How Soundless Movies Are Profitable Social Media [+ 2025 Data]

You have simply created the right video. The music hits in any respect the proper 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 truth of recent 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 accomplice – all with the sound firmly off.

On this article, I am going to present you how you can create scroll-stopping silent movies that drive engagement, even when viewers do not hear it. We’ll cowl greatest practices and real-world examples that can assist you grasp the artwork of soundless video advertising and marketing.

Desk of Contents

• Why Movies With out Sound Matter Extra Than Ever
• Key Parts of Profitable Silent Movies
• Finest Practices for Creating Silent Movies
• Scroll-Stopping Silent Video Examples I Love

The panorama of social media video has developed dramatically, and the numbers inform the story. In line with our newest State of Advertising Report:

• Quick-form video leads advertising and marketing codecs with 29.2% adoption fee
• Visible content material (together with photos at 29%) dominates advertising and marketing methods
• 17% of entrepreneurs plan to extend their short-form video funding in 2025

This shift is not nearly following tendencies — it is about going the place the ROI is. Our knowledge reveals that short-form video, photos, and dwell streaming constantly ship the best returns amongst all content material codecs.

For those who’re unfamiliar with this rule, you will have three seconds to seize consideration earlier than your viewer decides to scroll away or click on on one thing else. This is how you 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 need to see extra.
• Use brilliant colours or sudden imagery to cease the scroll.

3. Specializing in clear visible storytelling.

Your video ought to talk successfully with out solely counting on its audio:

• Give attention to motion and motion.
• Use facial expressions and physique language to convey emotion.
• Create a transparent visible development of concepts.
• Hold excessive distinction for cellular 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.

In the case of silent movies, the textual content on display will carry the message. It is advisable to embrace skilled captions that complement your visuals and convey clear calls to motion at strategic moments.

And for those who’re in search of a simple option to fold in that worthwhile textual content overlay, on the proper moments and for the correct quantity of time, try HubSpot’s Clip Creator, the place you possibly can 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 probably the most savvy video editor myself, most video editors make it straightforward for including clean transitions between scenes. Hold viewers with:

• Animated icons and illustrations
• Progress bars or timelines
• Dynamic textual content animations

Now that we have gone over key parts, be mindful some greatest practices earlier than you publish your subsequent video.

1. Tasty on BuzzFeed

Tasty on BuzzFeed shares recipe movies that do not require quantity — or loads of time — to get pleasure from. Whereas this channel’s premise appears so easy, Tasty movies attain tens of millions of individuals per 30 days.

2. Glam, Inc.

Glam, Inc. shares life-style movies on Fb and YouTube, and their hottest movies are their “100 Years of” retrospectives that have a look at a century of adjustments to a well-liked pattern. 

And whereas the decade-specific background music on this video is enjoyable, you possibly can press mute and nonetheless study concerning the historical past of girls’s exercise put on.

• Clear deal with a single topic in opposition to 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, they usually publish distinctive science and tech explainer movies 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 widespread 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 artistic life-style inspiration movies, such because the coiffure demonstration video right here. It makes use of brilliant colours to draw consideration. Shiny colours assist this video come out to viewers in opposition to the lighter-colored Fb Information Feed, YouTube homepage, and different socials with out sound to depend on.

What I like:

• Daring, brilliant colours that pop in social feeds
• Professional suggestions format builds authority and belief
• Underneath 15-second format for optimum engagement

Professional tip: Use coloration strategically to face out in predominantly white/mild social media feeds, and leverage recognizable names in titles for fast context.

5. BuzzFeed Video

BuzzFeed publishes movies on quite a lot of totally different matters. This one is widespread at for a few causes.

At first, it is humorous.

Emotion is a useful gizmo in promoting, and content material that incites optimistic reactions, equivalent 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 method
• Easy, clear idea
• Simply digestible format

Professional tip: Hold ideas easy – if you cannot clarify your video’s premise in a single sentence, it is perhaps 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 collectively 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 damaging 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 means. In case your video would not require sound, a lot the higher for sharing it on social media. 

Editors’ notice: This text was initially revealed in January 2017 and has since been up to date for comprehensiveness.