Thread by @jcasabona

I've been getting a few questions about how I do my YouTube thumbnails, which I've been spending more of my own time on.

Here's why. 🧵

Thumbnails are SUPER important. According to YouTube, 90% of top performing videos use a custom thumbnail. There's a great video from Veritasium about the importance of "clickbait":

It's not just YouTube either. Netflix knows they have less than 2 seconds to convince users to watch anything, so they spend a TON of time on thumbnails. Here's an incredible thread on that:

https://twitter.com/trungtphan/status/1445768087832182796?lang=en

So how do I make thumbnails? It's important to know I'm not a huge company, and I'm not a YouTube sensation. But I'm being more consistent, spending time on thumbnails, and I've seen regular growth.

It's also important to know you DON'T need to be a graphic designer. You just need to make a thumbnail that catches people's eyes. @MrBeast shares some of his thoughts here: itechpost.com/articles/10770…

OK - here's what do.

1/ Make a bunch of dumb face tangentially related to the video right at the beginning of the video. Keep mic off for easy edits.

I do happy, mad, sad, confused, surprised, etc. Lots of emotions and poses.

2/ After the video, scrub through and pick favorite(s), then screen shot them.

This allows me to take some scenes from the beginning, but maybe I have a great frame latter in the video I can use as well.

3/ Using @canva, I select "YouTube Thumbnail" and use one of their templates as a starting point.

It usually looks nothing like the template when I'm done. It's also worth noting I pay for Canva Pro.

4/ Upload the screenshots and use background remover tool to only capture me. Now, I have a really good camera with a blurred background, but that doesn't matter in most cases.

Background removal has gotten really good.

5/ I usually outline myself using Canva's Shadow/Glow tool with the Size 7, 100% Transparency (which is actually fully visible), 0 Blur, white color. This is a good tutorial:

6/ Now it's time for finesse. I'll play with backgrounds, and other elements, text size and font face, etc. I usually search for a texture and "paint" in the "Elements" area. Paint usually results in some neat shapes.

This one is going to take some practice. But remember: faces help clicks, as does text supplemental to the title. Try not to repeat the title (a mistake I make a lot).

I'm also using @TubeBuddy to A/B test thumbnails, which has been fun. They'll take 2 thumbnails and switch them every 24 hours to see which has a better CTR. I'm a fan. tubebuddy.com/jcasabona (#aff)

The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to experiment, try things, and look at YouTube for inspiration. There's a lot of good advice in the links above too.

Oh...and pay attention to the data. YouTube has real time stats, which is a curse, but also a huge help if you're trying to increase views. Tools like @TubeBuddy automate that a bit.

If you have a Thumbnail you're proud of, share it in the replies! I'd love to see what y'all are working on.