Stuck on an idea for your next YouTube video? These tips come straight from YouTube to help inspire new content that will reach audiences.

All creatives know that sinking feeling when their ideas dry up. This can be especially daunting for a YouTube creator who relies on content for income.

Fear not. There are ways to find inspiration that don’t mean tapping into some indescribable source, but come from good technique. YouTube itself has come to offer some detailed advice that will help you to work on producing new video ideas in no time – perhaps even creating your most successful content yet.

Follow these strategies to hone your ideation skills and find a workflow that never leaves your creative tap running dry again.

1. Find a “problem” – Be the solution

Identifying great content that is going to reach a large audience is often about seeking problems. What are the issues facing your potential audience? If you can provide a solution for them in your content, then you’re going to become very searchable.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Grab a timer and spend 15 minutes listing every problem your audience faces. Then, spend another 15 minutes brainstorming solutions or ways your content could address those problems.
  • Example: If you’re a cooking channel, problems might include “recipes are too complicated,” “don’t know what to make for dinner,” or “food waste.” Solutions could be “5-ingredient weeknight meals,” “meal prep Sundays,” or “recipes for leftover ingredients.

2. Look at your hits and reinvent them

Take a look at your channel and browse which of your videos have done the best in the past. Tapping into those ideas, approaches, and themes and revisiting them anew can be a great way to emulate the content that has clearly resonated with your audience.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Go into your YouTube Analytics. What were your top-performing videos? Can you create a “Part 2,” an updated version, or explore a sub-topic from that video more deeply? Also, look at videos that didn’t perform well. Was the idea good but the execution flawed? Can you re-tackle it from a different angle or format?
  • Example: If your “Beginner’s Guide to Digital Art” did well, consider “Advanced Shading Techniques” or “Common Digital Art Mistakes.” If a video on “Unpopular Opinions” flopped, maybe a more focused “Reacting to Your Unpopular Opinions” would resonate.

3. What’s trending? Tap into it

Trends are a huge part of online content. See what sort of content multiple creators are producing that is getting audience attention. Tap into these trends by producing your own content within them that uses your unique voice to stand out and offer something fresh.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Use tools like Trends in YouTube Studio and Google Trends to see what’s gaining traction. Instead of just copying, ask: “How can I apply this trend to my niche or my unique perspective?”
  • Example: If a dance challenge is popular, a fitness creator could do “Dance Challenge Workout.” A tech reviewer might do “Reviewing the Gadgets from That Viral Dance Challenge.”

4. Ask the audience

Your community knows what they want to see. Don’t be afraid to interact with them to find out what they want to see or to gauge their opinions in a way that might inspire new content. You can use YouTube’s community tools to ask questions and even produce specific polls that your audience can vote on the response of.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Post on your Community Tab or host a short Q&A on a live stream. Ask direct questions: “What video would help you most right now?” “What’s one thing you wish you knew about [your niche]?” Create polls with potential video topics and let your audience vote.
  • Example: A beauty creator could ask, “What’s your biggest makeup struggle: winged liner or contouring?” The answers directly inform future tutorial ideas.

5. Try thinking in reverse

If you’re looking at all of the big trends and content ideas, feeling uninspired or like you don’t want to simply copy what’s hot, then look at inverting these ideas to find a fresh approach. Think of what might be the inverse of a popular idea – as YouTube say, it’s the “opposite day” approach.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Take a common piece of advice or a popular video type in your niche and flip it on its head.
  • Example: Instead of “5 Tips for Productivity,” try “5 Ways I’m Unproductive (and Why That’s Okay).” Instead of “Travel Hacks,” try “Travel Mishaps (and What I Learned).”

6. Savvy search data

What people search for is perhaps the clearest indicator of what topics are trending and what people are looking for the answers to. Use Google and YouTube search data to explore what people are looking for and help them out with high-quality content that answers those questions.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Use the YouTube search bar’s auto-suggest feature. Type in a keyword related to your niche and see what long-tail keywords pop up. Also, explore “People Also Ask” sections on Google search results. These are direct indicators of audience curiosity.
  • Example: Typing “sustainable fashion” might suggest “sustainable fashion on a budget,” “sustainable fashion brands,” or “sustainable fashion haul.” Each of these is a potential video title.

7. Brain dump your ideas

Sometimes, it’s helpful to just unload everything that’s rolling around in your head. Have a brain dump, and simply write down everything that is coming out of your head. Don’t worry too much about relevance or sense, you want to just let the thoughts flow. Once they’re out, you can start to filter through and search for the inspiration amongst the chaos.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Start with your main niche or channel theme in the center. Branch out with sub-topics, then branch out further with specific questions, ideas, or formats related to those sub-topics. Don’t filter, just write!
  • Example: If your channel is about “Gardening,” branches might include “Vegetables,” “Flowers,” “Pests,” “Tools.” Under “Vegetables,” you might have “Tomato Growing Tips,” “Companion Planting for Carrots,” “Container Gardening for Small Spaces.”

8. Use YouTube’s AI ‘inspiration’ tool

Searching for inspiration within yourself can be difficult. YouTube are helping creators to find inspiration by providing it themselves with their ‘inspiration’ tab. This tool helps to bring prompts and ideas to creators based on what they’ve worked out might work or be relevant.

Here are YouTube’s tips:

  • Action: Navigate to your YouTube Studio on Desktop and explore the “Inspiration” tab. This section allows you to brainstorm new video ideas, thumbnails, and more with the help of AI.
  • Example: Creators can tailor ideas directly in the prompt by refining it with phrases such as “make it funny,” “set it in space” or “make it more formal.”

Conclusion

Creating content that resonates with your audience doesn’t have to be a guessing game. By using these strategies from YouTube itself, you can move past the creative block and develop a reliable system for generating fresh, engaging video ideas.

From leveraging data and trends to simply asking your community what they want, these techniques put the power back in your hands. Remember, the goal isn’t just to produce more videos—it’s to create content that serves your audience and helps your channel grow.