5 Tips on How to Create Engaging Thumbnails that Drive Clicks on YouTube

Making engaging thumbnails is one of the most essential elements of succeeding on YouTube. It is the first point of contact for your audience into your videoand a visual representations of the content of the video and are among the top factors that draw clicks. Do you want to gain more viewers for your videos? Here are some tips on how to create an engaging thumbnails that can make viewers, stop scrolling.

Shortspilot

October 14, 2024
3 min read
5 Tips on How to Create Engaging Thumbnails that Drive Clicks on YouTube
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What is Thumbnail?

A thumbnail is the small image used to preview your video-that shows the viewer a hint of what they are going to see. Its role is just like that of a book cover or a movie poster-it needs to entice the audience to click and watch. You need a custom thumbnail that grabs the eye and communicates what the video is all about at a glance. It should immediately capture the attention of your target users and make them think “I really need to watch this!”

5 Tips on How to Create and Engaging Thumbnails

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1. Your Thumbnail Must Match The Content of The Video and The Title

If your video aims to inform your viewers about a certain topic, your thumbnail should show this. Remember not to use thumbnail that has nothing to do with your videos, this will make your audience feel betrayed. Misleading your viewers will negatively affect your video’s watch time since most viewers will leave as soon as they realize they’ve been cheated and worst your content will get penalized on result pages and you'll end up appearing lower on searching ranks.

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2. Display Excessive Emotions

Emotions drive people’s behavior and choices. Video marketing statistics show that videos with emotional thumbnails get more clicks than those without. Faces that showcase excessive emotions such as fear or annoyance usually entice the curiosity in audience and they eagerly want to see what the video is going to be about. These measures will make your online communication more genuine and get your viewers excited to watch your videos.

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3. Keep It Simple and Make it easy to understand

Your thumbnail should be easy to understand if you want to get more clicks and views. Instead of overloading your thumbnail with tons of details, work with a select few effects which you think will make a solid impression on your audience. Remember, you have just a few seconds to capture the attention of your readers, so your video thumbnail should be designed appropriately to make it reader-friendly.

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4. Highlight Your Visual Identity and Branding Consistently

Branding isn’t just about slapping your logo on the thumbnail image. It’s about following a consistent style that will make it easy for viewers to recognize you. Take this opportunity to display your logo, colors, fonts, filters, and other brand elements that show your uniqueness. The only downside to highlighting your branding and visual identity is to sticking to the same style. It’s hard to break away from the very foundations of the relationship that you have cultivated with your audience. But there are always creative ways to work with what you’ve got.

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5. Maximize the Tools that Creates Thumbnails

Creating engaging thumbnails calls for the right tools and resources. You can use Canva, Adobe Spark, Photoshop, and many more. It’s indeed a bit harder to learn, but with these tools, the possibilities are endless. You can go ahead and pick the one that suits your skill level and needs.

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3 Easy Steps to make your contents using Shortspilot.ai

1. Click "Create New Series".

2. Connect your social media channel and choose one of many niches from the drop down, select your preferred voice and language then click on "create", wait for less than a minute and your video is ready!

3. Adjust the script or the title as needed and click on update, then post video and it will automatically be posted on your preferred social media platform.

What are you waiting for? Subscribe and build your own empire on YouTube.