While we all love watching videos, our attention spans have steadily fallen over the last 10 years.
Enter short-form videos. They have emerged to address people’s dwindling attention spans by offering entertaining and engaging content. But the key to creating effective short-form videos is how long your audience sticks around. The longer they are viewed, the better they’ll perform.
It takes more than just creativity to master short-form video creation; you need a strategy as well. Here’s everything you need to know before you create them that captivate your viewers and boost engagement.
Short-Form Videos: What Are They?
Generally speaking, short-form videos are clips that are at least 10 to 60 seconds long (with the sweet spot being between 31 and 59 seconds). However, this type of content can vary by social media network, with 90-second to 3-minute videos considered short by some platforms.
Effective short-form videos typically catch on via concise storytelling, catchy visuals, and a clear call-to-action (CTA).
What Makes Short-Form Videos So Popular
The massive popularity of short-form videos can be summed in a word: convenience. They’re easy to create and consume, averaging 15 to 30 seconds in length. This format enables creators to quickly pass the message and users to view their content without spending too much time—a win-win situation for everyone involved. Moreover, they usually perform better than longer ones. The shorter your video content, the more likely it is for users to view it to the end. Other reasons why this video format is wildly popular include:
- Accessible on any mobile device or computer.
- Easy to view and share. One report shows that people are twice as likely to share videos than any other kind of content.
- Favored by the algorithms. The algorithms of major social media platforms prioritize short-form videos over longer ones, making them a must-have for creators.
- Free to access. It’s free to access short-form videos on all social media platforms because they support them.
- Favorite format for learning something new. An overwhelming majority of social media users prefer watching short videos to learn about a service or product.
With this type of content offering creators and consumers lots of benefits, it’s no surprise that the format’s popularity has blown up in recent years, like online slots at ICE Casino PL and many other gambling sites.
Stunning Short-Form Video Platforms for Your Brand
While there are many video platforms online, we’ll go over three of the biggest ones to post your short-form videos below:
- TikTok. Hands down the dominant force in the short-form video space, TikTok lets creators make videos as long as 3 minutes, although the most successful ones are typically less than 30 seconds. The app’s powerful editing tools are known to help creators produce extremely engaging and creative content, integrate sound effects, and jump on viral short-form video trends.
- Instagram Reels. Although Instagram is a platform for sharing photos, it responded to the emergence of TikTok by launching Reels, which has a similar set of features that help with discovering and creating short-form video content, typically 15-60 seconds.
- YouTube Shorts. YouTube Shorts is a relatively new entrant in the short-form video market. It lets creators make content up to 1 minute long. Unlike long-form YouTube videos, Shorts makes the most of the extensive list of creator tools and music libraries.
How to Create Successful Short-Form Video
Here are the best practices to bear in mind so you can successfully create short-form videos:
- Tell a story: Although short, you need to give your videos an engaging storyline. Structure them with a hook (the beginning), development (the middle part), and climax (the conclusion), alongside a strong call to action to promote engagement.
- Post consistently: Be sure to post at least once daily to grow organically. If possible, aim for two to three times daily.
- Switch it up: To keep your audience engaged, change the video’s environment or perspective. Short videos are meant for fleeting attention spans, so shooting one in one static plane is unlikely to retain the attention of viewers.
- Provide value: Such content always has an obvious value point to take away. The value can be motivational, inspiring, educational, etc. Brainstorm with your colleagues to come up with something that showcases the value of your brand.
- Share incentives: Include incentives in your bio by providing a link to a simple form that people can use to sign up.
- Jump on trends fast: Post within 48 hours of coming across a trend since trends have a short lifespan.
- Repurpose and edit relevant content: You use the editing tools within an app or a more accomplished tool like Capcut, which is free, too.
- Go live consistently: Doing so can help increase engagement and create a strong community. Sharing behind-the-scenes videos will make your audience part of your brand.
- Leverage viral videos: When one of your clips goes viral, capitalize on it and double down on posting and engaging with your community. You’re likely to receive even more views at this time.
Master the Art of Short-Form Videos Today
There’s currently a high demand for short-form video content. It provides information quickly, meeting users’ need for something informative, inspiring, entertaining, and educational but not very long. While creating short videos, it’s crucial to keep the best practices above in mind so you can grab and retain the priceless attention of your followers. While you won’t create perfect videos at first, you’ll surely improve over time and make successful content.