When creating your content for social media you want to make sure that it’s one thing… thumb-stopping.
The first job your creative has is to stop someone scrolling their feed and consume your piece of content.
No matter how amazing your copy is, if your creative doesn’t get people to stop and get curious, they will scroll straight past and never return.
Once they’ve stopped you need to engage them and encourage them to engage with you… but first, stop that thumb. Videos are great for this before people need to watch the video to uncover what’s in it and the longer people spend consuming your content, the more the algorithm learns they are interested in your content.
Here are 8 different types of thumb-stopping creative you can make yourself for your online store:
1. Stop motion
Stop motion or time-lapse videos are super thumb-stopping and engaging. They are essentially a bunch of still photos stitched together to make a video and relatively easy to create.
Our students at The Bondi Shoe Club have done a fab job creating stop motion videos:
iMotion is an intuitive and powerful time-lapse and stop-motion app for iOS. There are also plenty available for Android – just search “stop motion” or “time-lapse” in the app store.
2. Face to camera
Face-to-camera videos are literally videos where you are facing the camera and talking. These are great because people intuitively like to connect with other people. In fact, now more than ever, we are craving human connection. Also, humans buy from humans and they love to see the face behind the brand. These are going to feel uncomfortable, but just get over it and let your customers get to know you.
eComm Ignitor student, Sarah from Glimmer Gear Australia does this so well.
3. Unboxing
People love to know how their order will arrive. An unboxing video shows your customers exactly how their package will come and what the experience of unboxing your product will be like (ie taking the product out of the box). This helps your customers imagine themselves ordering your product, as well as building trust and connection. Plus people are curious by nature, so they will be likely to watch the video to the end.
eComm Ignitor student, Ashley from Zista created this awesome unboxing stop motion.
4. Customer testimonial mashup
Let your customers do the talking with a customer testimonial mashup. Keep each sound bite short and sweet. By including a collection of customers, rather than just one, people will watch to see who’s next. You’ll also build loads of social proof and trust into your content mix.
We created this video from some of our student feedback.
5. Behind the scenes
People are curious creatures. They love to see behind the scenes… or as we call it, behind the shine. Show videos of you packing and sending orders, what your office looks like, your design process, etc.
Our clients Pure Peony do such a fabulous job of letting us see behind the scenes:
6. In use / lifestyle
Showing your products in use gives your customers ideas for how they may use your product in their own life.
Our clients, Munchkin and Bear nail this.
7. In use tips
Again, by showing people how to use your products you are letting them imagine what owning your product would be like. People love to consume and learn, so create a tips-based video on how to use your products.
Our clients OiOi do an amazing job of showcasing their product in context to allow customers to imagine them owning one of their products.
eComm Ignitor student Ashely from I Choose Me also does such a great job of this.
8. Before and after
People love a good before-and-after. They are engaging as well as giving people inspiration for what their life may be like if they buy your product. If you only have stills, stitch them together to create a video.
Inshot is an app that allows you to edit videos on your phone. Crop, trim and merge videos together, add text and stickers to your videos to create engaging videos for your social media. You know those reels where people click their fingers and change outfits… you can easily create those using Inshot. Available on Android and Apple devices.
Corbin from Three Warriors showcases before and afters so nicely. You can create a video by stitching still images together in a slideshow style video.
Have fun creating your own thumb-stopping videos
People are curious creatures, and we have shorter and shorter attention spans. We recommend keeping your videos to 15-60 seconds long as a general rule of thumb.
Written by Megan Winter
Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.
Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact.
