There’s been a consistent rise in the number of people watching vlogs. The trend presents a unique opportunity for both creators, allowing them to tell stories in increasingly creative and personalized ways, and viewers, allowing viewers to live vicariously through their favorite vlogger.
But getting to a point where your vlogs are popular enough that people care to watch and engage is a different ball game altogether. How do you tap into this growing market as a creator or YouTuber? The single most pressing challenge is coming up with good ideas that you can execute to perfection.
So whether you’re a newbie to the vlogging world or a seasoned vlogger, we’re here to help if those creative juices aren’t flowing. In this guide, we’ll share 14 of the most interesting vlog ideas and pro-tips to inspire you and keep your audience on their toes. And once you've finalized which idea you'll be working on you can easily bring it to life by using InVideo's online video editor.
Here are the vlog ideas we'll cover:
1. Introduction vlogs
2. Daily vlog: talk about a typical day in your life
3. Instructional vlogs
4. BTS vlogs
5. Travel vlogs
6. Product review vlogs
7. Prank vlogs
8. Event vlogs
9. Motivational vlogs
10. Holiday vlogs
11. Challenges
12. Brag about your fitness regime
13. Collabs
14. Giveaways
1. Introduction vlogs
You can’t simply wake up one day, create a YouTube channel, and expect people to watch. You need to lay the groundwork first. If you’re just getting started with vlogging, it’s a good idea to tell your audience about yourself to build familiarity and get them to know you so they can trust you. You can talk about who you are, what you’ll be blogging about, and why you want to do so.
The best part about this introduction vlog is that you can get as creative as you like. While you can go the simple route of sitting in front of the camera and addressing your audience, you could also take them around with you as you go about your day. This vlog is a great opportunity to bring out your personality and let your audience get up close and personal with you.
A good idea is to have a basic script ready of what you want to include in the vlog so that you don’t end up rambling for hours and have a tough time editing. Take a look at the first vlog by the popular creator Irfan Junejo – he speaks in his native language and presents a regular day in his life – which in reality is nothing interesting. But his presentation of the day is what makes it interesting. Note how short the vlog is as well: just a minute and a half.
You don’t need to create super long videos in order to create successful vlogs. Junejo’s video is a good example of that and you don’t need fancy equipment either. Simply use your phone to film and an intuitive video editor like InVideo to edit so that you don’t even need to download editing software to your computer. And if you’re new to editing, check out this resource to get an idea of how you can go about editing your videos.
2. Daily vlogs: talk about a typical day in your life
Daily vloggers are amongst the most popular creators on YouTube – Casey Neistat, Alfie Deyes, Flying Beast, and Irfan Junejo, among others. It might be hard to believe but people really enjoy knowing about what goes on in the lives of others. But the catch here is that how your life comes across to the viewer really depends on your storytelling skills, your presentation, and your authenticity.
If you’re wondering who wants to watch you pour your morning cup of Joe and work from your home office, the answer could potentially be 'thousands of people'. Don’t believe it until you see it though. Look at this video from Charles and Allie’s YouTube channel:
Notice how it’s a laid-back video where you see Charlie and Allie spend a day at the zoo with their lovely daughter. But if you’re a high-energy individual, you’ve got a very high-adrenaline audience to engage. Here’s an excellent example from Judy, a vlogger who has been vlogging 5 days a week since 2011:
The thing with daily vlog ideas is that you need to find a way to make them interesting. You don’t need to put on a show, but being active goes a long way. Look at how Judy also speaks with the audience in between the video to recapture their attention.
If you’re creating a daily vlog, it’s best to have at least some rough idea of what you’ll be doing throughout the vlog. You don’t want to end up coming up with things to do while you’re recording. Remember, be authentic and be interesting. That’s the key to creating a successful daily vlog.
A vlog like this requires some trimming because you’ll almost always end up with a lot of raw footage. Make sure you’re equipped with an easy-to-use editor so you don’t end up investing a lot of time in editing.
3. Show your audience how to do something with tutorials
While tutorials don’t naturally come under the ambit of vlogs, they can actually make for excellent vlog content while providing great value to your audience. The key here lies in how you present the tutorial. If it’s simply a talking head video, it’s going to get boring and won’t entice your audience, but if you switch up your surroundings as you shoot and give people a hands-on experience of the information you’re explaining, it can easily turn into an engaging tutorial vlog.
As for ideas for your tutorial vlogs, you can take two routes – one is to simply pay attention to the kind of question your existing audience asks and turn those into topics for your vlogs. Alternatively, if you’re just starting out, you want to first decide the different pillars of content you want to show on your YouTube channel – for instance, travel, filmmaking, or self-development. You will then want to pick one pillar and look for popular content ideas in that niche that align with your expertise and create a vlog around those.
Here’s a great example of a tutorial vlog by the creator Jeven Dovey who is known for his expertise in filmmaking, photography, and editing. He simply turned his knowledge of vlogging, shooting, and editing into a fun how-to tutorial for his audience and he presents the info while vlogging:
When creating tutorial-based vlogs, you want to focus on your area of expertise and then look for highly searched topics in that niche to create content on. Once you have your topic ready, you can either wing it or record on the fly but if you want your vlog to be more engaging, a better idea is to create a rough structure as Dovey has done in the video above. That is evident when he shoots different parts of his vlog in different places. Once you have your structure, you can go ahead and film your vlog and then bring those clips together into a coherent story using an editor like InVideo.
4. Share behind-the-scenes footage
87% of people will watch a video that includes behind-the-scenes footage. So, what makes BTS so attractive to your viewers? Well, it helps the audience connect with you through content that’s not scripted. BTS content is a great way to show your off-camera side to your audience every once in a while.
BTS content can contain several types of content or a combination of them. You can give your audience a peek into what goes on around you as you create vlogs for them. But it’s always a great idea to mix things up. If you’ve got some raw footage of failed recording attempts, that could be a great compilation for a BTS video. If you’ve got a team or you’re collaborating with another vlogger, some BTS chuckles can also add an interesting element to your vlog.
Failed takes and chuckles are great ideas, but you can also show your audience your video planning process: how you come up with ideas, what kind of challenges you face while recording, etc. And that’s exactly what Cathrin Manning does in her BTS vlog:
Notice how she shares her insight on how people actually relate to the everyday tasks vloggers otherwise believe could feel boring to their audience. That’s what people want to see. Something they can relate with.
5. Travel vlogs: take your audience places
You don’t need to be a travel vlogger to create travel vlogs. Regardless of your niche, travel vlogs will fit right into your channel because very few people are not excited about traveling. A change of scenery, especially when it’s mesmerizing, makes people feel good.
So, if you’re planning to travel soon, don’t forget to bring along your vlogging kit—your camera (or your phone if that’s what you prefer), a gimbal, and a mic if you use one. Get some raw footage of hills and beaches, animals doing silly things, or just you walking down a flowery road. For instance, here’s how Alisha Maria, a daily vlogger, shares exciting footage from her Greece trip:
There are several things you need to keep in mind as you record a travel vlog. You’re in a new place, so it’s understandable that you want to record everything. However, that’s a bad strategy because of two reasons: not everything may look as interesting as you think, and when you record everything you end up missing out on having real fun on your trip.
Instead, focus your vlog around specific locations and activities of your trip. If you have an itinerary, use it to create a strategy as to when you’ll record, and when you’ll just have a good time. This will allow you to enjoy your trip and save you the hassle of having to charge your camera all the time. Also, keep your videos short and edit out anything you find less than very exciting or interesting. Most importantly, don’t shy away from showing yourself having fun on the trip. You’re usually the main reason your viewers are watching the vlog.
6. Review a product your audience might be interested in
As a vlogger, you’ll have a list of tools that you’ll rely on every day to make your life a little easier. Using tools every day allows you to get more creative with how you use them, and you can share this insight with your audience, because they’ll probably have some questions about it.
For instance, watch how Niklas Christi shares how he uses Notion to plan his filmmaking workflow:
If you’re into filmmaking, and you’re wondering what type of templates Niklas uses to move the productivity needle, you might find his video very valuable. However, before you review a product, make sure enough of your audience is interested in it. The comments section is usually a good place to find out whether your audience is interested in a certain product you use.
If you’re reviewing a digital product like Notion, you’ll need a screen recorder. Use a screen recorder that’s capable of producing HD videos in multiple formats so it’s easier for you to import them into your video editor. Your screen recorder should also allow placing a small window on the screen where you can place your own image as you record it from the camera. Putting yourself on the screen improves engagement because you can directly speak to your viewers.
Plus, review and walkthrough videos can often feel bare-bones because you’ll essentially be walking people through a process or discussing features. So, if you’re considering a review as one of the vlog ideas for an upcoming vlog, don’t make it all speech. Add some sound effects to make your vlog more engaging for your audience. Another way you can add a little bit more pizzazz to your product vlogs is by having an upbeat intro to hook your audience from the beginning. Check out these intro templates from InVideo that you can use to do this in a matter of minutes.
7. Prank someone
Pranks are a bucket load of fun but don’t overdo them. It’s still important to preserve your concept so don’t go on a pranking spree; you might start to disappoint your audience. However, brainstorming pranking vlog ideas and creating a prank vlog every once is great for giving your audience a chuckle.
Don’t try to use prank channel vlogs as a benchmark though. Those vlogs are typically staged, but that might not align with your core niche. You want to go for a more organic prank rather than turning your channel into “Just For Laughs.”
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t go big. You can go big as Elliot Choy did in this video:
Great, right? Pranking vlogs are fun but use them seldom unless you want to shoot yourself in the foot by annoying your audience.
Before you go grab your camera, there are a few things you should consider. First, ensure the safety of all involved as well as your equipment. Speaking of equipment, you’ll also need to think about strategically placing your camera so it records the prank.
Ideally, you should try simulating the entire prank with a friend so you can check if everything works as it should. This will also give you an idea about what kind of lighting you’ll need for properly recording the prank. If you’re placing the camera right in front of bright light, the glares might be a problem. You’ll need to consider all these factors and the fact that the person you’re pranking shouldn’t be able to spot the camera.
Since you might not be handling the camera yourself while it records, make sure you place it on a surface that won’t budge easily. Most importantly, don’t forget to start recording before the prank; it’s easy to forget when you’re excited.
8. Share footage from an event
Going to an influencer meet? Headed to a celebrity wedding? Got tickets to a concert? They’re all great vlog ideas for your next vlog. Not only does creating vlogs ensure that people know you’re out there doing things in your niche but also brings your channel in front of other people who are searching for the event’s videos online.
For instance, here’s how Kris Hui covered their visit to a BTS concert:
Kris created multiple vlogs to cover the full event, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be long. You can create shorter vlogs that cover the best parts of an event and give your audience a good preview of the event’s most exciting bits.
Note that it can be a little tricky to shoot vlogs based on how crowded the venue is, so make sure you’ve got a good gimbal in your backpack. Plus, if there’s a lot of noise around you, you’ll probably need to do some voice-over when you’re editing the video, but that shouldn’t take you very long with InVideo. With InVideo, you’ll be able to record voice-over from within the editor itself as you edit other elements of your video.
9. Motivate your audience
If you like motivating people, vlogs are an excellent asset you can use. People often want to listen to others talk about overcoming a personal or professional challenge, or just about someone else’s struggle. If you’ve got something to share with the audience that you believe will help them feel motivated, go for it.
However, motivating your audience with a vlog requires some subtle techniques. You don’t want to come off as preachy or arrogant, but you do want to appear confident. The key is to get clarity on what you’re going to say beforehand instead of winging it like you would for most vlogs.
You don’t need to write a script and narrate it word-for-word—that’s going to make you sound very unnatural. Just write down the broad points you’ll touch on. Optimize what you’ve written and then start working on motivation vlog ideas.
Here’s an excellent example of a motivational vlog from Holly Gabrielle:
Holly talks about her personal experience and the challenges she faces before talking about how she stays motivated. That’s a great way to connect with viewers who might be facing similar challenges. Notice how she has a humble tone. It’s easy to get into a zone unintentionally where you can come off as condescending, so be sure to avoid that.
10. Share your holiday décor
Got something fancy planned for Thanksgiving, Easter, or Christmas? Well, how about recording some footage of you hanging the mistletoe or dolling up your Christmas tree? Your audience will love some decorating ideas and also get some BTS on how you’re going to spend your Christmas.
Decorating your house is fun, isn’t it? A vlog will allow your audience to join you as you decorate. For instance, here’s how Roxi and Matt shared a vlog of them decorating their house for Christmas:
See how they keep talking throughout the video? That’s not because they’re great commentators. Speaking keeps your viewers engaged. Imagine Roxi just standing there with a camera while Matt puts on the lights. The vlog would turn into a snooze fest. Keep talking—nobody likes long silent pauses.
Pro tip: You can use animated text, transitions, and intro slides to break up the monotony in your holiday vlogs. Alternatively, you can also use holiday video templates on InVideo for your shorter vlogs.
11. Challenge vlogs
Each year, there’s a new challenge that goes viral on social media. Some challenges we saw over the past few years have been ridiculous, some have been hilarious, but all of them have earned vloggers a ton of engagement. If you’ve noticed a new challenge making rounds of the internet, it might just turn into your next vlog idea.
A challenge vlog is where you’ll be the one performing a certain challenge. If you’re doing the ice-bucket challenge, you’ll be the one pouring a bucketful of freezing water and ice over yourself. Audiences like to look at quirky vlogs and when you shiver after pouring their bucket, they’re going to have a good chuckle out of it. Here’s an example of how a challenge vlog can be a quick way to turn some eyeballs:
Notice how Tiffany Alvord’s vlog, and most challenge vlogs for that matter, are short. It’s best to keep them under 5 minutes when possible. Don’t try to fit in way too much in there except for the challenge itself. More importantly, don’t forget to mention the cause the challenge is supposed to raise awareness for—you don’t want to be just another person emptying a bucket of ice for getting views.
12. Share your fitness regime
Staying healthy is easier said than done. For a lot of people, getting up early, putting on socks, and doing cardio doesn’t come easily. However, looking at someone they relate with achieve their fitness goals might just give them a nudge.
Plus, if you’ve been working out for some time, and have experiences to share, your audience would want to hear about it. For instance, are you at a critical point in your career and still manage to reserve time for some cardio? Well, give your audience tips on how they can do that too.
For instance, here’s how a non-fitness vlogger Julie Choe shares her insight on how she manages to stay fit and healthy:
She doesn’t show just her fitness routine, she also provides her view on how you can think of exercise as self-love. She also talks about how almost everyone is busy, but you need to find just a little bit of time for exercise each week.
Motivate your audience to take action and explain how that action (in this case, exercise) will help them. Try and connect with your audience to explain to them how exercise can benefit them instead of simply bombarding them with your workout success stories. They need motivation, not intimidation. Like any other vlog, be sure to make it engaging. Add some music, use speed control, and add transitions – things that you can easily do using InVideo’s online video editor.
13. Collabs
Collabs can be fun, not just for your audience but even for you. They also come with the massive benefit of being introduced to a large new audience. When two vloggers collab, both of their audiences will find a new vlogger that they might want to start following. This is why collabs can sometimes substantially help you grow your current audience.
However, collaborations can be a little tricky, especially if you’re fairly new to the vlogging scene. Your first challenge? Finding someone to collaborate with. It’s tempting to approach your favorite vlogger, but guess what? Their inbox is probably flooded with collab requests. Plus, why would they want to refer their audience to a channel they wouldn’t watch themselves? The key is to find someone who’s at more or less an equal level as you in terms of the vlogging journey.
Next, find a way to get in touch. In most cases, you’ll find their email in the About section of their channel. However, if you don’t, go for a tweet or leave a comment to one of their vlogs.
Here’s the final kicker: what if the person who agrees to collaborate isn’t in the same city… or the same country? Well, long-distance collabs are a thing too. Long-distance collabs are especially a good choice for beginners if they can’t find someone to collaborate with locally.
The great thing about collabs is that they’re great for almost any vlogger, large or small. For instance, here are two of the most successful vloggers Casey Neistat and Mr. Beast collaborating on a vlog:
Casey interviews Mr. Beast about how he found success as a vlogger. However, you can also go a different route. You can simply invite another vlogger as a guest and have them become part of your content. For instance, if you're a tech vlogger, you can just invite another tech vlogger over and review a gadget together. There are no rules here; get creative and connect with the audience.
14. Giveaways
If you’ve got your own merch, consider a giveaway as one of the potential vlog ideas for an upcoming vlog. They’re a quick way to get some engagement rolling in and push up your subscriber count. If you don’t have your own merch, see if a brand wants to collab with you on a giveaway. It’s a low-cost way for them to get a lot more visibility and a no-frills way for you to grow your online community.
For instance, here’s a vlog by Cammie Carter where she gives away some jewelry from her favorite brand:
However, some giveaways can turn out to be rather expensive. For instance, if you’re a tech vlogger, the products you vlog about might be high-value. In that case, you should try and get in touch with the brand to see if you can offer an attractive discount on a certain product using a coupon code.
Before you shoot a giveaway blog, strategize how the thing you’re giving away will fit into the context of your vlog. Think about it. You’re giving away a smartwatch. So, do you create a short vlog just to advertise the giveaway? Or do you weave the giveaway into your regular vlog? Since it’s a smartwatch, it’s easy for a tech vlogger to organically announce the giveaway in a vlog, and will also make it look more organic. But if you’re a travel vlogger, a short video might be a good alternative.
Another important factor you need to consider is how you want your audience to participate. You can either organize a contest, sweepstake, or lottery. Lotteries may be illegal in some countries, so be sure to check that. Most giveaways, however, are sweepstakes. You’ll also need to reveal in your giveaway vlog the time and method of announcing the winner. In most cases, you’ll be creating another video to announce winners, so you can get more people to interact with your channel.
Looking for a quick, no-fuss way to create your giveaway video? Try InVideo.
Pro Tips for Creating Vlogs
Let’s face it—creating vlogs is hard. From brainstorming vlog ideas to shooting, you’ve got dozens of things to do right. So, to help you out, here are a few tips you can follow to create beautiful vlogs:
Tip #1 - Tell a story
As a vlogger, you need to become a top-notch storyteller. That’s literally what all vlogs do. The better you tell your story, the more people will want to listen to it. Think about a travel vlog for example. You view your favorite vlogger’s travel videos… why? You can look for the same destinations online and get millions of photos, can’t you?
The reason you watch vlogs is because you’re also interested in the vlogger’s story. You’re interested not just in the destination, but in what the vlogger did at that destination. It’s the vlogger’s story you enjoy, not just the destination.
Tip #2 - Make the first 30 seconds count
Humans’ attention span is getting shorter, so you better make those first 30 seconds count. Give your viewers what they came for within the first 30 seconds, or they’ll bounce. Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t add an intro to your video.
Intros give your videos a more polished look. But it’s important for the intros to be short. Once the intro ends, directly give your viewers a preview of what to expect from the video. For instance, if you’re reviewing a camera, start by saying that you’ll review a particular camera with its model number. Essentially, you want to pack in the gist of your video in the first 30 seconds. You can easily create engaging intros for your vlogs using InVideo’s intro templates.
Tip #3 - Post consistently
“It’s been six weeks since I posted my last vlog,” said no successful vlogger ever. Vlogging takes consistency. If you don’t deliver content for your audience to consume, they’ll find someone else that will.
Don’t focus just on quantity though. Quality is equally important. Set a cadence that you’re comfortable with and stick with it; it could be one vlog every three days or one vlog each week. If your schedule doesn’t allow a lot of time for brainstorming vlog ideas or creating them often, you can use tools like Hootsuite to post the vlog on social media or use YouTube’s post scheduling tool.
Tip #4 - Create SEO-friendly vlog titles
SEO (search engine optimization) is about optimizing your content so that Google displays it higher up in the search results. Google likes to deliver contextually relevant high-quality content to searchers. When you add SEO-friendly titles that describe the video well, you’ll be helping Google understand what’s in the video.
SEO is a vast, complex topic, and a lot more than just the title goes into it. But getting the keywords in your title is a good starting point because Google’s algorithm can’t crawl (or read) your videos, but it can understand the SEO title.
Tip #5 - Pay attention to feedback
The comments section is a goldmine, not only for engagement but for getting feedback and new vlog ideas as well. Focus on questions that your viewers have, what they like more, and what they want to see in the future vlogs. Feedback doesn’t just allow room for improvement, but it’s also where you’ll find ideas for your next vlog.
If you’ve got a large audience on YouTube, you can also go for granular fine-tuning by looking at YouTube Analytics. It will show you a “drop-off point” where your viewers are abandoning the video. This will give you an insight into which parts of your videos specifically have room for improvement. The method isn’t that relevant if you’re just beginning because the smaller sample size in the Analytics report might skew the data.
Tip #6 - Invest in equipment
It’s okay to use a phone, but nothing beats a high-quality camera. Either way, you should at least invest in a sturdy gimbal for your phone or camera so you can set up base wherever you want to start recording for your vlog. Shaky footage is ugly. A gimbal will ensure that your footage is still and clear.
Tip #7 - Pick the right editing software
There are countless editing tools out there. Choosing the right one can take some experimentation. Downloading each software on your PC and trying it out might not be the best strategy. Instead, consider going with a web-based editor like InVideo that’s easy to use and comes with a massive library of stock assets so you never run out of cool elements to beautify your vlogs.
Tip #8 - Give your vlog a good audio track
Silent pauses in the vlog can spell bad news for engagement. Adding a background track will keep your viewer’s attention hooked and fill the gaps nicely. Adding a background track will add texture to your video and communicate the mood of your video.
The good thing is, you don’t need to spend a lot of time finding good background tracks. Video editors like InVideo have a built-in library of royalty-free music that you can bank on every time you need to jazz up your vlogs.
Tip #9 - Add special effects
People love cool effects, transitions, and background music. Even if you’re just creating daily vlogs, spicing it up with transitions, speed control, and some animated text can give it a very different feel.
Plus, beautifying your vlogs is a no-brainer—you don’t need expensive equipment or expert knowledge to edit your vlogs. Use an easy-to-use video editor like InVideo to edit your vlogs. You can add a catchy intro, cool typography, and special effects right from your web browser and create ready-to-upload vlogs without any expert video editing skills. However, be sure not to overdo special effects. Too much of them can overpower the actual content in the vlog and make them look unprofessional.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, you were able to draw some inspiration from the ideas listed here. The world’s your oyster—grab your camera and start creating content. But remember, there are a lot of vloggers out there, and you need to cut through the noise to claim your top spot. For this, you’ll need consistency and a set of tools that can make life easy – good recording equipment, and a quick, user-friendly video editor like InVideo.
Learn how you can use InVideo to create stunning edits in this blog, or learn by watching some tutorials on our YouTube channel where we regularly share tips and tricks to beautify your videos.
This post was written by Arjun and edited by Adete from Team InVideo
