Skip to content 
Wow, what a brutal headline.
3 seconds or else? That’s annoying and kind of threatening.
Welcome to internet content, baby!
I don’t make the rules, I just sycophantically pay attention to them in the hopes of procuring safety in this capitalistic hellhole we’ve designed for ourselves.
But, if you clicked on this link and read this far it must mean I at least somewhat know what I’m doing, so here’s my advice on how you can grab attention quickly.
You attract attention in the first 3 seconds of a video by being high energy, visually interesting, intriguing the viewer to learn more, evoking an emotional response, showing that you’ll be adding value, and having high quality visuals.
Don’t try to do all these techniques at once, start wherever your skillset is now and level up from there.
In this article I’ll explain how to do all of those attention grabbing techniques so that you get so many followers it doesn’t matter what content you put out.
Be High Energy
You know how kindergarten teachers and influencers both have kind of annoying, peppy personalities that can sometimes be grating?
Yeah, that’s not a coincidence.
A lot of social media and the internet in general is about learning what our base instincts are, and then manipulating those instincts in order to obtain our goals.
And like it or not, the human brain is trained to focus on Tigger, not Eeyore.
See how even that meme keeps catching your attention, even as you try to read on?
That’s because it’s high energy.
And, it also happens to be our next point as well.
Be Visually Interesting
This is video rule #1.
If you want to get views, you have to be visually interesting.
One quick trick that I use is to move my hands in some obvious movement in the first second of my videos.
That quick movement forces the deep part of our lizard brain to pay attention – just like when you see a snake that 2 seconds later turns out to be an old bike tire.
Here are some ways you can be visually interesting with your video content:
- Use vibrant colors
- Experiment with different lighting techniques
- Use unique angles and perspectives
- Utilize camera movements like panning, tilting, or tracking shots
- Incorporate creative visual effects, such as transitions, overlays, or animations
- Incorporate text and typography
- Incorporate interesting props or objects
Be Intriguing
Want to know how to make a million dollars – fast?
Me too!
Webster’s Dictionary defines clickbait as the… BORING!
No one wants to hear regurgitated platitudes.
People want to be entertained, intrigued, they want to be heard and understood through what you’re bringing them.
What can you bring your viewers that they’ll care about?
What sentence makes people want to stay and hear more?
Too often content creators want to create whatever they’re interested in, and get a flock of loyal fans just for existing.
I want that too – but I’ve accepted that I’m not one of the very few magical people that gets that.
And if you’re reading this article, unfortunately I have some bad news… it seems like neither are you.
But that’s ok! That just means we have to create things that people are intrigued by.
And one of the best ways to do that is to…
Evoke An Emotional Response
The simplest way to grab someone’s attention is to evoke an emotional response.
If you really want to know what grabs people’s attention, create a new social media account.
When sites have no data about a user, they’ll show it the most popular videos on the platform.
You know what you’ll see a lot of?
-Promposals
-Veterans reuniting with the dogs
-Cancer patients and sick kids
-Weird staged videos where an average looking guy gets revenge on a hot girl who didn’t like him
Why are those the videos that have 20, 30, 100 million views?
Because they evoke an obvious emotional reaction that everyone can relate to.
Love em or hate em, these basic videos are easy to understand and hook people in as they wait to see the (already known) conclusion.
Be Clear and Obvious!
What is your video about?
If people don’t understand that in the first 3 seconds, they’re not going to stay around.
Remember a few minutes ago when you clicked on this blog?
I bet you knew exactly what the article was about – how to grab attention in the first 3 seconds of a video!
Plenty of art thrives in the unknown.
Short form video content is not one of those arts.
Show You’ll Add Value (And Then Do)
Showing that you’ll add value is another extremely important thing to do in a video.
This one can also be a little hard to understand, so let me try to break it down.
Adding value doesn’t mean you have to show someone how to make a million dollars really quickly (although wouldn’t that be nice.)
It just means that people don’t want their time wasted.
You want something: for people to watch your videos.
Those people want something: to feel like they got something, anything, out of sticking around and watching.
Here are some ways you can add value to your content:
- Educate and inform
- Inspire and motivate
- Entertain
- Offer practical advice
- Showcase experiences or behind-the-scenes content
- Share personal insights and reflections
- Provide product reviews or recommendations
Have High Quality Visuals
No matter what other techniques you use to grab and keep attention, having high quality visuals is extremely important.
I’ll also add high quality audio in, but that’s for another blog article.
Here are some basics you really need to nail if you want people to watch:
- You are centered and in focus
- You are lit well
- Your video isn’t grainy, shaking, or anything else that provides a poor visual experience
Besides that, the world is your oyster.
Experiment with the visuals that are fun for you to set up.
Do you like editing? Doing your makeup? Creating art? Keeping things simple but professional?
There are so many ways to be visually appealing, as you do your own personal scrolling, stop and think about which videos are inspiring you to try different types of content.