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Your video may be many things, but if it’s not catchy, it’s not going to get views.
Luckily, there are proven ways to make your video more interesting to viewers.
Typically, you make a short video catchy by evoking emotions, using interesting visuals, changing your shot every 1-2 seconds, being high energy, and utilizing storytelling. Put extra focus into a compelling hook in the first few seconds and people will be interested in watching more.
In this article I’ll show you exactly how to do everything I just mentioned so that people find your videos incredibly catchy and interesting.
Evoke Emotion
As you absorb social media videos, television, movies and ads, start paying attention to how they all evoke emotion.
We are not that interested in things that don’t have an easy to understand emotional throughline.
If you’re hoping to create content that others will love, this is a must have.
Take a look at some of Mr. Beast’s thumbnails.
Love him or hate him, it’s very obvious what emotions all of these videos are trying to evoke.
You barely have to think about it at all – the emotional response jumps out of you.
Think about the content you’re wanting to make or have made.
Would audience members be able to understand exactly what you’re going for?
Emotions have a way of connecting people on a deep and personal level, making them more likely to engage with and share your content.
Think about the types of emotions you want to elicit—joy, surprise, nostalgia, inspiration, or even empathy—and design your video around that emotional theme.
Use Interesting Visuals
Another non-optional component is to use interesting visuals.
Now many, many different things may be considered interesting visually, so I encourage you to experiment and track your results.
Humans are programmed to find faces and hands interesting to watch, just showing yourself on camera may be interesting visually.
Make sure that you follow proper visual guidelines, including having a good light source and framing yourself in the middle (not too large or small).
Movement is another thing humans find interesting, so constantly be thinking of ways you can move something on screen.
Here are some other things you can do to make visually interesting content:
- Use vibrant colors
- Explore different lighting techniques
- Embrace unique angles and perspectives
- Leverage creative visual effects
- Integrate text and typography
- Incorporate interesting props or objects
Copy Videos You Like (save them etc)
No matter where you are on your journey to make good short videos, you’re going to want to get inspiration from other videos.
Many people feel self conscious of doing this, as if it’s stealing somehow.
Now don’t get me wrong, if you word for word copy what someone else is doing that’s not great, but 99.9% of the time, that’s not what’s happening.
This quote from some post I saw at some point sums it up nicely:
Your thoughts about someone else’s content = your content
I’ll even modify it a bit about specifically getting inspiration:
Your take on a topic that someone else has covered = your content
As long as you’re not trying to copy them exactly, whatever you do will naturally be your own idea, and come out that way.
It’s going to be a long, hard road if you don’t use what people around you are doing as inspiration.
Plus, I bet all of them used other videos as inspiration to create what you’re watching.
Change Your Shot Every 1-2 Seconds (use a bunch of different shots)
If the philosophical, big picture bullet points aren’t for you: here’s one that’s real practical.
Change your shot every 1-2 seconds.
My most popular videos on TikTok have all been with the greenscreen effect.
I used to upload a photo, say my peace on it, and then change photos whenever I was ready to switch topics.
Now, even if everything I am saying could be said under a single photo, I make sure to change the image behind me every few seconds.
I pretty much say one or one half of a sentence, and change the visual.
I’m not saying I love our world of no attention spans, but I am saying that this is a trend to stay.
We are fighting for attention in a very over saturated world, and one of the best ways to make your video stand out is to change the visuals way more than you think you have to.
Be High Energy
You know the ‘influencer’ personality?
Hey guys! I’m back and you won’t believe what happened to me at the dentist! Make sure to follow for part 2!
This personality isn’t a fluke.
It’s something that’s been crafted over billions of videos and trillions of analyzations from the algorithm.
Now you don’t have to be high energy to make a good short video, but I’d argue that you at least have to be aware of this trend and be a reaction to it in some shape or form.
Maybe you’re naturally deadpan.
If that’s the case, then your monotone performance (think Nathan Fielder) is a breath of fresh air, and creates that emotional reaction, thus getting you views.
But make no mistake, Nathan Fielder is well aware that most performers don’t sound like him.
He’s getting attention by breaking the rules in a very specific way, not ignoring them altogether.
Add Extras (Music, Sound Effects, Graphics)
Not only do social media apps want you to edit in app, these extras also provide ways to make your short videos more successful.
Adding music enhances both the catchiness and the emotions.
Graphics help you change your visuals more often in an interesting way.
Remember to add captions so that people on mute can understand what your video is about.
Use Storytelling
Using storytelling may seem similar to some of the previous points, but it’s really a throughline that should connect all of these points.
Take readers on a journey.
Even if your video is 10 seconds long, it should have a beginning, middle and end.
Even the shortest one liner jokes have a setup and a payoff.
We ended up somewhere different than we began.
What is the purpose of the video?
How would the viewer change from before to after they watched it?
Keeping these thoughts in the back of your mind over time will help you create much more interesting and catchy content.