If you’re making a reel, for the first 5 seconds of your video should contain at least

• two sound effects
• A title that clearly and shortly hooks people
• And images that clearly convey what is coming up in a video

The images can also be used to portray social proof or concisely deliver the gist of video

If you have someone from let’s say Harvard and trying to make videos about study tips

You can just have their talking face and image of them which is showing clear association with Harvard

And maybe image that shows good grades

It can be a stock image or maybe your own image grades

It gives people a clear ‘why’ to watch

That hey, you’re someone who knows about studying (harvard duh) and there is an image of grades so maybe this is about studying

My current video with most engagement is the one which is the driest of them all

I’m talking about vibe coding and deployment of application in that

But at the start of the video I included a photo of cursor, stripe, image showing SaaS and also throughout the video I included photos from render, etc

Earlier I used to think that captions are what aid the users most

But now I realize images that bring in association and understanding without having to say 100 words are the best aid

Things that make stuff easier for people to understand and more engaging

Images > Captions because our brains process visuals 60,000x faster than text.

It’s a game of using what people know to make them understand what they haven’t thought about or they don’t know

Invoking as many analogies, associations, vibes and examples as possible

Even throughout this video whenever I’m talking about let’s say some hosting service

I’m showing them a photo of some hosting service

I am providing them with names of other services on the screen so that if they are interested then they should be able to access them

You have to put in aids that make things genuinely helpful for them

Things that help them understand, be engaged and take action

Because now I establish myself with videos like this as a guy who knows what’s up and how to get things done and with what tools

Next time if I’m talking about a business model then the person who has already watched me will get the feeling that OK this guy is going to give me not only knowledge but also actionable tips and tools.

Every sentence you say should have either a visual cue, auditory reinforcement, or contextual image that deepens understanding.