Creating and validating video ideas

I learned this type of thinking from Val Geisler in her book Everybody Writes where she compares content to a dinner party. I thought it was genius and applied the thinking to video production.

Let’s think of content as a meal.

🥂 Drinks (Low Production Value)

Simple value-filled posts that are quick and easy to make like handing a dinner guest a glass of wine.

Examples:

• A single-image feed post on Instagram

• A batch of Instagram stories

• LinkedIn status update

• Tweets

🥗 Appetizers (Medium Production Value)

Content that takes a bit more effort to produce like a small bite to eat. Follow up drinks with an appetizer.‍

Examples:

• Instagram carousels

• Instagram Reels

• Twitter threads

🥘 Main Course (High Production Value)

These are formats that take significantly more time and effort to plan, record, and edit. After drinks and appetizers comes the main course!

Examples:

• YouTube Videos or any videos that are about 3+ minutes long

• Blog content or downloadables

• Podcast content

• Slide decks

This is what will tell you what’s worth investing more time into. And this is also what will reveal additional questions people might have that your “main course” should include.

Note: You won't necessarily always start content from low to high production value. But it's a helpful framework if you don't know what's worth your focus or to test the waters of a big content idea you might want to produce.