Adding thumbnails to your videos is a big deal... "Duh" right?

Welcome to Class Entrepreneurs! Today's video lesson is important and simple so please don't overlook this simple task... Adding Thumbnails to your videos.

If someones is just scrolling on your social media this is what your hook is to get them to watch your videos.

You don't want whatever platform in which you are uploading your video to auto select a frame from your video as your thumbnail and you definitely don't want it to just be black if it grabs the first frame of the video and you have a fade in so you are stuck with no thumbnail image to grab attention.

I ran across this issue the other day with a client and thought it was a great Lesson!

Recently, I shot video of a mastermind retreat a few weeks back and I delivered the video and they went to share it online and they messaged asking if I could add their logo to the very beginning of the video as a still image.

I had to give some push back and I'm glad I did.

Sure, I have the ability to do that but I really didn't want to because it would kill a lot of the potential reach of that video.

Why?

When people are scrolling on social media, the platform will autoplay the video if their settings allow it so the first couple of seconds of their video are crucial in grabbing attention and if I add a still logo to the beginning, people will keep scrolling.

Not having a custom thumbnail can kill your videos reach.

I like to do things like add someone talking with captions so people will automatically start reading and end up staying for more of the video or add a really fun or engaging shot to use as a hook to grab scrollers attention.

They totally understood that but let me know the issue was that they were trying to add the video and the thumbnail it was auto choosing was a black screen because of my quarter second fade-in at the beginning.

I always upload my videos on my laptop because the bulk of my work is done on a laptop so I really didn't understand this issue. All social media platforms allow you to select your own Video thumbnails from your video or upload a custom one (recommended).

Sidenote - I never let social media select a thumbnail for me or simply choose a frame from the video. Thumbnails are so important you should put time into taking a photo specifically to use as your thumbnail image. I'll cover thumbnail creation in a separate lesson.

What I didn't realize is that they were trying to upload with their cell phone. They aren't like me and don't use their laptop all of the time. 🤯

I quickly realized that the function of adding thumbnails isn't available on all app versions of social media sites.

Thus this lesson took shape.

This week we aren't going to be going over how to create a thumbnail or what makes a good thumbnail, we are simply going over "How To Add Thumbnails To Your Videos" Whether you are using your phone or laptop!

Let's dive in!

Adding Thumbnails to your videos from your desktop or laptop
Faceboook -
When you upload your video simply click "Video Options" in the top left corner and you will see the "Choose Thumbnail" dropdown option. Choose or upload your thumbnail.

Meta Business Suite -
When you upload your video there will be an option down the page to choose your thumbnail. Just like in posting directly to your page, select the dropdown and upload your thumbnail. (If you need a tutorial on how to use this awesome tool, check out the lesson on it!)

Linkedin -
To add a video thumbnail to linked in, under "Start a Post" simply click "Video" and once the video box pops up, just scroll down to "Upload a Thumbnail" option.

Youtube -
This one is just as easy. Once you have selected your video, scroll down under where you add your description and click the box that said "Upload A Thumbnail"

Tik Tok -
Yes, You can upload tik tok videos from your desktop/laptop! However you are missing features when adding thumbnails.

For this one you do have to wait until the video fully uploads to tik tok in order to set your thumbnail and there is no way, currently, to upload a custom thumbnail. You also can't add text when uploading from your desktop. Text on your thumbnail can help people decide to watch your video when found in a search or it can help them find specific videos if they are scrolling through your feed.

Instagram -
Yup, you can do this on desktop as well. If you want, you can connect your insta to your meta business suite account that we already went over and post that way. If for some reason you don't want to then head over to your instagram account in your browser and select "Create" on the left sidebar. Select your video and hit next. On the next page you can either upload a custom image or select a frame. You know my preference.

How to Add Thumbnails when uploading videos from your cell phone
Make sure your custom thumbnail is saved to your camera roll so you have it when you need it.

Facebook -
It simply doesn't give you the option for adding a thumbnail. You used to be able to login via a web browser and have full functionality but you can't do that anymore. Maybe they will fix this in a future update.

Meta Business Suite -
No luck here either. Meta just really doesn't want you choosing a thumbnail with mobile for some reason.

Linkedin - Nooooope

Youtube -
YESS! Finally, a platform that allows you to upload a thumbnail on mobile! Once you've selected the video to upload look at a little icon in the top left corner that looks like a picture with a plus (+) sign. click it and choose your thumbnail.

Tik Tok -
This one is pretty simple. Select "Cover" after your video uploads. basically your clicking your video once it uploads. Select the frame from the video you want to use, then add some relevant text on top so people scrolling through your page know what the video is about.

Instagram -
Easy! Once you've selected your video click next and click "Cover". You can choose your thumbnail from there.

Can you edit your thumbnails after posting your videos?

Some sites allow you to change thumbnails and some don't.

The one's that do allow you to change your thumbnail are - Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin, Meta Business Suite (Facebook videos only)

The ones that don't allow you to change your thumbnail are Instagram & tik tok.

Extra tip - When someone shares a video with you from a file sharing site like dropbox and you open that video and you see a thumbnail know that they didn't select that thumbnail. Those site are simply meant to share the files and it selects a random frame so you can have context of what the video is about. When you download the video and upload it to any platform, you can still manually select your thumbnail.