Start with the moment, not the edit
No amount of editing rescues a boring moment. Before you cut anything, ask whether the moment would make someone stop scrolling if they'd never heard of the creator. If the answer is no, find a different moment.
Earn the first two seconds
Short-form attention is decided almost immediately. Open on the peak — the reaction, the punchline, the reveal — and let context arrive afterwards. Long intros are where clips go to die.
Always caption
A large share of short-form viewing happens with sound off. Captions aren't an accessibility afterthought; they're a reach multiplier. Most editors auto-generate them in a tap.
Keep it tight
Clips in the 15–45 second range tend to hold attention through to the end. Watch-through is one of the strongest signals you can send to any platform's algorithm.
Give people a reason to engage
Engagement doesn't pay you directly, but it drives reach — and reach becomes views. Clips that spark a reaction, a disagreement, or a "send this to someone" impulse travel further than clips that simply inform.
Post consistently
One clip tells you nothing. Twenty clips tell you what your audience responds to. Clippers who post steadily over weeks accumulate both data and momentum; clippers who post once and evaluate learn nothing.
Study what already worked
Look at which clips from a creator's catalogue already performed well elsewhere. Patterns repeat. If a certain kind of moment consistently travels, cut more of those.
Earnings note: what you earn depends on the views your clips receive and each program's rate. There is no guaranteed amount, and results vary. This is not financial advice.