With the rise of social media platforms like Tik Tok and Snapchat, is it time for brands and businesses to start taking short form video marketing seriously?
According to recent statistics released from Wyzol, a whopping 87% of businesses are using videos as a part of their brand’s content strategy. Interestingly enough, of those businesses, 83% are reporting that video content is giving them a strong return on investment. As we all know, getting a good bang for your buck is the ultimate end goal for all marketing strategies.
Video is a versatile and highly engaging content medium that not only gives audiences a real-life picture of what’s going on, but also is relatively easy to share across multiple platforms. It’s easy to digest, entertaining and is readily accessible to just about anyone with an internet connection. While most brands are acutely aware of the power of video marketing in 2020, it’s important to note the key differences between long and short form video, and why the latter is gaining some serious traction.
What Is Short Form Video?
Most of us live life on the go, and while there’s certainly a time and a place for that 45 minute YouTube tutorial – consumption and demand for short form video is going through the roof, particularly amongst Millennials and Generation Z.
Typically, a short form video is determined as having a length that ranges between fifteen seconds and two minutes. Marketers around the world have hotly debated what is classified as “the perfect length”, as this varies from platform to platform. Examples of short form video include:
- Tik Tok
- Instagram Reels
- Instagram Stories
- Facebook Stories
This style of video marketing works best when filmed in portrait mode, as audiences usually view your content on their phones. If you’re tempted to take the plunge into short form video marketing, where should you start?
How To Get Started With Short Form Video Marketing
It’s important to note that this style of content marketing is designed to be consumed quickly and casually – don’t take it too seriously, because your audiences definitely don’t.
While high quality video crafted with the help of a qualified videographer or professional is not something that every brand can necessarily afford, it doesn’t take much to film a “story” on your iPhone or laptop to share with your clients.
On an educational level (and even just for some inspo) – common concepts and themes associated with types of short form video marketing can include:
- Demonstrations
- Interviews
- “How to” guides and educational information
- Live streaming an event
- Case studies
- Animated storytelling
- “Meet The Team” style humanisation of a brand
- 360 degree and virtual reality showcasing
- Brand awareness sharing your vision, mission statement, products or services
The best part about short form video marketing is that the resources required to produce them usually aren’t too extensive, but it can greatly help you to stay connected, relevant and engaged with new and existing audiences. The more audiences view your “stories”, the more your traditional social media posts will gradually pop up in their newsfeed. Short form video marketing is also a great way to effectively repurpose your existing content, ultimately maximising your marketing efforts.
Short Form Video Content Best Practices
If you’re on the hunt for further tips on how to capitalise on the popularity of short form video content, then below are a few generalised best practices to help get you started.
Keep It Simple – Short form video should be considered as an opportunity to show a creative, humorous and light hearted version of your brand. Audiences are often viewing short form content “on the go”, so keep it light.
Don’t Skip The Music – Most viewers on these platforms are actually listening to the video with their sound on, so make sure you don’t skip the musical component of your upload. Once again, you only have a small window of time to make an impression, so keep it relevant.
Get The Dimensions Right – Short form videos are designed for mobile viewing, so when crafting your video do ensure that it’s in the portrait (vertical) format and not landscape. Nobody likes to watch an upload with two giant black lines – it’s a waste of your screen, and your time.
Participate In #Challenges – Either create your own, or participate in those of other brands. It’s a great way to both network and reach new audiences, particularly those within similar industries or brand positions as yours.
Ready To Start Filming Short Form Content?
The problem that many businesses face when it comes to producing great video content in any form, is that they may not have the time, energy or resources to do so – but avoiding content marketing may actually be doing their brand a disservice.
Thankfully here at Content Hive, producing top quality content (including video) is exactly what we do best – so why not book in a free discovery call today to discuss how we can get your business buzzing online.
