The Engine Room 006 | Stop ruining great content with lazy packaging.
If you want to make sure your amazing content doesn’t go unseen then you might want to read ahead.
Because this newsletter talks about a criminally overlooked and vital ingredient to any successful content, and it relates to the packaging.?
Why packaging matters...
I won’t bore everyone to death with the usual cliches about information overloads, attention deficits, yada, yada, yada, but it is true that every time we log on to any content platform whether it be Netflix, TikTok, YouTube or Instagram we are presented with almost infinite decisions about how to invest our time.?
A bit like a parent rushing around the aisles in the supermarket we make decisions on what to watch based on pretty superficial information and often in a matter of seconds. There is NOT a rational thought process here which is crucial to understand.?
The average user will look at a Netflix thumbnail for 1.8 seconds before deciding to move on! Even when making important decisions, like a potential future spouse, we don’t stick around for long, the average swipe time on Tinder is 8.7 seconds.?
The average user will look at a Netflix thumbnail for 1.8 seconds before deciding to move on. We don't stick around for long.
So whether it be a thumbnail, headline or caption, depending on the platform, you should really, really care about what it says in the second or so that people have to decide to either scroll past or engage.?
These conditions have led to the much derided ‘click-bait’ headlines we see all over the web, particularly from publishers.?
It also leads to YouTubers like Mr. Beast to invest an incredible $10k on three to five thumbnails for every single video he publishes*.
*End Product does not charge $10k for thumbnail design!
It’s also why Netflix has an entire department dedicated to the psychology of thumbnails and finding the perfect formula for success.
Why don’t brands generally use these tactics?
Brands all too often get pre-occupied with adhering to very strict brand guidelines, which look out of place in environments like YouTube and TikTok, to use the most effective tactics available. A lot of brands fall down by packaging high quality content with very descriptive headlines, or even worse some marketing jargon or a slogan nobody understands.
Brands all too often get pre-occupied with adhering to very strict brand guidelines or even worse, create headlines packed with marketing jargon nobody understands.
As long as the content lives up the hyperbole and there aren’t any misleading headlines brands will generally avoid the backlash you often see on social channels in relation to click-bait.?
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At End Product, we’re big believers in confidence, if you don’t package up your content with confidence in its quality then why should the audience believe it??
Six hacks for packaging up content
Before I dive into the list the obvious first bit of advice here is to actually start giving a shit about how your content is packaged up. Don’t treat it as an after-thought. Have an approval and review process for your thumbnails and headlines just like you would for the actual content.?
But in terms of actual practical advice it's worth tapping into the six psychological hacks below:?
1 | Novelty - We are hard-wired to enjoy unexpected positive experiences than expected ones. Communicating a sense of surprise or novelty in a thumbnail and caption is a great hack for driving engagement. This can come in many forms whether it be a surprising quote from an interview or a surprising reaction to a challenge or quiz.?
2 | Questions - As humans we don’t really like unresolved issues, even in relation to quite trivial matters. It’s why hearing the answers is more enjoyable than listening to questions at any quiz night!
3 | Knowledge - We like to convince ourselves that we are using our time wisely, ‘How To’ or varieties of the phrase tap into that idea of a value exchange and encourage people that their time commitment will be worth it.
4 | Numbers - Listicles or countdowns are so effective because they tap into our desire to have our expectations managed. “Top 10 Premier League Goals of All-Time” is a better headline than “Best Premier League Goals of All-Time” because it manages my expectations of how much content I’m going to consume. It also taps into our desire for closure, we see listicles or countdowns as a task to be completed.
5 | Second person - Utilising the word ‘you’ in a headline is incredibly powerful. It provides a sense of being addressed directly and taps into that selfish human desire to tell the audience immediately what’s in it for them.?
6 | Negatives - An uncomfortable truth but negative superlatives work better than positive superlatives. Through overuse, positive superlatives have lost meaning and trust. This is not to say we need to be creating content that is negative but just that we can flip our headlines. “Five ways to improve your game” becomes “Five mistakes you're making on the course that are destroying your score.”
And don’t forget if you want any copywriting advice or thumbnails for far less than $10k, the End Product team are happy to help!?