20+ Video Ideas for Business, Life, and Beyond
There are so many ways to use video throughout the year, and we’ve rounded up more than 20 video ideas to inspire your video creation.
We’ll give you video ideas for your business, video ideas for your hobby or side hustle, video ideas for celebrations, your family, or for making a splash on social media, no matter the occasion. And the best part? Each of these videos is also a template, so you can easily click through to customize it and make it your own.
If you're looking for specific types of video ideas, just click the links below to hop straight to that section:
- Video Ideas for Your Business
- Video Ideas for Your Community
- Video Ideas for Your Side Hustle or Hobby
- Video Ideas for Celebrations
- Fun Social Media Video Ideas
- Even More Ideas
Ready? Set? Video!
Video Ideas for Your Business
You can use your Animoto account to create videos for all sorts of things, as you’ll see throughout the different lists in this post. We’ll start with some ideas for using video to help your business shine in 2020.
According to our 2019 Social Video Trends Marketer Insights, 93% of marketers say they’ve landed a new customer thanks to a video on social media. Whether you’re looking to land new customers, drive engagement, or simply spread awareness about your business, video can help. Check out the following ideas. Each one comes with its own template that you can click through to customize and make your own.
Business Video Idea #1: Tell a Story About Your Business
People don’t share ads, they share stories. Create a video sharing a story that educates, inspires, entertains, or engages your audience. Explain a trend, as we do in the Florist Trend Story example below, or find more examples in our blog post on ideas for videos that tell a story.
Looking for Instagram Story ideas that tell the story of your business? Start with the Behind the Scenes template and change the ratio to vertical as you customize.
Business Video Idea #2: Tell YOUR Story
Instead of telling a general story about your industry or a trend, try telling a story about your business. This can work well for an About section on your website or a featured video on your Facebook Page or YouTube channel.
What’s something that makes you unique? Why did you start your business? What values do you uphold? For a video showcasing your business story, try using our Company Overview template, Company Values template, or the behind the scenes template below.
Business Video Idea #3: Tell a Product Story
Do you have a specific product with an interesting backstory? Telling it in a video can be a fun way to spread the word about your product. A local bakery tells the story behind their pepperoni rolls in our Product Story template.
If you’re looking to tell the story of your product, you can also check out our Bite-sized Product Intro, New Launch Promo, and Product Catalog templates.
Looking to make a video to share to Facebook or Instagram Stories? Check out the Collection Launch template.
Business Video Idea #4: Share a Testimonial
Customer testimonials are a great way to build trust with potential customers, and they’re quick and easy to create in video form.
Check out our blog post on the quick and easy way to make a customer testimonial video or use our Agent Testimonial, Product Testimonials, One-word Review or Before & After Testimonials templates as guides for creating your own video.
Business Video Idea #5: Share Your Expertise
Your expertise can make for a shareworthy video. Try creating a how-to, list, tip, or tutorial video related to your industry. What can you share to educate or help your potential customers? What questions do customers frequently ask? We’ve got a variety of templates designed for showcasing your expertise, including the Expert How To below, a Fashion Lookbook How To, Industry Insights, and Real Estate Explainer.
Business Video Idea #6: Promote a Sale
Got a sale coming up? Promote it with video! We’ve got a variety of video templates to choose from for this type of video. Try the Valentine’s Day Gift template for a super simple option that just needs two photos or check out our Seasonal Promotion template. Want to promote gift cards options for your brand? Share a video using our Gift Card Promo template.
Customize the easy one-block Cyber Monday Promo template to create a short ad for Instagram Stories. Learn more in our complete guide to Instagram Story ads.
Business Video Idea #7: Promote an Event
Got an event on the agenda for 2019? Promote it with video! Check out our event video templates, created in partnership with Eventbrite, and check out our blog post on 7 shots you need to capture for your event videos.
Video Ideas for Your Community
Are you part of a community or social group? Whether it’s a book club, church group, volunteer group, or other type of organization, video can be a fun way to get community members excited and engaged. Here are some ideas, complete with video templates to make it easy for you to get started.
Community Video Idea #1: Create an Event Invitation
Throwing a community event? Have a get together coming up? Create a video to invite friends and community members and share pertinent information, including the date, time, and what they can expect. Our Holiday Event Invitation template is a good place to start.
Community Video Idea #2: Recap an Event
At your next community gathering, try creating an event recap video. Take photos and video clips during the event and then, when it’s done, turn them into a fun video and relive the moment! We’ve got an Event Recap template you can use, or try starting from scratch and uploading your photos and video clips to create a slideshow of pictures your event. When you’re done, share it with the group via email, on Facebook, or wherever you share updates!
Community Video Idea #3: Share a list
Create a fun list to share with your community about a topic you all relate to. If it’s a book club, for example, you could share a video with a list of upcoming books you’re reading, or quotes from some of your favorite authors. For inspiration, check out our Editorial Quote List template below or take a look at our customizable list of 4 Reasons to Smile.
Video Ideas for Your Side Hustle or Hobbies
Video is also a wonderful tool for sharing your hobbies or side hustles with friends, family, and the world. Whether you’ve got a personal blog you’re looking to drive traffic to, are creating something to sell on Etsy, or anything in between, here are some ideas for how to use video to share what you’re working on in your spare time.
Video Idea #1: Celebrate Your Wins
One of the most exciting things about starting your own thing is when it starts to actually get noticed. How good does it feel to hit your first 100 followers on a new Instagram count? How about 1000 or 10,000? How exciting is it when you set a goal and reach it? Our Milestone Celebration template is built just for celebrating these sorts of milestones.
Video Idea #2: Share Your Story
This is similar to one of the business video ideas we’ve got listed above. Video can be a fun way to showcase the story of whatever it is you’re passionate about. Need a little inspiration? Try our About Us template on for size.
If you're looking for an idea for Stories, why not share your inspiration! Check out the Inspiration Mood Board template and customize it to share what you're inspired by.
Video Idea #3: Showcase Your Skills
Let your friends and family see what you can do by showing it off in a how-to video. We’ve got a DIY: Beauty Tutorial template and a Tabletop Recipe template, great for all the makeup artists and chefs out there looking to create Tasty-style recipe videos, but they can be customized to show off any skill.
Video Idea #4: Tease a Blog Post
If you’ve got a blog, a video is just the thing for capturing attention in the social news feed to promote your latest post. Check out our Blog Teaser template for inspiration.
Video Ideas for Celebrations
Don’t forget all the different opportunities throughout the year to celebrate personal events with video. From birthdays and weddings to parties and more, here are some ideas for celebrating with video this year.
Video Idea #1: Save the Date
Getting married or know someone who is? Create a Save the Date video using photos and video clips of the couple, complete with details about when and where the wedding is happening.
Video Idea #2: Send a Happy Birthday Greeting
Give the gift of video to friends and family members on their birthdays! Start from scratch or customize our Happy Birthday! Slideshow template with your own photos, video clips, and message.
Video Idea #3: Make an Event Invitation
Whether it’s a birthday party, a wedding, a family reunion, or some other type of event for family or friends, a video invitation is a fun way to get people excited. Our Holiday Event Invitation template, which we shared above with our video ideas for your community, is a good place to start if you’re looking for ideas.
Video Idea #4: Celebrate an Engagement
Recently engaged? Share the story of your relationship with an Engagement Slideshow video. Share it with your friends on social media and watch the likes roll in!
Video Idea #5: Create a Memorial Slideshow
Celebrate the life of a loved one in a memorial slideshow video. Get started with our In Memoriam Slideshow template, or click here for more inspiration.
Fun Social Media Video Ideas
We’ve also rounded up some ideas for fun videos to post to social media. These videos can be a nice way to garner engagement on your business social profiles or to rack up the likes and comments from friends and family on your personal profiles. Of course, many of the videos in the other sections are also great for social media, but here are a few more ideas.
Fun Social Video Idea #1: Share a Quote Video
We’ve got a variety of templats for sharing quote videos, including Fun Social Quote, Motivational Quote, and the Editorial Quote List, which featured in our section on community video ideas. Quotes are a shareworthy way to inspire your online audience.
Using our app? We've got a few templates for sharing quotes in your Stories, including this Simple Quote template.
Fun Social Video Idea #2: Showcase an Adventure
Whether it’s a day trip or an extended vacation, a video can be a more engaging way to share a recap of your adventures than a whole album of photos on Facebook. Upload photos and video clips from your adventure and combine them to share your experience. Here’s an example I created using the “Start from Scratch” option, featuring a hot air balloon ride I took.
Fun Social Video Idea #3: Share a Fun List Video
Finally, how about sharing a fun or festive list related to different holidays. We’ve got a few video templates to help you get started, including 7 Things for Valentine’s Day, Top 5 List, 4 Reasons to Smile, and Fun Festive List, featured below.
Even More Ideas
If you're hungry for more, we've got a bunch of lists of video ideas for a variety of topics, platforms, and use cases. Click the links below to see the ideas.
- Birthday Video Ideas
- Wedding Video Ideas
- Real Estate Video Ideas
- Valentine's Day Video Ideas
- Instagram Video Ideas
- YouTube Video Ideas
- LinkedIn Video Ideas
- Event Video Ideas
- Holiday Video Ideas
Did we miss something? Join the Animoto Social Video Marketing Community to share your videos ideas!