You Can Judge a Video by Its Cover (Image)

If you are embedding a video on your website or on social media you want to choose an image from your video that is is the most interesting to display as the cover image. The image you choose can have a big impact on your video’s success.

Similar to the subject line on an email, the cover image is the preview of what’s to come. In email marketing, if the subject line is not interesting the reader is less likely to open the email and miss the key messaging. No doubt this will have a negative result on the performance of the email.

The same is true for the cover image of your video. If you are creating an overview video for your company, you may want to select a picture of your storefront or of you and your team. This will give a hint to what to expect in the video and will encourage viewers to watch.

Good news, now you can change the cover image for your video after you have produced it. Animoto will automatically select an image, but now you have the power to change it to see if another image might be better.

1. From your video’s player page, click Settings from the right-hand menu.

2. Click on the Cover Image to see all of the images from the video that are available to choose from and click Use This Image.

3. Save your changes on the Settings screen

4. It will only take a few seconds for the new cover image to be generated.

5. Once complete, just refresh the page to see the new cover image.

The new image will show up anywhere you have embedded the video where it is hosted by Animoto. Note: This will not change the cover image anywhere where you uploaded the video directly. Try to choose your cover image before sharing the video, for maximum benefit.

Ready to create and share your video? Dive in and start a video today.