“What should I post today?”
I think this is one of the worst questions a creator can start with.
Not because brainstorming is bad.
Because you’re ignoring a huge amount of information that already exists.
There are creators in your niche posting every day.
Their audience is voting with:
Views.
Shares.
Comments.
Saves.
Watch time.
Some posts flop.
Some perform normally.
Some suddenly explode.
Why would you ignore all of that and start with a blank page?
I’d rather start with evidence
Imagine you make fitness content.
You follow 20 other fitness creators.
Over the last few weeks you notice several unusually successful videos about:
Exercises people are doing wrong.
Cheap high-protein meals.
“Things I wish I knew when I started lifting.”
You just learned something.
Not:
“Copy those exact posts.”
You learned that people currently care about those angles.
That gives you somewhere to start.
Here’s the process I use
Pick 10 to 20 creators talking to the same type of person you want to reach.
You don’t even need to love them.
You’re doing research.
Then look for posts that performed way better than their normal content.
Not simply:
“This video has 1 million views.”
Ask:
Is 1 million normal for them?
A creator who normally gets 900,000 views hitting 1 million is not that interesting.
A creator who normally gets 20,000 suddenly hitting 400,000 is much more interesting.
Something happened there.
Study it.
Write down four things
For every breakout post, look at:
1. Hook
What did they say or show first?
2. Topic
What is the post actually about?
3. Format
Talking head?
Story?
List?
Before and after?
Tutorial?
Reaction?
4. Angle
Why is this version interesting?
“5 protein meals” and “5 high-protein meals under $3” are the same general topic.
Different angle.
That difference can be everything.
Then look for repetition
One viral post can be luck.
Five creators using similar angles is more interesting.
Maybe:
Mistake-based posts keep winning.
“Things nobody tells you” hooks keep appearing.
Before-and-after formats are working.
Strong opinions are outperforming tutorials.
One topic suddenly shows up everywhere.
Now you have clues.
Don’t ask “what can I copy?”
Ask:
Why did this work?
That’s the skill.
A post about “7 mistakes new photographers make” might work because:
People are scared they’re doing something wrong.
It’s specific to beginners.
It creates curiosity.
It promises multiple useful lessons.
Great.
Now use that insight.
If you’re a baker:
“5 mistakes that ruin homemade buttercream.”
If you’re a personal trainer:
“4 mistakes I see beginners make every January.”
If you’re a filmmaker:
“3 mistakes that instantly make your footage look amateur.”
Same underlying pattern.
Completely different content.
Your own winners matter even more
Don’t only study competitors.
Study yourself.
Go through your top-performing posts.
Ask:
What topic was it?
What was the hook?
What format did I use?
Was I on camera?
Was it educational?
Was it a story?
How long was it?
What did people comment on?
Creators often spend so much time looking for new ideas that they ignore the evidence sitting inside their own account.
If something worked, understand why before moving on.
Your idea process should become boring
That’s actually a good thing.
You don’t want your entire content business dependent on:
“I hope I feel creative today.”
A repeatable process is much better:
Find what’s working.
Understand why.
Find the pattern.
Make it relevant to your audience.
Add your experience.
Add your opinion.
Make your version.
Post.
Learn.
Repeat.
This is also why I built Be Unskippable
I was basically doing this manually.
Open competitor profile.
Scroll.
Open another profile.
Scroll.
Save posts.
Write down hooks.
Try to remember what I saw.
Open 12 tabs.
Eventually I thought:
This is stupid.
The research works.
The workflow sucks.
Be Unskippable is my attempt to make the research part much faster.
But whether you use a tool or do it manually, the principle is the same:
Stop guessing what people want.
Pay attention to what they’re already telling you.