The Research area is where ideas meet evidence. Strategist-style thinking means you rank options against audience pain, differentiation, and feasibility—not vibes. Use Research to compare multiple angles for the same topic and to connect competitor signals with your own positioning.
Start from pain, not tools
List pains your audience mentions in comments, support tickets, or communities. Map each pain to a video that resolves it in a bounded time (“under 12 minutes”) or a short that teases a deeper long-form. If you cannot name the pain, the topic is probably a feature tour, not a story.
Pain: “I do not know what to post this week.”
Video: “Five repeatable formats you can film today.”
Avoid: “Here is our new dashboard” without a user outcome.
Score ideas before scripting
Differentiation: can you say something others have not said clearly?
Proof: do you have examples, data, or lived experience?
Urgency: why publish this month?
Effort: can you ship at your current capacity?
Drop ideas that fail two or more checks unless there is a strategic reason (for example: foundation content for a funnel).
Pair competitor signals with your data
When Reflect or analytics are available, ask: does this topic fit what already works for us? Trending elsewhere is not enough—alignment with your channel’s proof reduces risk.
Anti-patterns
Chasing every viral format until your channel loses identity.
Research without shipping—cap learning time and force a publish.
Copying thumbnails legally gray—use inspiration, not theft.
A strategist stops asking “what could we make?” and asks “what should we make next given our constraints?”