How do you keep coming up with new video ideas to connect with your community and grow your business?
If you’re feeling the pressure to consistently upload and post videos but are struggling to come up with new ideas, in this article we’ll look at are five ideas for video topics, plus some other strategies to capitalise on ideas you already have.
Dump it all on paper
And I mean physical paper. There is something about a classic pen and paper session that helps ideas flow so much more easily than typing it out on your laptop or your phone.
It also helps to separate you from distractions of social media messages and emails popping in, and you don’t have as much of a temptation to click away and procrastinate when you get stuck for a moment.
Just sit and start writing. You can write in bullet points, you can draw a mind map, you could even do it in pictures or diagrams, whatever you need to get ideas out of your brain and onto the paper.
Write down every single idea you can think of. It doesn’t matter how crazy it is, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to even pull it off. The point is you will start to get these ideas down on paper and then while you’re off doing something else it’ll be mulling over in your brain. The subconscious is a really powerful thing.
You may come back to your list tomorrow, in a week, in a month and one day something will spark for the way that you can create that video.
At this point what I’m really saying is you don’t need to be that realistic about what you can create you may never do any of these video ideas but it will help to get your brain in the right mindset to just come up with ideas in the first place.
The more you focus on something the more your subconscious can work it over in the background and help you see more opportunity for what you want to create.
Some ideas for video topics include:
1. Tutorials and How Tos
What are you good at that you can show someone else how to do? And you might love this one because you don’t even have to show your face if you don’t want to.
If you want to create a tech tutorial you can record the screen, if it’s a cooking tutorial you could do a top-down demonstration video, if it’s a craft or art tutorial you could focus on the close-ups and the details of what you’re doing and record a voice-0ver explaining the process.
Or you could do a mix of both, jump in front of camera for an introduction and then show b-roll footage demonstrating what you’re doing to add more interest to your video.
When you create your tutorial, what is your point of difference? Have you found an easier way to do something that people struggle with? Have you found a hack that saves a lot of time? Are you putting two different techniques together to create a new way of doing something? Or are you using your fun and quirky personality to make it really entertaining to watch?
Maybe you found it really difficult to find an answer to a problem you had in the past so you want to make a video about that specific thing so other people don’t also have to go through the same struggles that you did.
2. Behind the Scenes
What might someone not know about your business, or you workflow or how you do the services you provide? Can you give potential customers and clients a day in the life of your business?
A behind-the-scenes video could give people an insight into how your product is made and even make potential customers more likely to buy from you they see your brand aligns with their values.
People also love watching behind-the-scenes because it gives them an insight into an industry they have no idea about. Your potential customers or clients could get to know you better and you can start to build that ‘know like and trust’ foundation when they have more of an insight of how your business operates.
When you openly share the workings and the community or culture within your business, it starts to break down ‘the fourth wall’ if you will, and makes your business seem more human rather than just an entity.
3. Conduct a Survey
Whether this is through an email list, Instagram or Facebook poll, getting your audience to comment on a post, asking them what their biggest struggles are and then making videos about how your products or your service can fix that problem is an awesome way to build trust and rapport. And you’ll be giving them videos about topics they actually said they want to watch.
The survey part of this exercise will also help your audience and customers feel heard and feel that you actually care about their problems. If you address them of course.
You may also get answers or responses that you had no idea about and it may help you create more products or services that address those problems or help improve things you already have.
And as a bonus, the engagement you get from your audience will help grow your social media platform as well.
4. Repurpose What You Already Have
Video is much more engaging and easier to digest than a big lump of text. You could create a long video explaining all your FAQs to put on your webpage, and then split it up into a series of videos to use across your socials.
You can explain in your own words, more conversationally, answers to questions you get all the time, and give people a sense of what it’s like to sit down and talk with you.
Then, what other content pieces you could turn into videos? Different people like to absorb content in different ways. You can turn blogs into vlogs and vice versa. Having both options available will increase your potential for engagement and allow your audience more options to take in your content.
Take it a step further by adding your video to your blog posts. This will help with your SEO on your website and it’s another opportunity for someone to see your video outside of YouTube or social media.
Create an introduction video for your business about how you help people and what your primary offer is and put this on the homepage of your website and pin it to the top of all your socials. This will help your audience get to know you, put a face to your business and give them a sense of who you are.
Seeing you on video can give a prospect an idea pretty quickly whether you are someone they want to do business with. And I don’t want this idea to scare you away from making an introduction video. This is a good thing because it’ll help you sort out the people who are right for you and your business – who are your ideal clients, compared to the people who you really don’t want to deal with.
5. Interview Someone
Who could you interview who may also in your industry that could talk about different techniques or has is a few degrees of separation from your specific niche who could provide additional value to your audience? For example, if you create videos about workout routines could you interview someone who talks about nutrition that can support and complement what you’re already teaching?
If you talk about growing on social media could you interview someone who has had success in another area of the online space and how the two systems could work together to create an even better strategy for your audience?
Alright, with all of those ideas in mind, let’s look at some final ways to get the most out of your video ideas.
Can you turn one idea into a binge-worthy video series?
If you have a lots of information to give on one topic could you turn it into a series of videos that will keep viewers coming back for more? If you notice a particular video or group of videos getting a lot of views and interaction can you make another video that is on a similar topic?
Paying attention to videos that get the most views and traffic can show you where in your niche you can niche down again, get hyper-focused and capitalise on those viewers.
If you can create videos that have a logical sequence and relate to one another, or even take the viewer on a process from beginner to intermediate to advanced skills you can start to create binge worthy videos and keep your audience coming back to again and again for more information.
What do you love? I mean really really love?
What is the thing that you could talk endlessly about if someone gave you the time. That thing you could literally spend days and days talking about? What you are most passionate about is going come across with a lot more genuine enthusiasm than something you like. Which is so much more interesting to watch.
So, what insights can you give someone else who is also insanely passionate about the same thing you are that they may not know? If you were a beginner at this thing, about what do you wish someone had told you at the start?
It’s time to be the coach that you wish you had when you were at the start of your journey. You don’t have to know everything about the topic you choose to make videos about you just have to be one step ahead of the person you want to help.
Creativity Fuels Creativity
When you start making more and more videos it will actually become easier to keep coming up with ideas for videos. Creativity fuels creativity. Once you start to get ideas on paper, and get those first videos out there, you will start seeing ideas everywhere and finding ways to keep getting better.
Your knowledge could change someone’s life. You owe it to them to share it.
I hope these ides inspire you and help you make more video content, and I can’t wait to see what you create.
Read on for tips on how to outline your videos.
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