to deciding on a good YouTube video idea is, in fact, to settle on a niche that you’re comfortable with.
To create a YouTube video idea in your niche, you’re going first to understand that there are different archetypes a video can fall under. For example, a video can be:
- Educational
- Informative
- Comedic
- Dramatic
- Soothing
- More
Consider these areas and think “Can my niche fit under these categories?”. An excellent way to think about it is: if there’s a human emotion for it, there’s a way to make a video targeting that emotion. Your video ideas should ultimately connect to your audience’s emotional response to that video.
Let’s take on an example of a video game content creator. I could make tutorials about the games I play (educational) or create clips of my best moments (comedic & dramatic). If your niche can be packaged under more than one archetype, it can have a very diverse range of video ideas.
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SCOPe OUT THE COMPETITION
If we go back to the example of a video game content creator, one method is to look at what your competition is producing, and how their audience is responding to it. If I decided to create game reviews, I would scope other video game reviewers to see how they’re packaging their content for their audiences. You can even make a list of what you enjoy about their videos, some exciting things they incorporate, and the things you’d improve.
While it’s not a good idea to directly copy what your competition is producing, it’s great to draw inspiration from their video ideas to see how you can make that fit your content. A great example to learn from was shown by the Twitch streamer Ludwig.
Essentially Ludwig gathered two ideas from two content creators in his niche and combined them to create a unique video idea specific to his channel. In this instance, he used Sodapoppin’s video to get his viewers to make purchases on stream, and MrBeast’s thumbnail and title. Sometimes even changing your YouTube thumbnail can make all the difference when it comes to a better click-through rate.
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SEO TOOLS
A handy tool for any content creator is leveraging the accessibility of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools. SEO Tools allow you to target keywords effectively, essentially the words that YouTube users search in the search bar. With these tools, you can see if your YouTube Idea would perform well on search metrics, which can give you a rough prediction if your Video idea performs well.
For example, if I decided I’d like to create a Destiny 2 review, I can use the TubeBuddy built-in Keyword Explorer tool to see: is this being searched frequently? And is it too competitive?
In this example, the search term “Destiny 2 Review” scores 42/100 in TubeBuddy’s analysis. It has a very high search volume, which is excellent; however, that search term has quite a lot of competition. On the right-hand side, TubeBuddy suggests additional keywords you can add to the search term. Let’s pick “2021.”
As we can see TubeBuddy now scores the search term at 56/100, which is quite an improvement, even though the search volume has decreased, there is far less competition for “Destiny 2 Review 2021.” As a result, making a video on Destiny 2 using this as the Title would be a good video idea to explore.
YouTube Video Ideas
Here is a list of things you can consider when you create YouTube Video Ideas:
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1. Educational Videos
Educational content is essentially the process of teaching someone something. This can take on many forms, but the most consistent is creating a tutorial on a topic. For example, “How to create Origami in 5 minutes.” This type of content is usually produced by showing the finished product at the start, followed by getting to the final product.
Education is excellent youtube content for any beginner, as they can easily find through SEO tools what people are searching to learn something, and then they can fill that need. Suppose your content is primarily centered around educational videos. In that case, you’ll eventually become an authority in that specific space, and you can leverage a loyal fan base to any other social media platform.
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2. Informative Videos
Informative videos are typically opinion pieces. In our earlier example of a video game reviewer, this would be a form of informative content. For instance “Destiny 2 Review – Is it worth playing?” Your goal isn’t necessarily to teach someone something, but instead to display the facts while providing your own opinions. Informative content can be great for viewer engagement, such as likes and comments because it can elicit an emotional response to your video very quickly.
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3. Comedic Videos
Comedy can be leveraged in many different ways for YouTube videos. Whether it’s outright skits, or satirical content, or memes, comedic videos are incredibly adaptable. Comedy is an excellent form of entertainment for users. If you can utilize humor in your videos tastefully, it can serve as a highlight for a particular portion of that video. You’ll find many different types of comedic videos on YouTube, and it’s worth exploring a diverse range and seeing if it can fit into your video idea.
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4. IRL Videos
A trendy medium on YouTube produces videos that feature yourself or others in real life (IRL). This is commonly achieved through vlogging, and they’re an insight into your life through video. For example, if you have an active hobby, such as fitness, you can provide vlogs on your food recommendations, exercises and product preferences.
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5. Q&A Videos
YouTubers also use Q&A sessions to answer burning topic questions from their viewers. If you have an established audience, this can be a great way to connect with them, to answer their questions about yourself or your content. Many YouTubers schedule these sessions weekly, or monthly, and it drives a positive environment.