You’ve heard it a million times: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
In theory, it makes sense, but people judge books, videos, and all manner of things by their covers. That’s because covers (and thumbnails) really matter!
A great video thumbnail can make all the difference when it comes to standing out and increasing video engagement. 90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails.
As small as they are, thumbnails are mighty marketing tools.
While creating a custom video thumbnail sounds like a simple solution to increase video clicks, there are plenty of things to keep in mind when developing your video thumbnail: What makes a good thumbnail? Where do I create a custom thumbnail?
We’ve put together the ultimate guide to creating the perfect thumbnail to answer these questions.
Let’s get started.
What is a video thumbnail?
A video thumbnail is a still image that acts as the preview image for your video. These tiny preview images are roughly the size of a thumbnail, which is how they got their name.
Thumbnails provide an opportunity not just to give your viewers a preview of what’s to come, but also to draw them to click on your video in the first place. Thumbnail images are how YouTube, social media platforms and so on, show users what’s in the video so they can decide whether that particular video is what they’re looking for.
What makes a good thumbnail?
Think of a thumbnail image as an invitation to view your video. It gives a potential viewer a reason to watch what you’ve created — but their importance goes further than that. A good video thumbnail will:
Stand out. Thumbnails are often just one image in a sea of other thumbnails. When creating eye-catching thumbnails, use images with vibrant colours and high contrast that look great in multiple sizes, small and large.
The last thing you want is for viewers to scroll past your work because your thumbnail doesn’t stand out. So turn up the saturation and stick to complementary colours to increase the contrast. After all, high contrast is key to making your thumbnail pop.
Up your contrast by adding an outer glow or drop shadow around the focal point(s) to make the subject pop.
Provide context. A thumbnail gives viewers an understanding of the video’s content and how that content will be delivered.
Add bold text to your thumbnail to help your viewers find your content at a glance.
Encourage sharing. The best thumbnails are appealing enough not only to get one viewer to click, but also to make that viewer share the video with their own social media networks.
Retain viewers. If viewers got what they expected from your first thumbnail, they’re more likely to trust your other thumbnails and stay engaged with your videos.
Create brand awareness. It can help viewers identify your content by using cohesive brand elements like colours, fonts, and icons.
Here are some examples for portrait videos (social media platforms)
and landscape videos (YouTube)
Design your thumbnails in Canva
Canva is a powerful and user-friendly design tool that can help you create captivating thumbnails in no time.
It has built-in templates sized perfectly for the different platforms' thumbnail sizes. And it also has an entirely free plan.
Thumbnails are more than just tiny pictures — they can have a huge impact on a video’s popularity. Video platforms like YouTube can put your content in front of viewers in a few places. YouTube thumbnails appear on:
Search pages: YouTube video thumbnails are shown in the results when someone searches terms in the site’s search bar.
Recommendation column: These videos are listed on the right-hand side of a YouTube video, or any other “recommended viewing” function on a similar platform.
The main page: Each YouTube user has a unique homepage when they log into the platform, which features a collection of content algorithmically customised to their tastes.
Good thumbnails will draw clicks and prolonged views, so make sure you follow our tips for the BEST RESULTS 🚀
If you've got to the end of this article, well done. I hope it's been valuable and you've learnt something you can go away and implement into your content and - more importantly - business this week.
Most businesses struggle with getting real results from their marketing, which is why we create a plan that you can track so it delivers an ROI and builds your brand. If you want to learn more, then book a call with us today.
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