The short-form video glossary

B

• B-roll

  B-roll is supporting footage that plays over or between your main shot to show what you are talking about instead of just saying it.

C

• Call to action (CTA)

  A call to action is the line, text or button that tells a viewer exactly what to do next, such as tap the link, follow or comment.

• Carousel post

  A carousel post is a single Instagram or TikTok post made of several swipeable images or clips that viewers move through one at a time.

• Content pillars

  Content pillars are the three to five recurring themes a brand posts about, so every video fits a clear purpose instead of being random.

• Creative fatigue

  Creative fatigue is when an ad or post format stops performing because the same audience has seen it too many times and starts scrolling past.

F

• Faceless content

  Faceless content is short-form video or slideshows where no host appears on camera, using text, voiceover, product shots or stock clips instead.

H

• Hook

  A hook is the first line, image or moment of a short-form post, designed to make a scrolling viewer stop and keep watching.

• Hook and demo

  A hook and demo is a short video format that opens with an attention-grabbing hook, then cuts straight to a quick demonstration of the product.

• Hook rate

  Hook rate is a video ad metric, usually 3-second views divided by impressions, showing how often your opening stops people from scrolling.

I

• Instagram Reels

  Instagram Reels are vertical short-form videos on Instagram, shown in a dedicated Reels feed and to people who don't follow you yet.

P

• Pattern interrupt

  A pattern interrupt is anything unexpected in a video, like a sudden cut, sound or visual, that breaks the viewer's autopilot scrolling.

• Posting cadence

  Posting cadence is how often and on what rhythm you publish, such as one TikTok a day or three Reels a week, kept steady over time.

R

• Retention rate

  Retention rate is the share of viewers still watching at a given point in a video, often shown as a curve in TikTok and Instagram analytics.

T

• Talking-head video

  A talking-head video shows a person speaking straight to the camera, usually framed from the chest up, often filmed on a phone.

• Thumb-stop ratio

  Thumb-stop ratio measures how often a video makes people stop scrolling, commonly calculated as 3-second views divided by impressions.

• TikTok photo mode

  TikTok photo mode lets you post a swipeable set of still images with music and text, often called a TikTok slideshow or carousel.

• TikTok Spark Ads

  Spark Ads are TikTok ads that boost an existing organic post, from your own account or a creator's with their permission, keeping it native.

U

• UGC (user-generated content)

  UGC is content made by customers or independent creators rather than the brand, like reviews, unboxings and real-use videos.

• UGC creator

  A UGC creator is someone brands pay to make casual, customer-style videos and photos, mostly for the brand's own ads and accounts.

W

• Watch time

  Watch time is the total or average time viewers spend watching your video, one of the clearest signals of whether a post holds attention.