Video Tips: How to Both Capture Attention and Hold It

We’ve often said that influencers, bloggers, creators have control over two things that traditional advertising lacks: trust and attention. And currently, a lot of that attention (and revenue) is moving towards video marketing. Like it, love it, hate it, it doesn’t really matter. It’s becoming more apparent that there is no future in influencer marketing that doesn’t revolve around video.

Video works because with consumer attention shrinking, the medium provides a snackable and immediate modal for communicating a thought, lesson, moment, or perspective.

Video works because with consumer attention shrinking, the medium provides a snackable and immediate modal for communicating a thought, lesson, moment, or perspective.

That’s where the social media apps are funneling their time, energy, and clearly, their algorithms.

• 92% of marketers said they routinely used videos as part of their campaigns, and a further 88% said that the medium gave them an objectively positive ROI.
• As reported by Insider, Mark Zuckerberg told employees to focus on video because they’re up against ‘an unprecedented level of competition’ with TikTok.
• TikTok also announced an increase in their video length for creators again, nearly tripling it to a 10-minute maximum to contend with YouTube.
• Meanwhile, YouTube Shorts garnered 5 trillion views.

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It’s fair to say that TikTok has nailed the bite-size, unfiltered, short-form, and attention-grabbing video content engine. At the same time, YouTube captures the long-form, editorial, and more curated content where viewers are ready to settle in and watch.

It’s not enough to say “let’s do video” and call it a day (don’t we wish it were, though?) So, if you haven’t yet thought about producing video for your influencer marketing campaigns, it’s now time. To make your video marketing successful, you need to both capture attention—then hold it. Here are a few tips to consider.

How to Capture Attention with Video Marketing

This is your time to convince the viewer it’s even worth their time to watch.

According to SEMRush, more than 1 in 3 viral TikTok videos focused on a person speaking within the first three seconds.

Consider the thumbnail or first frame, title, and first sentence of the caption and description. What will someone take away from this video? Is it inspiring, educational, or entertaining?

It’s also rumored that using the word ‘you’ in the first 3 seconds helps capture attention.

How to Hold Attention with Video Marketing

Now’s the time to make sure the viewer watches through to or near the end.

89% of viewers agree that YouTube creators give them the best information about products and brands.

To keep your viewers engaged, you should use video editing software like Veed. This program includes a feature called "video cutter" that allows you to trim the boring parts of videos, as well as add captions or annotations. It also has an audio converting tool—useful if your video file has poor-quality sound but is okay for viewing otherwise.

Holding viewer attention has become more critical, as average percentage of watch time contributes to many video platforms algorithms. This past December, an internal TikTok document titled “TikTok Algo 101” was leaked to the New York Times and confirmed that watch time is key for TikTok’s algorithm. It will favor videos and increase their reach based on the number of people tuning it, and the higher percentage of watch time it has.

Lean into your audience’s interests rather than pushing a product. Viewers won’t find content entertaining that lends itself to a commercial. A great example of this is Yeti Presents: Hungry Life series on YouTube.