Viewers prefer watching how-to videos to learn skills and educate themselves as they’re compelling and easy to comprehend compared to text. They also help you establish authority and build trust with users, which is why these should definitely be a part of your video marketing mix.
However, finding inspiration and creating how-to videos can get exhausting. Which is why in this blog we’re covering everything you need to know to create compelling how-to videos quickly and easily. You can rely on InVideo’s online video maker to help you with the creation part and bookmark this blog to come back for ideas whenever you need the help.
Here’s what we are going to cover:
- 12 how-to video ideas to use for your brand
- How to make your own ‘how-to’ video in minutes
- 6 Pro tips for creating how-to videos that work
Let’s dive right in
12 how-to video ideas to use for your brand
Here are 12 how-to video ideas that you can get started with.
1. Make an instructional how-to video like InVideo
Instructional videos help you establish authority in your space and connect with your customer by imparting value to prospects through tutorials. Instructional videos are also great as bottom-of-the funnel videos that help your audience understand how to use your product or service. If you’re a creator, instructional videos can help you establish yourself as an expert in a particular niche.
Take a look at this instructional video from InVideo. It teaches users how to do a popular TikTok trend using its free editor and gives them ideas to incorporate it for their business. As a result, users find value and are encouraged to use the tool to make the video.
To create instructional how-to videos, take a look at data from your Google console or check out the data from your keyword planning tools to look for most commonly asked questions. Then, create a script and shoot your video accordingly. You can then edit your video on InVideo. Add your media, add a voiceover, and finish the video with a CTA.
2. Provide value in under a minute like Fitgreenmind
Who said how-to videos have to be super long explainers? You can show someone how to do something using short-format video platforms such as Instagram Reels and Tiktok.
Take inspiration from this video by Fitgreenmind, where she showcases how to cook vegan dishes quickly and easily in under a minute. She makes the process look inviting, gives it her own creative spin and also offers the whole recipe in the caption as a value addition.
To make a Reel video like Maya, make sure you start with a great hook. Usually showcasing the end result of the process is a good idea. Don’t be afraid to add a little personality, humor, and creativity to help the audience connect better with you and your content.
Once you’ve filmed your video, you can easily cut, edit and combine clips together using InVideo’s Instagram video editor and bring your video to life. And if you want cool transitions and text in your video, here’s a template you can use:
3. Share hacks that work like SHEfinds
How-to videos that cover hacks are insanely popular. If you have genuine tips and tricks that can help your audience, hack videos can be a great tool to add to your social media strategy.
Here’s a hack from SHEfinds that teaches how to apply liquid eyeliner using tape. It hooks viewers right away because it talks about the difficulty in using liquid eyeliners and gives a simple solution involving items lying around the house.
To create a how-to hack video, think of common problems your audience faces and give them an impactful and actionable solution to make their lives easier. Also, make your title and thumbnail catchy and don’t forget to add a CTA.
The best hack to create a hack video is to use InVideo’s online video maker. If you’re creating a makeup hacks video, you can get started with an InVideo template like the one below. Simply replace the media with your own, add a voice-over, and end with a CTA.
4. Add motivation to the mix like Dr. Grace Lee
Motivational videos are popular for a reason — they help people feel inspired, and fuels their desire to take action. But you don’t just want to talk without giving any actionable insight. Creating a how-to video that tells people how to act on their motivation can be a great way to generate more views and conversions from your videos.
Here’s an example of a motivational how-to video from Dr. Grace Lee. She talks about why we’re not able to gather thoughts and communicate them effectively on the spot from a scientific perspective. Then, she uses a scientific argument to convince and encourage her audience to try out the 5 tips she’s sharing to improve their speaking skills.
To create a video like Dr. Grace, look for goals your audience thinks they can’t achieve. Then, build your case to tell your audience what causes the problem and how they can go about solving it. Of course, you can bring the whole thing together using InVideo’s online video editor, even if you’ve never edited a video before.
5. Show new ways to use old things like Emily Elizabeth May
As we’re shifting towards sustainability, repurposing is gaining popularity as it allows people to find new uses for old things instead of throwing them away. So, create how-to videos showing the audience how they can repurpose things they already have. You want this to be in your business or personal brand’s niche. So if you’re a chef, you can create videos around topics such as using leftover food to make new recipes. If you’re in fashion, you can talk about reusing clothes.
Take inspiration from this video by Emily Elizabeth May where she gives her audience 12 new fashion ideas to style a black blazer. She describes how beneficial it’s to invest in a black blazer as it’s a fashion staple and tells us 12 ways to style outfits for different occasions with a blazer without looking boring. The variety and ease with which each style can be replicated made it clock in a lot of views and engagement.
If you’re going to talk about repurposing old things, make sure your ideas are easy to follow and yield effective results. Also, it is super important to ensure your videos are interesting to your target audience. For instance if your TG is college going girls, then creating fashion videos that show you styling office wear will not make a lot of sense.
Once you have your idea in place, create a script and storyboard so that you don’t face a lot of trouble while shooting. Once your shots are in place, just go to the InVideo editor and bring it all together. You can add text, transitions, and even a voice over to explain the steps better.
6. Interview industry experts to share lessons like SaaStock
The easiest way to get your customer to trust you is to share important lessons from your journey over the years. Interviewing industry experts is a great way to do this and provide your audience with valuable lessons that they can implement in their own life. This also gives you the added advantage of attracting viewers and followers from the guest’s audience base as well.
For example, take a look at this how-to video from SaaStock which talks about how to measure success and build a team for demand gen. Chris Walker, the guest, explains the concept in-depth and talks about his experiences in the SaaS industry. The immense value it provides encourages more people to follow the channel and look forward to similar videos to scale their profits.
To host a similar session and create a similar video, network with people from your industry and ask for a collaboration with them. Then, pick a topic and prepare a list of questions to break it down into simpler bits for the audience and ensure that you don’t derail from the actual subject.
Once you’ve shot the video, use InVideo’s online video editor to edit it. You can add an intro and outro to your video to give your audience context. Check out this template below to add a compelling intro to your video:
7. Make educational videos like Oxford Online English
Creating educational videos for your students or users is a great how-to video idea. It can help you clarify various aspects and provide thorough understanding to viewers. For you, this means an increase in followers and authority as these videos help you position yourself as experts in the space.
This video by Oxford Online English describes the usage of ‘the’ in English grammar. It talks about how difficult the usage rules are and how students get confused with the overlapping rules. Once they’ve addressed the pain point, they incentivize people to watch the entire video (you don’t have to memorize complex grammar and rules), and give away 6 tips they can use to improve the usage.
To create an impactful educational video it’s not enough to load it with information and value. You should also communicate it effectively to keep viewers engaged. One way to keep up the engagement is to add instances of humor as well as add enough visual cues so that you show them instead of just telling them what to do. Once you’ve shot your video, you can head to InVideo’s online video maker to edit quickly and easily.
8. Hop on a trend to create a how-to video like Karina Garcia
The best thing about internet trends is that if you utilize them at the right time, they can give you a lot of traction. Creating a how-to video on a trend however can get a little tricky. Which is why your aim shouldn’t be to blindly follow any and every trend that arises, but to assess whether it goes with your brand or not.
Take inspiration from this video by Karina Garcia who is known for her lifestyle and DIY vidoes. He hopped on the slime trend and shared a DIY tutorial for making ultra thick and glossy slime at home using only a few ingredients. Since people find it satisfying to play with slime, making it and watching videos has become a popular pastime.
To make a video like this you first need to assess whether a particular trend is applicable to your niche or not. For instance as a chef, it would be odd to create a video on DIY slime. But you could get creative and probably bake a cake that looks like slime and create a tutorial around that. Once you have your idea in place, create a script so you know how exactly you can execute it. After shooting, you can bring it to life using InVideo’s online video editor and add text, transitions, and other animated elements to make it look compelling.
9. Make a setup video- Canon Australia
Setup tutorial videos are among the most popularly searched in the how-to category. These videos are similar to educational videos, but along with it demonstrate the entire process to show its working. These videos are more focused and deal with a specific subject rather than covering an entire concept.
They instruct the viewer on how to do something are useful when guidelines, concepts, do and don'ts etc. These videos show the viewer how to do something that’s complex and would be otherwise difficult to explain with just text or images.
These videos must be to-the-point and short to keep the video information packed as viewers searching for these videos usually want to learn very specific- fast. So, if you are creating an instructional video, you must keep the points concise and clear. Each step must be clearly laid out along with any additional info to eliminate any confusion.
Here’s a video from Canon Australia that demonstrates how to set up a camera to shoot a video. The anchor, Neal Walters, talks about how one can easily set up a camera and also shares some tips on how to shoot an attractive video.
To make a setup explainer video you need to ensure that you showcase the setup and its components properly. In addition to that you need to keep your instructions super crisp and clear. The delivery of your instructions will be decided on the basis of who your audience is. It is also important to add text to your video to highlight important points. You can do that quickly and easily using InVideo’s online video maker to create one easily.
10. Post DIY videos like Wavy Way
Do-it-yourself videos are a great way to connect with your audience over a shared interest. This style of video is popular for certain subjects that help people improve or enhance their life in some way. For instance you will find a lot of DIY videos in the home decor space because home decor items that are otherwise expensive to purchase can often be re-created at home with minimal effort.
Here’s a video from Mei-Ying Chow on how to scrapbook and the ideas and inspiration you can use to do that. Mei shares how people can get a scrapbook and make it themselves to keep memories, journals, or any other thing they want. She shows her scrapbook and how she’s making it as she discusses how you can take inspiration and work on your own.
To create a DIY video start by identifying a shared theme or goal that you might have with your audience or look back at the different things you’ve done yourself and if they will be helpful for your audience. For shooting these videos you need to ensure they look and feel aesthetic so that they can keep the viewers hooked for as long as possible. Once you’ve shot your video, you can use InVideo’s online video editor to edit it. Just remember to demonstrate the set up process for your viewers and include alternative equipment to help your audience with more options.
11. Take your audience from zero to one: Sasha Evdakov
If you’re an expert at something that other people are just starting out with, consider creating a how-to video that helps them get from the beginner stage to the first step. Zero-to-one videos focus on the most fundamental step of a concept, process or procedure. If this happens to be in a popular niche, your video can then have a long shelf life as well.
Here’s a video by Sasha Evdakov explaining how to read stock charts. The video is for beginners trying to learn more about stock markets or students studying about it. He has explained how he reads charts and how methods beginners can use to do that themselves.
The key to creating videos like this is to stick to one micro aspect of a topic in one video, like Sasha sticks to talking about stock charts only instead of just coverint the entire domain of stocks. Once you have your concept, break it down into bite-sized pieces of information and present those as sections within the video.
You can break these sections up using animated text slides that you can find on InVideo.
12. Share actionable tips and tricks like Mizko
Tips and tricks that help people solve a particular problem can make for great how-to videos. These often take a comprehensive look at a problem and help people understand fundamentally how to go about solving them.
Here’s a video from Mizko, that shares 5 tricks on how businesses can increase their conversion rates. He emphasizes on how the UX design of the page affects conversions and how a landing page without a proper UX design is a waste of time and money. And then talks about how it can be implemented on website landing pages to increase conversions.
To make videos like this, once again you need to pick one aspect of the problem and share actionable tips on how that particular aspect can be taken care of. You can either choose to film this video or create it entirely using stock media and text. InVideo can help you with both. In fact, here’s a tips and tricks template that you can get started with:
That’s all for the ideas. Now, let’s look at how you can take these ideas and make your own how-to video.
How to make your own ‘how-to’ video in minutes
A good how-to video is detailed and clearly shows the steps to help the viewer understand how to do it. Tools like InVideo make this process easier by giving you ideas and templates to get started.
Step 1: Go to InVideo’s online video maker and click on the make a video button. Then select an aspect ratio to get started.
Step 2: Search for tutorial or how to videos in the templates side bar and select a template of your choice. Then click on Use This Template button.
Step 3: Double click on the text in the template to customize it.
Step 4: From the uploads section, select upload media and upload your desired photo or video file. Replace the image in the template by clicking it and drag and drop the desired media on it. You can do the same for each step of the how-to video.
Step 5: Now, click on the Music button to add background music of your choice to the video.
Step 6: After you’ve completed the editing, click on the Download button.
6 Pro tips for creating how-to videos that work
Now that you know how to create how-to videos and have ideas to create one, here are some pro-tips that’ll help you create better how-to videos
Tip #1 - Keep your videos short
According to a research by Wyzowl, 68% of people prefer consuming shorter videos than longer ones. When consumers are learning about new products or services, shorter videos also tend to perform better than the longer ones. That’s why it’s imperative that you keep your how-to videos short and tight.
To make shorter videos work on making your scripts crisp and concise. A good tip is to read out your script out loud after you’re done scripting so that you can listen for opportunities of making your script more conversational. Doing a verbal run-off will also help you fine-tune your tone and nix anything that sounds off. To learn more about how you can go about scripting your videos, you can check out our detailed article here.
Tip #2 - Get to the point quickly
With how-to videos, you don’t want to drag on your explanations. People are often looking for the quickest way to solve their problem and that should be your aim while scripting, shooting and editing. Remove reduncies at every step. Ask yourself the question — does this tie in with what the user is searching for?
Tip #3 - Show don’t tell
With explainers and how-to videos it’s easy to continue explaining in the flow. You want to avoid this at all costs. Instead of just telling your audience what to do, focus on showing them as far as possible. Make your how-to videos as visually rich as possible. Ensure you have steps being showcased and text on screen that reinforces the point.
Tip #4 - Keep your editing clean and minimal
Simplicity is the name of the game when it comes to how-to videos. Remember that you’re trying to teach someone how to do something or explaining a concept to them. Which is why going overboard with your editing might not work in your favor.
You want to stick to adding assets that enhance the flow of your video rather than distract the viewer from the information. To learn more about the process of editing videos, you can check out this video:
Tip #5 - Keep the language simple
Another caveat with how-to videos is that the audience is trying to find the easiest route to figure out the problem they want to solve. Complicated language is a hindrance in this quest of theirs. So you want to keep your instructions super simple. Don’t use jargon and avoid getting too technical so that you can hold their attention while helping them understand the process.
Tip #6 - Break the video down into chapters
Breaking down your how-to video into chapters goes one step further in making it easier for your audience to understand what you’re talking about. It gives them a cue that the next step has begun. This is super important in not just simplifying the instructions but also adding clarity to your narrative.
Plus it adds visual breaks at the right point, which can help draw the viewer back in if their attention has wavered. You can easily create animated breaker slides using InVideo’s online video editor.
Additionally, on platforms like YouTube, you can also add timestamps to your videos to make it easier for people to watch what they want to.
Here’s how you can add timestamps to your videos on YouTube:
Wrapping Up
You can use how-to videos to answer the most pressing questions of your viewers related to your expertise, brand or industry. This list of ideas and pro tips should help you get started and create compelling how-to videos easily.
If you want to learn more about how you can use videos to enhance your brand, check out this blog that talks about it. If you would like to learn more about video creation, editing and marketing through videos, you can check out our YouTube channel for tips and tricks.
This post was written by Mrignayni and edited by Adete from Team InVideo
