How To Use Storytelling To Improve Your YouTube Videos
Learn how to master the art of storytelling on YouTube for better engagement and audience retention. We cover the importance of storytelling and share tips on how to incorporate storytelling elements in your content.
Storytelling is one of the most important skills for producing great YouTube videos. Why? Because it helps viewers stay engaged, so that they’ll watch the video from start to finish. And the higher your viewer retention, the greater the chance your video will go viral.
Many big creators, like Mr Beast, attribute their success to their ability to tell a story with their videos and make an impact.
But how do creators use storytelling to make their YouTube videos more engaging? What defines storytelling in Youtube videos? And how can you apply storytelling techniques to make better content? Read on to find out!
Why is storytelling important for YouTube success?
All forms of content can benefit from storytelling, whether it’s social media, YouTube, or filmmaking. Good storytelling has the power to reel viewers in and keep them engaged so that they watch most of, if not the entire video.
Audience retention is one of the most important metrics on YouTube and is a major indicator of whether the video will be a hit. The most successful videos maintain an audience retention rate of 70+% – a stat that is almost impossible to achieve if viewers aren’t invested.
The most successful YouTube creators use storytelling elements to frame, pace, and punctuate their videos. Their videos not only entertain, educate, or inform, but are filmed and edited in a way that takes viewers on a journey, offering an engaging experience from start to finish.
TL;DR
Storytelling is important for YouTube creators because it helps viewers become invested in video, boosting its watch time, reach, and monetisation opportunities.
What does storytelling look like in YouTube videos?
Storytelling as a YouTube creator doesn’t mean you actually have to tell a story. It involves using storytelling elements to keep your audience engaged. Watch any big creator on Youtube and they’ll use a combination, if not all of the following techniques:
- A good narrative structure: including an engaging hook/intro, clear, segmented ‘chapters’, and a solid conclusion.
- Authenticity: showing off your personality or quirks for a unique viewer experience.
- Good pacing and timing: just like a good story or a film, the pacing of your delivery and information covered is key to steady engagement.
- Building emotional engagement: adding humour or building suspense makes for a dynamic viewing experience that keeps people engaged.
- Music and sound effects: these can help create atmosphere in your video and help evoke emotion.
- Transitions: seamlessly flow from one clip, chapter, or subject to the next.
- Graphics and effects: these can make your video more dynamic, add humour, and make the video more visually engaging.
- Good presenting skills: speaking clearly, enthusiastically, and at an engaging pace is one of the most important aspects of storytelling for YouTube creators who talk to camera or record voiceovers.
7 key elements of storytelling on Youtube
B-roll
B-roll is one of the most effective and most used elements of storytelling in video content. B-roll is usually edited in to add interest, break up long clips, hide mistakes, and help viewers visualise what’s being talked about in your video.
B-roll can enhance your story, help with the pacing of your video, and make the production feel more professional. When using b-roll, it’s important to make sure that every clip is relevant to what the voiceover is saying, otherwise the content will feel disjointed.
Pexels, Storyblocks, Adobe Stock, and Envato Elements are all fantastic places to source b-roll for your video. However, you should aim to include as much original content and b-roll as possible, rather than relying solely on stock footage.
A good (and relevant) thumbnail
You should think of your YouTube thumbnail as the blurb and book cover for your story. Thumbnails have the biggest impact on whether or not a user will click on your video, so it should be attractive and relevant to the content in your video.
More experienced creators may wish to hire a graphic designer to create thumbnails. However, there are lots of free, customisable templates available on apps like Canva, which can come in very handy for beginners or creators with a low budget.
A good hook/solid intro
Your video intro is like the first few pages of your story, setting the tone for the content. The first few seconds are crucial to grabbing your audience’s attention and keeping it, ensuring they stay for the entirety of the video.
There’s no exact formula for creating an intro, as it will depend on your niche and the size of your channel. Many creators have actually ditched formal introductions of their channels altogether, preferring to get straight into the main content.
Whether you choose to introduce yourself is up to you – just make sure to give your audience a reason to stick around. That might involve:
- Teasing entertaining clips.
- Sharing an interesting or surprising fact.
- A story-like description of an event that raises questions e.g. “a man wakes up in a body that isn’t his own, surrounded by strangers. He can’t recall his own name, but recognises someone in the room”.
- Promising a reward e.g. “at the end of this video I’ll tell you the number one thing I’d recommend to beginners”.
- Telling your audience what to expect e.g. “in this video, I’ll be sharing my top 10 movie recommendations for people who love X”.
A great script
A solid script will not only help you plan the flow of your video, but it will also cut down your editing time and tie everything together nicely. It will also stop you from waffling and reduce any ‘umm’s and ‘uhh’s that are sure to drop your audience’s attention. Scripting your video also allows you to indicate where to inflect or emphasise certain words by writing them in italics or uppercase.
If writing isn’t your forte, there are tons of great apps and AI script generators out there to help you organise your ideas into a good narrative structure, like ChatGPT. Just be sure to tweak anything AI-generated to match your personality and speaking style. You can also use a free teleprompter app to easily record your script without memorising it.
Graphic overlays
Graphic overlays function in a similar way to b-roll, and can enhance your video by adding humour, highlighting key information, and reinforcing your brand identity. Here are some of the most common ways successful YouTube creators use graphic overlays:
- Infographics
- Images and icons
- Social media comments
- News articles
- Animations
- Logos
- Channel introduction screens
Adobe’s Premier Pro is a great program for creators with a fair amount of video editing experience, while Apple’s Final Cut Pro is a beginner-friendly albeit more limited software.
Smooth transitions
Smooth transitions are one of the most important elements of storytelling on YouTube, as they quite literally take your audience from one scene or chapter to the next. Transitions have a huge impact on the pacing of your video, so it’s crucial to consider the emotions you want to evoke.
For example, fading transitions take time and are better suited for slower-paced videos, or to mark the end of a chapter or segment. Simple, clean cuts work well for montages and are great for maintaining a feeling of high energy.
There are lots of transition templates available on programs like Premier Pro and Final Cut Pro, and hundreds more available to purchase on marketplaces like Mixkit.
The most important thing to remember is that transitions should always feel smooth and match the content that was shown previously, maintaining that fluid, story-like experience.
Music and sound effects
Audio is crucial for creating an immersive, story-like experience for your audience. Many creators use sound effects and music to enhance their stories, add humour, and even transition between segments. Some of the most successful creators will carefully curate their tracklist, matching the highs and lows of the video.
Consider how much a great soundtrack elevates a movie – take this same approach to your video for an instantly more cinematic watch.
If you’re wondering where to source music and sound effects for YouTube, you can subscribe to catalogues like Epidemic Sound, or download sounds for free from Audio Library and Freesound.
6 tips for better storytelling on YouTube
Show off your personality
With over 114 million active channels on YouTube, it’s likely that the most unique thing you can bring to the table is yourself. Your individuality when presenting your ‘story’ is ultimately what will help you stand out from your competitors.
It sounds cliché, but ‘being yourself’ and speaking to your audience just as you would with a friend can really boost the originality of your video.
Make sure every shot has a purpose
A big part of storytelling on YouTube is making sure that your video flows well and is pieced together with purpose. You may have spent a lot of time getting a particular shot, but if it feels out of place in the final video, it’s probably best to leave it out.
Remember – the whole point of storytelling on YouTube is to keep your audience invested from start to finish. Consider the value each shot brings to the entire production, rather than assessing it as a standalone clip.
Keep your text as short as possible
Just as every shot must serve a purpose to your video, every word must be necessary too. Condense your scripts as much as possible, so that every word delivers value – this will increase the chances of your audience sticking around until the end.
This is not to say that you should make your scripts robotically informative – your words can provide other kinds of value, such as adding humour and building suspense.
Plan out a rough storyboard
To help ensure that every part of your script and video delivers value, you can plan out a rough storyboard before creating the content. This will save you huge amounts of time filming and editing, and gives you a relatively clear vision of how the final video will look once everything is tied together.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself when creating your storyboard:
- What is the purpose of this video?
- What will I be talking about/what points will I discuss?
- How should these points be ordered?
- What is the hook?
- Who is the target audience?
- What kinds of audio-visual elements can I include that would enhance the content?
- What kinds of transitions will I use?
- Will I include any calls to action?
- What value does each segment bring to the overall video?
- How do I want my audience to feel while watching?
- How can I make sure my audience watches until the end?
Consume others’ content
It may seem simple, but one of the best ways to learn how to use storytelling in your YouTube videos is to consume other people’s content. Consider what’s working for them and do some research on how they put their videos together.
Inspiration can come from places beyond YouTube too. If something resonates with you on social media or in a film, think about how you can incorporate that into your videos. Write everything down on a document that you can return to when it’s time to start storyboarding, filming, or editing.
Create suspense and raise questions
One of the biggest challenges YouTubers face is maintaining audience excitement and interest throughout an entire video. Building suspense and raising new questions while answering others are just some of the ways creators do this. Here are some examples of how to keep your audience hooked from start to finish:
- Tease future content at the beginning: this could be a single clip of a hilarious moment or a montage of quick cuts of what’s to come.
- Break your content down into a mini-series: If you’re running a vlog, you could document your experiences or challenges with a series of videos, ending each one on a cliffhanger.
- Ask your viewer questions: you can pose a question to your audience early in the video to boost engagement and encourage them to stick around until the end. “What do you think is the most common mistake people make in this situation? Comment below with your guess and I’ll reveal the answer at the end!”
- Raise questions: “Believe it or not, doing this one helped me beat my personal record by 2 minutes. Stay tuned to find out why.”
- Promise a bonus or giveaway at the end: “Watch til the end and I’ll show you how you can get your equipment for 20% less.”
5 tips for presenting your YouTube video
Every good story needs a good narrator, and every great YouTube video needs a great presenter to tie everything together and keep the audience engaged.
Even if presenting isn’t your forte, here are a few simple things you can do that will instantly improve your storytelling and delivery.
Use a teleprompter app
By using a teleprompter app like Teleprompter Pro, you can relieve yourself of the pressures of learning your script or talking off the cuff. A good teleprompter app will allow you to adjust text size, scrolling speed and even colours, which will prove very useful if you have more than one presenter.
Teleprompting apps also help you save time – you’re more likely to nail your recording on the first try, and there’ll be no ‘umm’s or pauses to cut out later.
Practice your script
Presenting is a skill that you’ll naturally improve with practice, so you shouldn’t delay getting started because you think your delivery isn’t perfect. Practice your script out loud a few times before you record yourself – this will help you understand where you should inflect your speech or make intentional pauses.
Present to a friend
Talking to your audience as if they were a friend will make your delivery more conversational and confident. Where possible, you can also present your script to a friend and ask for feedback.
Slow down
It may seem counterintuitive, but slowing down your speech can actually boost the energy of your video. Slowing down will allow you to add more emphasis to certain parts of your script, and give your audience time to digest what’s actually being said.
Here are a few tricks you can use to intentionally slow down your speech:
- Enunciate your words more clearly
- Put intentional pauses in your script
- Speak louder
Smile More
Forcing yourself to smile while talking is one of the easiest ways to make you appear more upbeat and engaging.