Creative Inspiration: Get Ideas for Your Next Video

Creative Inspiration is the built-in inspiration tab in Edits, which Instagram's tutorial describes as a way to help with every phase of your ideation journey. Inside it you can see what other creators post and what's trending, save ideas, add notes, and discover recommended audio, popular topics and templates.

It's useful when you:

• Don't know what to make and want a spark.
• Want to see your niche for formats, hooks and pacing that work.
• Need a sound or template to start a video quickly.
• Keep a library of ideas to draw on later.

Reviewers describe the app's main areas as Ideas, Inspiration, Projects and Camera; the Inspiration tab is a feed of suggestions based on your saved items and previous use. Names and layouts change between versions, so follow what your own screen shows.

1. Open Edits and tap the Inspiration tab.
2. Scroll the feed of creator posts and trends.
3. Pause on what stands out and ask why: the first line, the opening shot, the pacing, the sound, or the text.
4. Look beyond your niche. Great ideas often come from a different field, such as cooking pacing used for a tech tip.

The feed is based on your saved items and previous use, so the more you save, the more relevant it becomes. If you're new to the editor, the first Reel guide shows what to do once you have an idea.

The Inspiration tab has a search bar at the top. Instagram's Creators blog says you can type a topic, such as "birthday" or "travel", and get related audio, ideas and templates.

• Start broad, then narrow: "travel", then "weekend trip".
• Search an occasion or season: holiday, birthday, summer, back to school.
• Search a format: recipe, tutorial, day in the life, before and after.
• Compare results. Open three or four and note what they share.

Format guides to match: travel reels, food reels, mini vlogs, product videos.

Don't rely on memory. Instagram's tutorial describes two steps:

1. Tap the plus sign to save an idea you like.
2. Add a sticky noting what stood out and how you might adapt it.

The note is the valuable part. Write down what grabbed you (the hook, the transition, the sound), and how you'd recreate it for your topic. Your saved items collect in the Ideas tab, covered in the Ideas guide, where stickies can become scripts or storyboards.

The tab recommends three kinds of starting points:

Recommendation	What it gives you	How to use it
Trending audio	Sounds creators are using now	Save it, then build cuts around the beat; see music and audio
Popular topics	Subjects people are watching	Pick one that fits your niche and give it your angle
Templates	A ready-made structure	Tap Use template and add your clips; see templates

Trends move quickly, so save what you like and make it within a few days. A trend with your own spin beats a late copy.

Inspiration is about borrowing an approach, not someone else's video. These are general creative guidelines:

• Borrow the structure, not the content: the hook style, pacing or reveal, with your own footage.
• Change the topic, the voice or the setting until it's clearly yours.
• Use your own clips and words. Never re-upload another creator's footage as your own.
• Credit when you build directly on someone's idea, where the platform's features allow.
• Mind audio rights, and use sounds available in the app for your account type.

Add depth with your own style: titles, cinematic filters and effects.

1. Browse and search for 10 to 15 minutes, saving only what excites you.
2. Annotate with stickies noting what stood out and how you'd adapt it.
3. Pick one idea and plan it: storyboards for multi-part videos, or a sticky script for the teleprompter.
4. Film your version, then trim and arrange it.
5. Add the sound, captions and polish: captions, transitions, keyframes.
6. Export and post, then check results and repeat what worked. See the export guide.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Can't find the Inspiration tab	Older app version or different layout	Update Edits and check the main tabs
Feed isn't relevant	Few saved items yet	Save more ideas; use the search bar for specific topics
No search bar	Feature still rolling out	Update the app, or browse the feed
Too many ideas, no video	No selection rule	Pick one idea per week and finish it
Everything looks the same	Copying one style	Mix two sources and add your own angle
Lost a saved idea	Not saved or sorted	Check Ideas; see missing drafts