If you’re a YouTuber, you probably already know how hard it is to keep your videos interesting and engaging for your audience and increase YouTube watch time. Starting from your video’s idea and ending in editing and promotion - the work never stops. You have to keep your content fresh and compelling to make people keep watching, and if you fail to do so, you’ll definitely feel a “dent” in your performance.
In this article, we’re going to talk about pattern interrupts. We’re going to explain what they are and how you can use them in your videos to create amazing content that people will feel compelled to keep on watching. So without further ado, let’s get right into it.
Pattern interrupt is an NLP technique. In layman’s terms, it’s a method of changing a person’s state or strategy - whether it’s habits, routines, behaviors and even moods.
When it comes to video marketing, Pattern Interrupts are quite self-explanatory: they are a change of pace, style, and tone. In other words, they’re made to grab someone’s attention by interrupting the “pattern” or “natural flow” of your video. Their purpose is simple: Pattern Interrupts are used to capture a viewer’s attention and keep them focused on your content throughout the whole video.
Pattern Interrupts are an amazing tool or means to create engaging content. Here’s why -
As you probably know already, the average attention span of a YouTuber viewer can be quite short. By using Pattern Interrupts, you’re keeping your audience engaged and interested. As a result, your audience ends up watching more of your video - even to the point of watching the whole video through!
This is important because YouTube actively and publicly promotes videos that have high audience retention rates and lots of watch time hours. The higher your watch time hours and audience retention rates are, the more the algorithms will love you and your content and “push” it to people through the browse feature, the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), the suggestions and the home screen.
Nothing is more frustrating than a stagnant YouTube video. You know what we’re talking about - the kind of video that just doesn’t seem to be moving along. The kind of video in which a person faces a camera and just rambles on and on.
Since your goal is not to bore your audience to death, you should definitely use Pattern Interrupts. Doing so will keep your content fresh and interesting.
While Pattern Interrupts are supposed to be unexpected, you can still pick a few that work for you and use them in every video. Using consistent Pattern Interrupts will keep the audience focused and searching for them throughout the videos and will differentiate you from other creators on the platform.
Oftentimes an unexpected background change is all your video needs to keep your viewers’ attention focused on the screen. Using different colors, patterns, scenes and playing with movement are all excellent ways of changing up your background and keeping your audience focused on your video.
While talking is a huge part of making a YouTube video - sometimes you need to give your audience a break. If you’re rambling on your video for minutes on end, you might want to consider adding a sound effect to “break” your flow and add in a little humor into your content.
Don’t be afraid to use props in your videos! Whether it’s a fan, an “old timey” telephone, a cat (yes, cats can be props too!) or anything else you can think of - use it! Move your prop around, play with it and keep your audience’s eyes focused on it for a while. We promise that this method works great for keeping your audience engaged!
Questions are great Pattern Interrupts and keep your audience engaged with your audience through active participation. They make your audience think while watching your videos and will also increase video engagement by making your audience write their answers down in the comments section. Involve your audience in your video! Ask them thought-provoking questions and direct them to the comments section to give you some answers.
Sometimes changing the visuals on your video can be a great break for the eyes. Consider adding some black-and-white sections to your video or adding some cool explosions - the possibilities are endless and it all depends on your content.
Whether you’re adding bloopers, “editor’s notes” or commentary or annotations and text overlays, humor can go a really long way. Everybody loves having a good laugh, and a smiling audience means they’re having a great time watching your videos.
Animated text overlays can work magic, even if you don’t want to use any of the other Pattern Interrupts we’re mentioned previously. They can re-focus your audience on the visuals if they “tuned out” on your audio. You can add your thoughts, tips, commentary, jokes and quotes as text overlays throughout the video to recapture your audience’s attention like a pro.
Using Pattern Interrupts in your videos is a great way to keep engagement and audience retention up and climbing. They can help you get better watch times on your videos, increase your audience retention, stand out from the crowd and they keep your content fresh and interesting. We highly recommend using Pattern Interrupts in your videos!
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