Turn YouTube Videos Into Shorts
Transform any YouTube video into five 60-second clips with multi-platform captions. Extracts timestamps and generates copy for TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
YouTube To Shorts Content Generator
This workflow transforms any long-form YouTube video into a ready-to-use set of short clips, complete with multi-platform captions and posts. Simply provide a video URL and target audience, and in under two minutes you get engaging clip ideas, formatted copy, a Google Doc update, and a Slack notification.
It does five things:
- Accepts a YouTube video URL and target audience via manual input.
- Extracts the full video title and timestamped transcript by browsing the YouTube page and a transcript service.
- Analyzes the transcript to identify the five most engaging 60-second segments optimized for short-form video platforms.
- Generates social media copy for each clip tailored to TikTok or Reels, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
- Appends the formatted clip ideas and copy to a Google Doc and sends a Slack alert to your team.
What You Need
- A Needle platform account to run the workflow.
- Access to the Needle AI v2 connector with browsing tools enabled.
- A Google Docs account and the document ID of your content calendar.
- A Slack workspace and channel ID where notifications will be posted.
How The Flow Works
| Step | Component | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manual Trigger | Input your desired YouTube video URL and define your target audience to tailor the content. |
| 2 | Transcript Extractor | An AI agent browses the YouTube page to obtain the video title, then fetches the full timestamped transcript using a transcript service. |
| 3 | AI Content Director | Using the transcript and title, the AI model identifies five engaging 60-second segments. It crafts hooks, captions with hashtags, LinkedIn posts, and Twitter thread openers for each clip. |
| 4 | Google Docs Update | The generated content is appended to your specified Google Doc, maintaining an organized master content calendar. |
| 5 | Slack Notification | A message is sent to your selected Slack channel informing the team that clips and copy are ready for review, including a link to the updated document. |
Output
At the end, you get a well-organized, ready-to-publish document appended directly into your Google Docs content calendar. It includes five short clip ideas complete with timestamp ranges, engaging hooks, and platform-specific copy for TikTok, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Your team also receives a Slack alert to know the content is ready for review.
Notes
- The transcript extraction works best on publicly accessible videos with manual or automatic captions enabled.
- Customize the target audience field to ensure the AI-tailored copy matches your niche perfectly.
- This flow drastically cuts down the hours typically spent on manual research, video scrubbing, and copywriting.
- Run this repeatedly for multiple videos to continuously fuel your social media content pipeline.
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