From beauty tutorials to DIY projects, influencers, marketers, and brands use How To videos to establish themselves as experts in their industry. The best How To video ideas visually walk viewers through each step, using detailed imagery and descriptions to help them execute an end result anyone would be proud of. Traditionally, creating instructional videos for marketing has been a time-consuming and tedious task.

However, with the right technology and a little planning, we’ll show you how to make a How To video that will engage your audience, drive organic search traffic, and establish yourself as an industry leader.

How To videos are such a staple in marketing strategies that we have a whole section of How To video templates in the Wibbitz Studio. Based on some of the best practices from these templates, here are some easy How To video ideas and steps you can take to successfully show your audiences how to do just about anything.

Step 1: Find an engaging topic.

You know your target audience pretty well at this point – so what is it that they want to excel at? What is a common challenge they face that you have expertise in?

Is it applying highlighter correctly, baking the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe, or starting a blog to gain traction for their brand? Brainstorm some good How To video ideas by coming up with tasks that many people may struggle to accomplish and that you can easily help them master.

Some great ways to find inspiration are from online forums or groups where your target audience participates, customer feedback, or SEO research. Start with comments, FAQs, and forums. If your business has a sales or customer service team, send an email to your staff asking for the top questions they get from customers. First and foremost you want your How To videos to teach solutions people need. By sourcing your topics directly from customers, you’ll ensure your instructional videos are engaging and useful. SEO research will also help you identify the topics that people are searching for most, and creating quality content about these topics will help bring them to your blog or website.

Step 2: Prove why you’re a leader in your field.

Why should viewers trust you to teach them a new skill?

You don’t need to be established in your industry or have a huge following to know what you’re talking about. If this is your landmark How To video, first impressions matter, and you want viewers to see you as an expert with expansive knowledge on the topic. So when you’re looking for instructional video ideas, make sure you are choosing topics you can speak confidently about. Become the thought leader that your audience seeks when they have a question or need help in your space.

Step 3: Chart out every step.

Make sure not to include too many steps though – your viewers don’t want to spend a lifetime learning this one skill.

Your How To video ideas should be short, concise, and focus on simple enough tasks that are easy to follow. For example, if you’re in the self-help space or even marketing for a dating app, something like ‘How to Ask Someone out on a Date,’ could be a simple yet impactful How o video idea. Keep descriptions of each step clear and limited to the most essential points. Plus, keeping it simple and teasing future videos and topics can give your audience a great reason to subscribe or follow.

Step 4: Find the best creative media or shoot your own.

Talking-head videos are a great approach for How To videos to speak directly to viewers and guide them through each step.

Shooting your own media gives you creative control over what you want viewers to see, down to every little detail. But if you are camera shy, or just short on time, this is the time to search for creative media and imagery that clearly conveys what you want viewers to visualize. We provide several How To video templates with different story structures and types of media assets to help you get started in the Wibbitz online video editor.

Step 5: End on a positive note.

If you want to keep viewers engaged and coming back for more content, encourage them to try this new skill – and if at all possible, share their results!

Whether you want them to upload a video, share photos of their finished product, or even get customer testimonials or feedback on your guide, leave them with the incentive to practice creativity. A simple Call to Action scene at the end of your video does the trick.

Getting Started

Now that you’ve got the basics on how to make a How to video, it’s time to start searching for the best instructional video ideas for your brand. Start by creating a list of topics, incorporate them into your content calendar, and then start measuring views, engagement, and website traffic to see what topics resonate most with your audience.

Most of all have fun and get creative with your How To video content!

How to make a ‘How To’ video