3 Rules for Better Channel Engagement
Table of Contents
How To Get Their Attention?
With so much new content uploaded every day, getting your video to stand out is no easy feat.
In 2021, having great content and uploading quality videos alone won’t get you an audience. You’ll need to concentrate on the other aspects of your channel to pull an audience in.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of tactics at your disposal. In this post, I will share three areas of focus that will help your content get more views. These include:
- Titles that matter
- Descriptions to be read
- Thumbnails that capture
Video Titles
To kick this off, let’s start with VIDEO TITLES.
Whether you’ve just started making videos or you’ve been video marketing for years, coming up with great video titles can be tricky. A video’s title is more than just a minor detail or an afterthought – it’s a significant factor in whether people decide to click the play button or not. No matter how good your videos are, weak titles make it hard to get views and grow your audience.
That split second when someone glances at your video’s title is usually a make-or-break moment. Will they click the play button, or will they move on?
Stay succinct.
If you write a long, rambling title, your content might get ignored. People skim more than they read, so you need to grab a viewer’s attention. The title should be descriptive without taking up any more room than necessary.
Be intriguing.
Titles should capture the mind. Aim to touch the viewer’s emotions. Try offering a solution or promising a juicy secret. People won’t pay much attention to a bland or generic title so use powerful language.
Even if it checks all the practical boxes, the “intrigue factor” can be the difference between a click or not. Intrigue can be hard to write. But once you get the knack for it, you’ll notice your videos getting more engagement, even if you do nothing else differently.
Stay on-topic. A good title tells viewers what they can expect from a video. It’s clear, direct, and honest. People are busy, and they need a reason to watch your video, so using an unclear or ambiguous title is a bad idea. Similarly, misleading titles leave viewers feeling cheated, which can harm your reputation.
Video Descriptions
The first step to creating a great description is to know what type of content you are creating.
- Is it designed to be inspirational?
- To entertain your audience?
- To educate and teach people something new?
- Or, maybe it is an awesome new product or service?
Always include a clear value proposition in your descriptions.
Why should they watch this content? How will your video benefit them?
Try to answer this question in simple terms using the following guidelines:
Tell viewers what to expect. One might think this is obvious, right? I cannot count the times I have clicked for more info, only to find the video’s title restated in the description. That is just lazy. Your efforts represent your content and will often tell viewers if it’s worth their time. Also, if your information doesn’t match what they see, many will stop watching partway through.
Front Write like a human. Know your audience! Use language that your viewers will understand and relate to. Thankfully, you don’t have to be a wordsmith to write a great description. The goal is to inform them of what they are about to spend time with, not to win a writing award.
Front-load the best information. Always start with a compelling sentence in your video description. These sentences should mention the topic in engaging ways. Don’t simply say “It’s an action movie” or “How to bake a cake.”. Instead, try “A man who overcomes insane opposition” or “How to avoid epic baking fails.”.
Thumbnails
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I say it can also be worth a million dollars. Because hitting it big on TV at the right moment with the right content can be worth that. But only if you have a thumbnail that pulls people in.
Your thumbnails say a lot about your videos and ultimately, your brand. The most popular accounts have become masters of thumbnails. Why? Because they know their audience will see the thumbnails well before viewing their content.
So always make sure your thumbnails:
- Accurately portray the content in the video.
- Draw your audience’s attention.
- Excites them to watch!
Use faces.
Preferably making eye contact. Humans have evolved to detect eye contact, making thumbnails with eye contact more eye-catching, especially if the whites of the eyes are visible. In addition to this, humans communicate in large part by reading emotional cues on the face.
Show emotions.
To take this one step further, show strong emotions. By doing so, the viewer will feel that same heightened emotion through empathy. When viewers become emotionally involved, they are more likely to click on your video.
Bright backgrounds and contrast. Bright backgrounds stand out against the generic backgrounds of the host platform. In relation to the other thumbnails. Vibrancy has shown an Eighty-eight percent advantage to thumbnails with a more minimalist color scheme.
A note on the text and logos. Make sure to do your research. I have found that text and logos in the thumbnail can be a double-edged sword. It really does depend on the type of content you produce. For instance, branding within the thumbnail is usually beneficial, but not for gaming or beauty videos.
The Recap
TITLES – DESCRIPTIONS – THUMBNAILS
I hope you noticed that everything we covered deals with engagement BEFORE the viewer even watches the content. Great content is king, but only if it has an audience. So put in the work. Entice them with quality titles, descriptions, and thumbnails. We will ensure that the video you worked so hard on gets the attention it deserves!