Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter thanks to the fact that we have such easy access to information. Whether it’s a tv screen, a computer, a mobile phone...we all know we can find what we want in a matter of minutes. Gone are the days or making a phone call, leaving a voicemail, and waiting for a response.
So, you have to keep that in mind when you’re trying to grab people’s attention. And, content is all about grabbing the reader or viewer’s attention. When it comes to videos, the shorter the better as long as you can provide the information you are looking to offer in that time frame. This is part of the reason short form video is so successful.
What is Short Form Video?
A video that is less than or equal to 2 minutes and 30 seconds long is considered short form. That said, there really are no hard set rules so it truly depends on the platform at hand. To Twitter, it’s 2 minutes and 20 seconds or less. To TikTok, it’s 60 seconds. And for Instagram Reels, it’s just 30 seconds.
How to Use Short Form Video to Deliver Content
As you might imagine, short-form video presents a ton of opportunities from a marketing perspective. Plus, the type of content you can create using a short form video is limitless. Be creative! Here are some ideas:
- Product use/demos
- Live-streaming events
- Teasers or promos of upcoming products
- Use-cases or testimonials
- Behind-the-scenes showcase
While most of us dream of making that one piece of content that will go viral instantly and easily, in reality, that doesn’t just magically happen (all the time). Sometimes it does, that’s true. But, focusing on creating quality content that your audience will find engaging rather than the end result is always a WAY better approach. Authenticity rules.
Here’s where to give an extra push if you’re looking to spruce things up:
- Put some energy and effort into production quality. For example, invest in a good mic (link to article) to increase clarity.
- Incite emotion! For example, offer some humor or tug at those heart strings if you’re telling a story or sharing your feelings.
- Incorporate captions or visual effects (how about a prop or a unique background?). Grab their attention!
Using Short Form Video to Grow Your Business
Short form video can be a quick hit video you created for a specific use, OR it can be a clip from a longer one you created. The cool thing about chopping up a longer video and repurposing it is that you’ll have lots of usable clips as opposed to just one. And, from a marketing perspective, this will give you more valuable content to use to reach people.
For instance, let’s take a look at SEO. Maybe you make a ten minute video, perhaps it’s an interview. Typically, within an interview, you’re asking a lot of different questions. Now, imagine cutting those up one by one so instead of one video with one title, you’ve got ten 1 minute videos with 10 different titles you can use across all sorts of marketing channels: social media, your company newsletter, google ads, etc.
Measure your success
As with all your multi-channel marketing efforts, don’t forget to measure your success! This is a requirement because you need to be able to connect what you did with how it performed. You need to be able to prove your successes and learn from your mistakes. As is the case with pretty much any other marketing initiative, this is standard practice. So make sure your analytics and attribution tactics are set up ahead of time.
