Social Media Trends & Video Ideas
Track top creators in your niche across YouTube and TikTok, analyze trending content, and generate fresh video ideas automatically. This workflow monitors creator activity, identifies patterns, and delivers actionable content suggestions to your team via Slack and Google Sheets.
Last updated
January 17, 2026
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Key Takeaways
- Automated creator tracking - monitors YouTube and TikTok creators on a recurring schedule
- AI-powered content research - searches for each creator's latest posts within the last 48 hours
- Video idea generation - produces 3 YouTube and 3 TikTok video ideas per run
- Google Sheets integration - reads creator lists and saves generated ideas to separate sheets
- Slack notifications - sends formatted idea summaries to your team channel
What This Workflow Does
This Needle workflow automatically tracks content creators in your niche, researches their latest posts on YouTube and TikTok, identifies trending topics, and generates video ideas. Results are saved to Google Sheets and posted to Slack.
Use cases:
- Content creators who need a steady stream of video ideas
- Marketing teams managing YouTube and TikTok channels
- Agencies tracking multiple niches for clients
How It Works
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Scheduled trigger | Runs on your configured days and time (e.g., Mon/Wed/Thu at 7 AM UTC) |
| 2. Creator list fetch | Reads tracked creators from a Google Sheet (Name, Focus Area, URLs) |
| 3. YouTube research | AI searches for each creator's most recent YouTube video (within 48 hours) |
| 4. TikTok research | AI searches for each creator's most recent TikTok post (within 48 hours) |
| 5. Detail extraction | Pulls title, description, URL, and publish date for each post found |
| 6. Trend analysis | AI reviews all collected content and generates 3 YouTube and 3 TikTok video ideas |
| 7. Save to Sheets | Ideas are written to separate Google Sheets (YouTube sheet and TikTok sheet), with duplicate prevention |
| 8. Slack notification | A formatted summary is posted to your designated Slack channel |
Only content published within the last 48 hours is included, so ideas are based on fresh trends.
Setup Instructions
- Create a Google Sheet with columns: Name, Focus Area, YouTube URL, TikTok URL, Notes
- Add your tracked creators to the sheet (leave URLs blank if a creator is not active on a platform)
- Connect the Google Sheets connector in your Needle workspace
- Connect the Slack connector in your Needle workspace (optional)
- Import the workflow template in Needle
- Configure the trigger node with your preferred schedule (default: Mon/Wed/Thu at 7 AM UTC)
- Link the workflow to your Google Sheet containing the creator list
- Set the output Google Sheets for YouTube ideas and TikTok ideas
- Set the Slack channel for notifications (e.g., #marketing)
Customization
| What You Can Change | How |
|---|---|
| Schedule | Edit the cron expression in the trigger node to match your content calendar |
| Platforms tracked | Duplicate the research nodes to add Instagram, LinkedIn, or other platforms |
| Number of creators | Add or remove rows in your Google Sheet |
| Output destination | Change the target Google Sheets for YouTube and TikTok ideas |
| Slack channel | Update the channel name in the notification node |
| Slack message format | Modify the AI prompt to change how ideas are formatted in Slack |
| Freshness window | Adjust the 48-hour content lookup window in the research nodes |
Google Sheet Format
Your creator list should follow this structure:
| Name | Focus Area | YouTube URL | TikTok URL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creator A | AI Automation | https://youtube.com/@creatorA | https://tiktok.com/@creatorA | Top in no-code |
| Creator B | Workflow Tools | https://youtube.com/@creatorB | https://tiktok.com/@creatorB | Great tutorials |
| Creator C | AI News | https://youtube.com/@creatorC | - | News focused |
Each output row includes: title, description, source URL, and date.
FAQ
Q: How many creators should I track? A: The existing template suggests starting with 10-15 top creators in your niche.
Q: What if a creator is only on one platform? A: Leave the URL blank for the platform they are not active on. The workflow skips missing URLs.
Q: Will I get duplicate ideas across runs? A: No. The workflow checks for duplicates before writing to Google Sheets.
Q: Can I use this without Slack? A: Yes. Slack notifications are optional. Ideas will still be saved to Google Sheets.
Q: How often should I update the creator list? A: Review and update quarterly as new creators emerge in your niche.
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