You’ve got simply created the right video. The music hits in any respect the fitting moments, your voiceover is crisp, and that trending sound chew? Chef’s kiss. However this is the plot twist – most of your viewers won’t ever hear any of it.
Welcome to the fact of contemporary content material consumption, the place your masterpiece is extra prone to be watched throughout a quiet morning commute, in a crowded workplace, or whereas scrolling in mattress subsequent to a sleeping companion – all with the sound firmly off.
On this article, I am going to present you how one can create scroll-stopping silent movies that drive engagement, even when viewers do not hear it. We’ll cowl finest practices and real-world examples that will help you grasp the artwork of soundless video advertising.
Desk of Contents
- Why Movies With out Sound Matter Extra Than Ever
- Key Components of Profitable Silent Movies
- Greatest Practices for Creating Silent Movies
- Scroll-Stopping Silent Video Examples I Love
Why Movies With out Sound Matter Extra Than Ever
The panorama of social media video has developed dramatically, and the numbers inform the story. In response to our latest State of Marketing Report:
- Brief-form video leads advertising codecs with 29.2% adoption charge
- Visible content material (together with photographs at 29%) dominates advertising methods
- 17% of entrepreneurs plan to extend their short-form video funding in 2025
This shift is not nearly following developments — it is about going the place the ROI is. Our knowledge reveals that short-form video, photographs, and dwell streaming persistently ship the best returns amongst all content material codecs.
Key Components of Profitable Silent Movies
1. Having a platform-specific technique.
Let’s dive into the platforms the place entrepreneurs are inserting their bets in 2025. In response to our newest analysis, this is the place the funding is flowing:
- YouTube (29.6% growing funding): Customers usually watch with sound, however create for each experiences
- Instagram (28.8% growing funding): Fast, visually placing content material dominates
- TikTok (27.6% growing funding): Quick-paced, trend-driven content material wins
I’ve discovered that understanding these platform-specific developments is essential for fulfillment. For example, whereas YouTube may get the best funding, every platform requires a novel strategy to silent video technique.
2. Abiding by the “Three-Second Rule”.
If you happen to’re unfamiliar with this rule, you may have three seconds to seize consideration earlier than your viewer decides to scroll away or click on on one thing else. This is how one can nail it:
- Use daring, eye-catching visuals proper out of the gate.
- Begin together with your most compelling knowledge level or perception.
- Create a “cliffhanger” second that makes viewers wish to see extra.
- Use vibrant colours or surprising imagery to cease the scroll.
3. Specializing in clear visible storytelling.
Your video ought to talk successfully with out solely counting on its audio:
- Deal with motion and motion.
- Use facial expressions and physique language to convey emotion.
- Create a transparent visible development of concepts.
- Preserve excessive distinction for cell viewing.
This is not to discourage you from nonetheless including audio to your video. Go forward and select an audio or voice-over that enhances your work, however guarantee viewers can obtain the message with or with out it.
4. Utilizing strategic textual content overlay.
On the subject of silent movies, the textual content on display will carry the message. It’s essential embody skilled captions that complement your visuals and convey clear calls to motion at strategic moments.
And for those who’re searching for a straightforward option to fold in that priceless textual content overlay, on the proper moments and for the correct amount of time, try HubSpot’s Clip Creator, the place you may simply add:
- Skilled captions that complement your visuals
- Key statistics or knowledge factors as textual content overlays
- Clear calls-to-action at strategic moments
- Branded decrease thirds for speaker identification
5. Together with partaking movement graphics.
Whereas I am not essentially the most savvy video editor myself, most video editors make it straightforward for including clean transitions between scenes. Preserve viewers with:
- Animated icons and illustrations
- Progress bars or timelines
- Dynamic textual content animations
Now that we have gone over key components, take into accout some finest practices earlier than you publish your subsequent video.
Greatest Practices for Creating Silent Movies
- Entrance-load Vital Info: Place the important thing message within the hook or first 3-5 seconds.
- Preserve Visible Hierarchy: Use constant fonts and preserve textual content scannable.
- Design for Cell-First Viewing: Check readability on smaller screens.
- Incorporate Manufacturers Components Naturally: Strategically embody model colours and refined brand placement.
Scroll-Stopping Silent Video Examples I Love
1. Tasty on BuzzFeed
Tasty on BuzzFeed shares recipe movies that do not require quantity — or a variety of time — to get pleasure from. Whereas this channel’s premise appears so easy, Tasty movies attain hundreds of thousands of individuals monthly.
Tasty’s social media virality has something to do with the fact that the videos can be watched without sound, and a few key things make them so successful.
What I like:
- Hyperlapse-style filming creates instant visual interest
- Problem-solving approach with “5 Ingredients or Less” format
- Bold captions complement rather than dominate the visuals
- Cooking demonstrations take center stage
Pro tip: Let your audience’s search behavior guide your content strategy – Tasty specifically creates videos based on popular recipe searches and trending food topics.
2. Glam, Inc.
Glam, Inc. shares way of life movies on Facebook and YouTube, and their hottest movies are their “100 Years of” retrospectives that have a look at a century of modifications to a preferred pattern.
And whereas the decade-specific background music on this video is enjoyable, you may press mute and nonetheless be taught in regards to the historical past of ladies’s exercise put on.
- Clear concentrate on a single topic towards easy backdrop
- Time-based storytelling format (“100 Years of” sequence)
- Strategic timing with New Yr’s decision season
Professional tip: Time your content material releases to align with pure peaks in viewers curiosity (like New Yr’s resolutions for health content material).
3. Tech Insider
Tech Insider is Enterprise Insider’s expertise information division, and so they publish distinctive science and tech explainer videos that do not require sound. This one makes use of cool visuals to interrupt down a sophisticated idea.
The animations used on this video draw consideration in busy social media feeds and work with the captions illustrate the story, step-by-step.
What I like:
- Makes use of animations to simplify complicated ideas
- Solutions frequent questions
- Step-by-step visible storytelling
- Consideration-grabbing visuals
Professional tip: Begin with a typical query your viewers has, then break down the reply into clear visible steps.
4. Refinery29
Refinery29 publishes inventive way of life inspiration movies, such because the coiffure demonstration video right here. It makes use of vibrant colours to draw consideration. Vivid colours assist this video come out to viewers towards the lighter-colored Fb Information Feed, YouTube homepage, and different socials with out sound to depend on.
What I like:
- Daring, vibrant colours that pop in social feeds
- Professional ideas format builds authority and belief
- Below 15-second format for max engagement
Professional tip: Use coloration strategically to face out in predominantly white/gentle social media feeds, and leverage recognizable names in titles for quick context.
5. BuzzFeed Video
BuzzFeed publishes movies on quite a lot of completely different subjects. This one is well-liked at for a few causes.
In the beginning, it is humorous.
Emotion is a great tool in promoting, and content material that incites optimistic reactions, corresponding to laughter, drives engagement. To speak humor with out sound, the content material needs to be extremely visible, and Buzzfeed retains content material simply skimmable — even if you cannot hear what they’re saying.
What I like:
- Humor-first strategy
- Easy, clear idea
- Simply digestible format
Professional tip: Preserve ideas easy – if you cannot clarify your video’s premise in a single sentence, it could be too complicated for silent viewing.
6. NowThis
NowThis Information, a social media outlet, solely produces video content material —a neat option to get the information, for those who ask me. NowThis publishes video information segments that work with or with out sound, and the captions and video content material work together to point out and inform viewers what the story is all about.
What I like:
- Headlines that create emotional impression
- Captions and visuals work collectively seamlessly
- Strategic use of shock worth for engagement
Professional tip: Select angles that set off emotional responses (shock, concern, curiosity) in your headlines – NowThis discovered that destructive headlines usually outperform optimistic ones.
Get Your Message Throughout — Even If It is Silent
Whether or not you’re employed for a B2B software program firm or a information group, you should utilize video to inform your model’s story in a extra partaking method. In case your video does not require sound, a lot the higher for sharing it on social media.
Editors’ word: This text was initially printed in January 2017 and has since been up to date for comprehensiveness.
