Around 5 billion YouTube videos are watched every single day. That’s a mind-blowing statistic, which really showcases the unprecedented reach that this humble little video site from the mid-2000s has in the modern day!
But if you want your videos to make up any part of that figure, you need to get smart about branding. The first step? Making sure your video thumbnail game is 100% on point.
We know what you’re thinking: how important can a thumbnail really be? The answer? Extremely! Stay put and read on to find out just how important a video thumbnail really is!
Table of Contents
1- Quickly Communicate What Your Video is About
Let’s face it, no one has time for stodgy old words these days. What you can convey in a 15-word title can be communicated just as easily by video thumbnails for YouTube.
For example, making a video about a film? You can put a slide of the actors in there. Games? A screenshot from the game. Politics? Slap some well-known politicos on there and everyone will know what you’re about.
2- Convey Seriousness and Professionalism
A thumbnail is kind of like a little slice of your video. If you want people to take you seriously, you have to convey your own seriousness up front. By using a YouTube custom thumbnail that showcases your professionalism, you engender trust in your potential viewers before they even watch your video.
3- Build Up Your Personal Brand
On YouTube, you aren’t just trying to get clicks on single videos, you want subscribers to your channel and — more importantly — followers of your personal brand. Using thumbnails that clearly showcase your character and brand is a surefire way to get people invested in your brand and following you.
4- Stick In People’s Minds, Even If They Don’t Watch
Even if you don’t convince someone to click through and watch your video, a catchy thumbnail can mean you stick around in their memory. Then, later on down the line, you release a video more related to their interests and they give you a watch!
5- Space for Sponsorships
If your channel is large enough to strike sponsorship deals with big-name brands, then your thumbnails can be an invaluable space for their advertising. Who wouldn’t pay the big bucks to be featured in a thumbnail that could be seen by millions upon millions of people?
6- It’s Fun!
Perhaps most of all, creating a killer YouTube thumbnail is a really fun and creatively rewarding thing to do. There’s no better way to wind down at the end of a long edit than throwing together a smart and funny thumbnail for your new opus.
Video Thumbnails: More Important Than You Think
So there you have it, folks, just a few of the countless reasons that video thumbnails are so important if you want to gain fans and followers. Whether you’re a huge channel or just starting out, video thumbnails are vital to think about.
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