In today’s turbulent, saturated, and fast shifting global market, businesses are struggling to gain the attention of potential customers. It is not easy to win over our audience as the market is atomized and there is always a strong competition. Online video streaming platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have become the advertising powerhouses in recent years. Much of their and their content creator’s revenue comes from short-form commercials before the start of the actual content. These are carefully constructed to capture the ever-shrinking attention span of today’s audience and keep it. Gone are the days of 30-second, or even one-minute long television ads. In these days no one has the time, nerves or the interest to sit through such ordeals. Usually, we have about 8 seconds to capture our audience’s attention or by that time, we lose about 20 percent of our viewership. So, let’s go over the key steps in creating video content that will not only get attention but also keep it.
1. The title
The very first thing we notice when being presented with a video is its title. And here we can already start throwing the hook for that attention. And we can do this before the video is even opened for viewing. Our audience needs to know that our clip is exactly the video content they are searching for. Clear, concise, and if possible, engaging – it should convey the basic information about the content of the video. An easy-to-read title is also short and to the point. The short attention span applies to the title as well, yes.
2. First-second attention-grabbing tricks
While we are still at the very first seconds of our video content, let’s see how to make the most of each one. Next, to a previously mentioned catchy title, we can also offer a complimentary splash screen. Picking an attention-grabbing splash screen will tell our viewers that our video is more interesting to watch than others. Within the first few frames, our viewers need to find something interesting that will catch their attention. Now, it has to be mentioned, do not fall into the common trap of click-baiting. What it stands for is the frowned upon practice of misguiding the audience with aforementioned, pre-video visuals. Do not try to promise something your video does not contain within itself, either via title or thumbnail.
3. Keeping it brief
We cannot stress enough the importance of creating quality, but brief content. No one wants to sit through a watching a talking head for fifteen minutes when there are better options available. But there are some procedures that are worth meeting regularly. Independent YouTube creators have mastered the art of introduction. By keeping it as short and unique as possible, they ensure that they will be recognized and remembered. This also guarantees that any new viewers will know who they are and what type of video content do they put out. So, stay clear of long, boring introductions, as they eat away at our precious attention span real-estate.
Now that we have all of our exciting preparations for viewing the video set up, we need to present our content. As mentioned in our intro, we have about eight seconds to engagingly jump into our best video content. Provide the most important information right of the start and engage upon it in the rest of the video. What will they see? What will they learn? What do you want them to take away from it all? These are the best principles to build your intros around. Any respected brand video production company will suggest you keep your content in a so-called “1 minute media” format to have the best chances of it being thoroughly seen. It might not seem as much, but most of the time it is all we need. Depending on the type of video content we are providing it may require more time real-estate sometimes. But the basic principle of being brief and up to the point always stands.
As time passes, the greater the challenge becomes for us to appeal to our audience. The ever-shorter attention span is making sure of that, and it will only get tighter as time passes. But it is not all grim. In the end, we actually want people to drop off of our videos. Why is that? Because the ones that are left are our true audience and the ones truly interested in our niche content. So, no matter the type of business you are into, you can use these steps to make your own attention-holding content.
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