Introduction
Do you remember the last time when you watched a one-hour talk show without checking your phone or doing something else on the side? The truth is, it’s almost impossible to do that in the modern world. The constant stream of events unfolding around us – and what we really don’t want to miss – influences us and give us “fear of missing out” feelings.
Our attention spans are shrinking, and we can’t do anything in general to stop these trends. There is one way we should follow: create a marketing strategy that is in synergy with these marketing trends.
One of the trends that we need to follow is using the power of short-form video content.
The history of short-form content
Short-form video content has always existed, especially since the launch of YouTube in 2005. Few people remember, but YouTube had a video length restriction in its early days, which was only 10 minutes. People used YouTube for that reason: they uploaded memes, music clips, and film trailers.
Then the servers of Youtube became bigger, and they let people upload longer videos. For that reason, and because of the more frequent ad pauses in videos, the app “Vine” was born. Here, users could watch videos with a maximum length of 6(!) seconds. That was the app where dances, and voice mimics became popular genres in social media.
However, Vine was never ever more popular than the successor of Musical.ly: Tiktok! Tiktok was created in 2016, and after a successful acquisition, and the merger of Musical.ly and Tiktok, nothing could stop TikTok from becoming the king of videos. That’s because Tiktok developers understood the trends: their users wanted to expand their circle of interest, and would make various types of videos. They wanted to share their hobbies, give a glance of their life, and gossip. TikTok was and is the perfect platform for those reasons.
Nowadays, all social media platforms offer short, and vertical video uploadings for their users, and copy other fantastic features of TikTok. But why are we a fan of these types of videos? Let us tell you!
Why is short-form video content on the rise?
We already shared the attention span theory which states that the most important reason for the rise of this content is our decreased attention span. However, this is just one aspect of a very complex equation.
We need to understand that our media consumption habits have changed drastically. Even though 15 years ago, an average person used their mobile phone 20 minutes a day, now an average American has a daily screen time of 4 hours.
According to The Guardian, there are almost a few hours left in a daily manner (excluding our sleep time) that is controlled by a different media device other than the phone. These are specifically the 5 to 9 pm intervals, where still the TV is the king. But that will also change. The mobile phone will rule everything.
And if we use our phones the most, then we want to watch content on that device. However, it is more convenient to hold our phone vertically, and since the screen is small, we don’t want to stare at the same things for too long.
But we can share a couple of other reasons why short-form content has risen:
Easy shareability
Easy content creation
The effect of all of us can be a star
Instant entertainment
These have all made an impact and helped change our habits.
What are the strengths of short videos as a brand?
The rise of short-form content is great for one more group of actors: the brands themselves. Just imagine a world where every person wants to watch long-form content. If it would be paused by a short ad the viewers wouldn’t be a fan of your brand.
That was the struggling part of creating TV advertisements: if a film is cut into 4 parts to make the viewers drawn to the ads, they wouldn’t honor your creative ideas. It’s difficult to engage them even with those offers that work for both sides.
However, if you place these ads between videos, and you don’t create a bad feeling inside them at the very first minute, you are so close to winning. Also, a short ad would be cheaper to create, and on a short-form video platform, the viewers don’t expect Oscar-winner film category cinematography, effect, or sound directing. They only want a funny gag, a great hook, and a great deal.
And the best part is, finally you can reach your visitors organically. On some of the older media platforms (or on the ATL marketing tools), placing your ad is like a bidding war. That business grabs the greatest place that pays the most. On the other hand, most short-form video platforms have great algorithms and recommend your video organically to more and more people. So, if you have a very creative advertisement you can reach a big audience without paying for visibility.
What platforms offer short-form video uploading?
If you look around, you will see that almost all the social media platforms now offer a wide range of short-form video uploading options. After TikTok’s success, YouTube Shorts has been created to sort short-form videos and put them into different locations on the website.
Meanwhile, YouTube worked on a new place for these types of videos, between 2020 and the middle of 2021, both Instagram and Facebook introduced their new “Reel” feature, where users can watch short-form videos. Nowadays, even niche sites (that are only used for certain activities) introducing short-form video options. Pinterest, Spotify, and Ultimate Guitar even offer an option like this, and their popularity is still on the rise.
Interesting, but instead of buying new domain names, and establishing a new short-form video platform contestant, all platforms built their own new feature inside their current website. These businesses haven’t wanted to compete with Tiktok, just quick up the pace with the modern trends.
How can any brand take advantage of that hype?
In this part of the article, we will give you some tips on how to take advantage of short-form videos from the perspective of businesses.
Be open to a global audience
The algorithm of short-form videos is easy to understand. The more people engage with your content — by watching it longer, commenting, liking, sharing, or saving — the more the algorithm will recommend it.
That way, your trending video will not only spread through your local country but can conquer the whole world. Of course, you can use these platforms to make content for your small local community, but it hides more value than that. Think big, and if you have the capabilities to scale your brand into a global entity, make global advertisements.
Creativity over cost
A new trend emerged in the last couple of years, which made some of the most prestigious global brands worried. Nowadays, viewers not only react to organic ads positively but hate paid advertisements as well. And even though some years ago, a brand could pay the potential customers viewership, nowadays it is really hard.
In terms of short-form videos, more money does not equate to better results. Creativity is the superpower.
How can you establish your brand image?
Which tone do your potential buyers need?
What are the funny parts of your working process?
How can you deliver the message in a funny way?
What generates publicity amongst your potential buyers?
If you can answer these questions, and have a complete understanding of your target audience, you can create creative videos tailored to their needs.
Strive for organic shares and likes
As we mentioned earlier, you must strive for organic views. However, increasing views is just one part of the solution. Relying on the number of views is tricky, and most of the platform users are well aware of that.
Most platforms give a chance to content creators to pay for more views, thus the system recommends the video to more people. But when there is a big gap between the number of views and the number of likes or comments in a video that generates suspicion amongst the viewers.
And if that suspicion occurs, you can no longer convince them to buy your products. Therefore – with a method – you need to call their attention to give a record of their activity and give you something. This can be a call for likes or a good deal they will save down, or share with their friends.
The best thing is that these activities also make your content favored by the algorithm.
Conclusion
In this article, we presented how short-form content emerged and became the most popular type of entertainment. We also made clear why all brands need to be open to creating short-form videos, and how a bunch of creative videos fly a company into the crown of an industry.
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