Advanced Video Tactics for Real Video Engagement
Let’s be honest, trying to create video engagement in 2025 feels overwhelming. We’re witnessing a global rise of far-right movements, powerful billionaires shaping media narratives, and a baffling persistence of climate denial, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. It’s a world where fringe ideas like flat-earth theories can gain serious traction online. Faced with this kind of onslaught, the old methods of communication feel utterly inadequate. How can we possibly answer?
Well we can, but the answer isn’t to shout our facts louder. The frustrating reality is that data and evidence often fail, because we’re not just fighting misinformation; we’re up against the very wiring of the human brain. To create content that truly makes an impact, we must move beyond simply presenting a message and start using the same sophisticated strategies that the right do. But before diving into specific tactics, we must start with the single most important, and most overlooked problem, ourselves.
Dismantle Your Own Superiority Complex
Here’s a hard to swallow pill: you can be right, but go about it the wrong way. You can be 100% factually correct and still fail to change a single mind. This core principle is about dismantling our own ego. The problem often starts when we laugh at, or look down on, people who are wrong. Being right doesn’t mean you can’t be a dick about it. And people don’t have their minds changed by being told they’re idiots.
If you want to change someone’s mind, you must never shame them for what they believe. Shaming doesn’t open a mind; it slams it shut. This isn’t a battle of “us vs. them” or good vs. evil. The people we need to reach are not bad people; in most cases, they genuinely believe they are doing the right thing based on their information and worldview.
To persuade, you must first develop empathy. You need to understand a person’s point of view to see where and why they’re getting stuck. When we mock and push these individuals to the fringes, they become ostracised and find comfort in echo chambers. We have then lost them completely. Someone who is factually wrong shouldn’t be met with contempt. They should serve as a reminder of a person who, for whatever reason, fell through the cracks. And it’s our fault.
The Video Engagement Tactic: Lead with Empathy, Not Ego
Your entire video strategy must be built on this foundation. The tone—from the script to the music to the visuals—must be an invitation, not a lecture. It must validate the viewer’s underlying emotions even while it challenges their conclusions. Your video must feel like a supportive guide, not a smug opponent, as true video engagement is impossible without a baseline of respect for the viewer.
Why Video is the Perfect Audience Participation Antidote
So, if the solution requires empathy, trust, and powerful storytelling, why is video the ideal medium to deliver it?
Video is the closest we can get to a face-to-face conversation at scale. It transmits tone of voice, facial expressions, and sincere emotion—all the crucial non-verbal cues that build trust and forge an empathetic connection. An anonymous article can be easily dismissed; a real person sharing their vulnerable story on camera is much harder to ignore.
Think about it, whenever anyone says they’ve seen a UFO or a ghost, people ask for proof and they usually mean a photo or a video clip!
Furthermore, video is the ultimate vehicle for narrative. It allows us to wrap a challenging idea inside a compelling story, guiding the viewer on an emotional journey rather than lecturing them with facts. It can show the impact of climate change instead of just listing statistics, or let you meet a refugee family instead of just reading about a crisis. This ability to demonstrate, not just declare, makes new perspectives feel tangible and real.
However, when you are combating the deep pockets and corruption of the far right, simply putting the same message into video form is not enough. To win hearts and minds, we need go deep and implement powerful tactics, especially when executed through video. These strategies leverage the medium’s unique strengths to bypass defences and create genuine change.
1. Confirmation Bias: The Echo Chamber of the Mind
Understanding Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is our brain’s shortcut of favouring information that confirms what we already believe. It’s an efficiency tool that creates a powerful feedback loop, making us feel more and more certain we’re right while dismissing contradictory evidence.
The Video Engagement Tactic: The Trojan Horse of Shared Values
You can’t smash down the gates of a fortified mind; you have to be invited in. This tactic involves wrapping your challenging message inside a value that your audience already holds dear.
- How it Works: Start your video by validating a core value of your audience (e.g., freedom, security, family). Once trust is established, gently introduce your new idea, framing it not as a contradiction, but as the best way to uphold that shared value.
- In Practice: A video advocating for refugee integration could begin by celebrating a town’s history of neighbourliness. Only then would it introduce a refugee family, not as “outsiders,” but as “new neighbours” who can contribute to that cherished community spirit.
2. The Dunning-Kruger Effect: The Confidence of the Uninformed
Understanding the Dunning-Kruger Effect
This is the “double curse” where an individual lacks knowledge in an area, and that same lack of knowledge prevents them from recognising their own incompetence or the expertise of others. Directly challenging them will only trigger their defences.
The Video Engagement Tactic: The Relatable Journey of Discovery
Since you can’t tell them they’re wrong, you must guide them to discover the truth for themselves. This tactic models the process of learning through a relatable protagonist.
- How it Works: Create a narrative following a character who starts out holding the same misinformed views as your audience. We watch them encounter new information and authentically grapple with it, slowly changing their mind. The audience goes on that journey with them. This narrative-driven approach is the key to deep video engagement, as it lowers defences and encourages personal reflection.
- In Practice: To explain vaccine science, your video could tell the story of a new parent navigating online misinformation. We follow them as they meet a compassionate GP who walks them through the science without judgment. The viewer learns alongside the parent.
3. Doublethink: The Mind’s Logic-Tight Compartments
Understanding Doublethink
This is our ability to hold two contradictory beliefs at the same time by keeping them in separate mental compartments, allowing a person to avoid the psychological stress of their own hypocrisy (e.g., believing in “family values” while supporting policies that hurt families).
The Video Engagement Tactic: Narrative Collision
Your video’s goal is to force those two separate mental compartments to collide through a powerful story.
- How it Works: Craft a narrative where the consequences of one belief directly and unavoidably impact the reality of the other, making it emotionally untenable to hold both beliefs at once.
- In Practice: A campaign for sustainable fashion could parallel the story of a fashion blogger with the story of a garment worker. The climax occurs when the two worlds collide, making the contradiction impossible to ignore.
4. Premeditated Ignorance: The Fear of Knowing
Understanding Premeditated Ignorance
This is an active choice to avoid a truth that we suspect will be painful, require a sacrifice, or threaten our social standing. It’s a self-preservation strategy driven by fear.
The Video Engagement Tactic: Frame the Future, Not the Fear
If your audience is running from a scary truth, don’t chase them with it. Instead, create a video that paints an inspiring and achievable picture of the future that the new behaviour will unlock.
- How it Works: Focus on the positive outcome. Make the change feel like an upgrade, not a sacrifice. Show people who have already made the change and are happier because of it.
- In Practice: To encourage eating less meat, a fear-based video showing slaughterhouses will trigger ignorance. A better video would showcase the vibrant, delicious world of plant-based cooking, reframing the change from “giving up meat” to “discovering a new world of flavour.”
Your Strategy for Genuine Change
Creating video content that navigates these deep-seated psychological barriers requires empathy and strategic thinking. Now, some of these tactics might feel… manipulative. But here’s the crucial reality: the forces spreading division, hate, and misinformation have no such qualms. They are masters of this rulebook and use these tactics against the truth every single day.
We have a choice. We can remain morally righteous but ineffective, armed with facts that bounce harmlessly off psychological armour. Or we can decide that it’s time to fight back using their own tactics against them. It’s time for those who care about progress and unity to become just as skilled in the art of persuasion, using powerful video engagement to connect where others seek to divide. This isn’t about malicious manipulation; it’s about levelling the playing field for the sake of what’s right.
Understanding these barriers is the first step. Applying the right creative strategy is the next. If you need a partner to help you craft a video that’s not just seen, but felt, let’s talk.
