How to Make Intros for YouTube Videos

Your video intro is one of the most important parts of your video. We say this because if your audience isn’t hooked by your intro, they are likely to not watch the rest of it. It can be detrimental to your marketing strategy and all your investments in making the video will be blown to smithereens.

Your video intro needs to represent your brand, and be captivating. The first few seconds of a video count, and those are essential to set the tone of your video. Viewers try to gauge whether they will be interested in watching your video from these crucial first few seconds. This is why it is important to have a quality video intro. This blog will tell you how to make intros for your YouTube videos.

Customize Your Video Intro

No two video intros are the same. Video intros should be unique as they are a representation of your brand. An intro should have the title of the video, your brand logo, and your color palette. For the audio, you can add music that matches your channel’s aesthetic.

However, being an extremely short audio-visual representation of your brand is not the only objective of creating a video intro. There are a few more things one should add to enhance the quality of your intro.

What Should Your Intro Have?

There are a few guidelines. Video intro length, branding, animation, and music are generally important aspects to keep in mind when finalizing the intro. Let’s discuss these:

• Video Intro Length

Video intros should not be more than 5 to 8 seconds long to keep your viewers interested. Intros with longer run times lead to a drop in the number of viewers. The audience who wants to watch the content will simply move on.

To make skipping easier for these viewers, social media platform YouTube has introduced a new feature that can help one skip the first 10 seconds of the video now. Netflix also offers the option of a skip-opening credit. This shows how often viewers skip the main content.

• Branding

You want your viewers to immediately recognize your intro and associate it with your brand. This is where you have to insert your brand’s uniqueness into the video. Adding the logo, tagline or using the color palette to your intro reminds viewers of your brand.

This is necessary, especially for long-term growth. Your unique intro in the video will demand the attention of your audience. It is important to be consistent with your intro to make it memorable for your followers. If it is modified too many times, viewers will fail to associate the intro with your brand. They may believe the video to be from a different creator and click on another video unintentionally.

• Animation

YouTube has introduced a new feature whereby a user can hover over a video to watch the first few seconds of the video before clicking. But this sneak peek does not have audio. This is why animation becomes an extremely crucial component of your intro.

Your intro video must visually capture the audience. As mentioned above, it is responsible for piquing the interest of newer viewers. It does not require much time to create a trendy and colorful animation for your intro. You may take a look at a video intro maker to gauge the time it may take.

• Music

While many viewers end up watching the intro on mute, it isn’t a good enough reason to neglect viewers who prefer to keep the sound on. Adding a specific soundtrack to your video intro can allow your fanbase to link the track with your brand.

When choosing a soundtrack, be careful of copyrighted music! Ensure that the music used is non-copyrighted to not trample on the owner’s rights and invite a lawsuit.

YouTube Video Intro Examples

Now you know the main components that constitute a YouTube intro. However, you may still be confused about how all of these weave together. To give you more clarity, let’s look at some commonly used YouTube video intros:

• Title Card for YouTube

Although this is a less traditional intro to a YouTube video, it certainly allows you to stand out. This intro consists of a simple page (the title card) with the title of the video, and any other information you may want to include.

However, you can also add an entertaining clip from the main content before the title card which will push the viewer to keep watching the video. This is an effective way to keep the viewers wanting more.

Videographers creating informative videos, such as tutorials or educational videos, may choose this type of intro. This is because you may use the title card as an opportunity to let your viewers know what the video is all about. On the voiceover, you may begin with, “In today’s video we will show you…” to inform your viewers at the start. This method has consistently shown impressive results.

• Animated Textual Intro

If you are looking for an easy-to-create yet trendy YouTube intro, this one might be your ideal choice. Animated textual intros are an easy way to grab your viewers’ attention without putting in much effort.

You may animate your texts to slide in the frame or change colors and opt for other techniques to successfully demand attention. Videos looking for a more laid-back or aesthetic approach should opt for this intro. If done correctly, it lets viewers ease into the main content of the video and relax.

• Animated Intro

In this type of video intros, you can add a ton of special effects. This type of video intros is generally extremely bright and colorful. It also has a lot of things happening within the intro. You can use your graphic design skills for this one.

If your videos tend to be more energetic and entertaining, this is the option to choose. The special effects will keep viewers on their toes.

Conclusion

Now you are ready to create your brand’s YouTube video intro. When editing your intro, constantly ask yourself, “Can I make it shorter?” YouTube video intros using only 2.3 seconds have shown better results than intros that are longer than 10 seconds, this can be achieved by enhancing video editing skill. The goal is to be as succinct as possible. This mindset alone will be enough to enhance your intro.