After Instagram Reels and TikTok surged in popularity, YouTube jumped on the short form video content bandwagon and how. Today, YouTube shorts are turning into one of the easiest content formats to grow your channel on the platform. They can quickly help you garner more views and subscribers with half the effort that you put in full fledged YouTube videos.
But a challenge here is to come up with great ideas to create content consistently. And consistency is important for any platform including YouTube. To that effect, we’ve compiled a list of 16 super effective YouTube shorts ideas that will help you create thumb-stopping content and grow your brand on YouTube. If you already have a couple of ideas up your sleeve, you can bring them to life by signing up for a free account on InVideo. But if you don’t, worry not because we’ve got you covered.
Here are the ideas we will talk about in the article:
1. Before and after
2. Product benefits
3. Updates & Trends
4. Behind the scenes
5. Mini-tutorial/hack
6. Mini vlogs
7. Trending memes
8. Customer reviews
9. Industry facts
10. Motivating content
11. Unique facts
12. Repurpose long-form content
13. Share stories
14. Unboxing videos
15. News & events
New: How to make YouTube Shorts using InVideo AI
Let’s get started!
1. Create a before and after video
Before and after videos have been a hit since the inception of video-making and are here to stay. A before and after YouTube shorts idea is not only engaging but helps you show how your product can bring results. The beauty of this idea is that you can use it for a variety of different niches as long as your product or services has a clearly defined result.
For instance if you’re a hair-care brand, you can easily showcase a test subject’s hair before using your product and after using it, as is the case in this example below. All you need is two separate shots – one of the before version and one of the after version. Make sure the results are distinctly visible so that the audience can make it out easily. The best part? You can do all of this well under 10 seconds!
2. Run deep on product benefits
You know what’s a great way to make your audience aware of the benefits of using your products? Creating a fun and engaging YouTube shorts video about it. As the YouTube audience is an eclectic mix of learners, and entertainers – it’s the perfect place to let people know more about your product. And a greate way to create engaging Shorts is to make a quick listicle of all the benefits you offer.
For instance if your brand makes white noise machines to help people get good sleep, you can simply outline the benefits in a short 30-sec video by using this template from InVideo. All you need is 4-5 different shots of your product in use along with a few catchy captions. Simply replace the stock media in the template with your own and you’re good to go.
3. Share updates & trends
A great way to keep your audience hooked to your brand is to create content that helps them outside the scope of your product or service but still within the niche of what you’re offering. Trends and updates are a great YouTube shorts idea to do this.
When you’re thinking of what trends to post, the first thing you want to do is do a survey of what are the different posts trending in your niche and then see how you can replicate them for your brand. At InVideo, we keep updating hot and trending templates that can be customized as per your goals.
For instance, if you’re a fashion brand, you can easily create a fashion trends update video for your audience. For instance you can make a trend update for men’s fashion with a beautiful montage of the Top 5-10 styles. This will not only help the audience connect better with your brand but will also build long term loyalty – all with a 60-sec video. Replace the stock footage here with your own clips or plug in your brand’s clothing in here, replace the text and add some music and you’re good to go.
4. Share fun & authentic BTS clips
Behind the scenes or BTS is a great way to channel your brand comms into a YouTube short. All you need to do is shoot some BTS footage of your product or service in use. This can also show a BTS of team workspaces, work culture, and more to build a deeper connection with your audience. For instance if you’re a company that works on a delivery model, you can record a video of you and your team packing boxes for the next delivery and compile all of these moments into a YouTube Shorts video.
The good part is that you don’t have to spend hours compiling the footage and creating a vidoe. Youc an easily do it using this template from InVideo, which is not only super fun but can be customized to add pictures and videos of your team at work.
5. Share fun hacks in a mini-tutorial
Mini-tutorial or hacks have always been a go-to content bucket for brands and marketers. Not only are there unlimited ideas to work on, they are also loved by viewers. If you want to make a technical product shed its unnecessary jargon, mini-tutorials are one of the best ways to get started. You can also explain product how-to’s, hidden functions, and so much more with this. You can outline each step of the tutorial with the help of captions.
You can begin with a problem statement like the template below and provide quick and effective answers for the same. This helps bring quick value to your audience, while also making them come back for more.
6. Share an aesthetic mini vlog
Mini-vlogs are super fun to create. They can range from a day in the life of your company’s CEO to a short product video review. They’ve gained a lot of popularity and TikTok and Instagram Reels and are now making their way to YouTube Shorts.
The best part is that they’re super easy to make. You just need clips shot on your phone, compiled or put together with trending music and you’ve got yourself a super aesthetic video that is bound to entice your audience. You can even add a voice over to add an extra element.
If you think you’ll struggle with creating a clean edit, check out this stunning template where you can simply replace the stock footage with your own, trim the clips to time them to the music you choose and you’re good to go.
7. Hop aboard the meme wagon
Looking up trending content online and moulding it in a way that fits your brand voice is a smart YouTube shorts idea that is not only low effort but offers huge returns. Memes have the potential of making your brand videos go viral. And the best part about meme videos is that you can make them in under 5 steps using InVideo’s meme maker.
The potential with memes is huge because you can turn any relatable situation within your niche into a meme by using existing templates, like this one of a grumpy cat which can be used in any situation that warrants a similar emotion. To make this meme your own, you will simply need to replace the text that is relevant to your audience and you’re good to go.
8. Compile customer reviews into a YouTube Short
Customer reviews are the backbone of social proof in the current online economy. And letting your customers do the talking makes for a great YouTube Shorts idea. It is not only a great way to utilize user-based content but also lend authenticity and credibility to your brand.
For making a YouTube shorts video using customer reviews, you can either ask your existing customers to send in videos of themselves using and reviewing your product or service. Or you can turn their written reviews into compelling videos using a fun template like this on on InVideo.
9. Bust industry myths and facts
Are there any myths related to your business or product or industry? Bust them with this YouTube shorts idea. This is a great way to comb reality from the fads and generate interest in your brand. This happens because by busting myths, you are showcasing your expertise and thereby helping the audience trust you more.
Use this template as the perfect canvas to compile your knowledge into bite-sized snackable content, while also helping out your viewers. You can add your voiceover along with actual footage to generate more interest. In case you’re quoting from renowned journals, use the text feature to add a credible quote.
10. Publish motivating content
Motivational content has always been one of the top-performing content buckets across social media platforms. Also, this type of content isn’t restricted by an age limit, as an inspirational video can appeal to people across the board. While for some businesses, this might be woven into the product or the service itself, for instance if you’re an educational institute, motivational content around success will work well for you.
However, for other businesses, you will have to get creative with your ideas for motivational content so that your YouTube shorts don’t feel forced but organically blend in with your product or service.
A simple motivation YouTube shorts idea is to use a beautiful montage of images and videos along with motivational quotes that fit the situation, like is the case with this video. The best thing about YouTube shorts is that they have the same dimension as an Instagram reel which makes cross-publishing content easier.
11. Share unique facts related to your niche
Sharing unique facts related to your niche builds you as a thought leader - someone who knows what they’re talking about. This YouTube Shorts idea can go a long way in establishing your expertise and trust with your audience. It can also be a means of indirectly promoting your product or service without being too salesy.
Something as simple as a listicle on a topic that is directly related to your niche can get the job done easily and quickly. For instance if you’re a gym or a fitness centre, you can make a YouTube Shorts video on five facts related to exercise – It directly appeals to your target audience of fitness and health enthusiasts and also addresses their pain point while simultaneously telling them that you know what you’re talking about.
To make your own fact-based listicle, first put together a list of 4-5 facts you’d like to share and then use either footage you’ve shot or clips from InVideo’s stock media library to create a stunning montage that puts the message across, like in this template below. What can help make this idea more credible is including sources of your research or study.
12. Repurpose long-form content
If you already have a YouTube channel, this is a greate YouTube Shorts idea to implement. It reduces your effort in half but gives you great results. But even if you don’t directly make videos, but create other long form content like essays, journals, and blogs – you can pick out snippets from those to turn into short YouTube Shorts videos.
With attention spans getting shorter, this is a great way to get credible information out without overwhelming the viewer. Think in terms of creating a short 45-60 second mini tutorial by taking information from a larger chunk of content. You can do this in two ways – either focus on one single idea from your long form content, or condense your long piece of content into a quick tutorial-style video to give the audience a glimpse of what is to come, like is the case with this video template below. To use it, simply replace the media and text with your own and you are good to go.
13. Humanise your brand with story videos
Everyone loves a good story- even when it comes from brands. One off-the-hook YouTube Shorts idea can be testing your creative skills by sharing a funny, moving, or heartfelt story that connects the audience to your underlying brand principles. This helps the audience build an emotional connect with your brand while simultaneously
To create emotional stories, you want to think of situations in context to your product or service that the audience will find relatable and then create a short video around that. For instance, if you are a mattress company, a relatable situation you can focus on for your video is neck pain from sleeping in a poor position or disturbed sleep and the reasons for it. Remember, you only have about 60 seconds to convey your message, so you want to keep your narrative crisp but still have it connect emotionally.
For instance in this video about pet grooming, the story is told from the point of view of a pet – which is something pet parents find relatable, cute and wholesome. To make this your own, you can replace the clips and text with your own and see the magic happen.
14. Make an unboxing video
If you’re a product-based brand, making an unboxing video is a great YouTube shorts idea. Unboxing videos are super popular as it is – and if you turn it into a quick 1-minute experience, it gives a fast-paced, high-energy glimpse into your packaging and the product itself. This is a great user experience exercise and can better your brand’s impression on your audiences.
Once way to create an unboxing video is to shoot the process in houe. Alternatively, you can also tie up with bloggers in your niche and ask them to create videos that you can then tie up into a montage for a more unique experience. All you need to do is record their reactions and compile it in the form of a timeline on an attractive template like the one shared below and you’re good to go. This is also a great way to put user-generated content to good use.
15. News in a minute
This idea works very well if you want to share what’s happening around the world as a YouTube Shorts video. This is great to help keep your audiences up to date with what is happening in your niche or industry. While it organically works best for someone who works in journalism or news media, it can work for other industries such as real estate or healthcare – to share market updates.
This YouTube shorts idea helps you engage with a diverse crowd while being at the heart of where they consume a variety of content from. You can compile the top 5 events or the most relevant market updates with images and explain them with a mix of voiceover and captions. This helps cover the top happenings of the week or the month and is an engaging way to pack information into 60 seconds.
Now that you’ve got quite a few YouTube shorts ideas to implement, let’s take a look at how you can bring these to life using InVideo’s online video editor.
BONUS: How to create a YouTube Shorts video using InVideo
You can use any of the premade-templates above to start working on your next YouTube short. For now, we’ll be showing you the steps with the Before and after template.
Step 1: Start by selecting your video’s aspect ratio as 9:16 and click on the Use this template button.
Step 2: Once the editor is open, choose Uploads from the menu on the left corner of your screen. Click the Uploads media button to import your clips and images on the editor. Alternatively, you can choose media from InVideo’s stock library.
Step 3: Now, drag and drop the image you want to place on the template onto the workspace and click Replace to add it. If you’re adding a video clip, a trim window will appear and you can edit the length and volume of your clip. Once you’re done with the trimming, hit the Done button to add it to the video. Repeat this step for all the scenes to add more videos to your workspace.
Step 4: To add text, double-click the text on the template and replace it with your own content.
Step 5: Now, let’s get to the audio part. To add music, choose Music from the menu of the left corner of your screen. You’ll see music divided based on moods and genres. Choose the one you like and click on the 3 dots. Choose the Replace music option to add it to the template.
Step 6: Once you’re satisfied with the outcome, it’s time to download the video and share it as a YouTube short! Click the Download and share button on the right corner of the editor. Choose the resolution for your video and click Export.
Wrapping up
Creating YouTube Shorts is a highly effective way to grow one’s channel as well as get better inbound leads for your brand or business. While this format continues to grow across industries, we can’t miss out on creating longer YouTube videos that are equally effective and engaging. Here, we have for you the ultimate list of 212 YouTube video ideas to grow your channel in 2023, along with the best templates!
Also, if you prefer learning via videos, you should definitely check out our YouTube channel where we share daily video creation tips and tricks, the latest video trends and ideas and help you make more money as a video creator.
This post was written by Zoya and edited by Adete from Team InVideo
