What is short video and how do they work in your marketing strategy?

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It is no secret that video marketing and social media have caused a huge change in the way we consume information. Previously, the longer the content, the better it was perceived by consumers. This changed thanks to short video!

Short-form video is how many people, especially younger consumers, seek out entertainment and stay informed. But what started as an emerging trend has now become a permanent fixture in how people interact with the world.

In 2020, short-form video platform TikTok quickly became one of the biggest players in the social media space, with its US users alone growing to over 91 million months into the pandemic.

Many other giant social media platforms have followed suit to accommodate the demand for interactive short videos by adding their own Tik Tok-like features.

Learn about each platform's short-form video capabilities and tips for employment database using this trend to grow your brand.

What are "short videos"?
The "official" definition of short-form video is up for debate, but it generally refers to a video that is between 10 and 60 seconds long.

Short videos became popular largely thanks to social media platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram Stories, and Snapchat.

This strategy has been taken advantage of by companies that have wanted to do good marketing on social networks due to two particularly important points:

Users share videos twice as fast as any other form of content;
84 % of people were convinced to buy a product or service after watching an interactive video of the brand;
71% of Gen Z spends around 3 hours a day just watching online videos.
And I could go on!

So, what is the value of short videos? We will discuss this below.

Why have they become so relevant in recent years?
Short video goes beyond, pushing the boundaries of traditional media and giving people a quick and easy way to consume information. The format lends itself to a more creative form of communication that aims to excite and inspire people.

Campaigns like the ones we have seen in the form of challenges, such as the “TikTok challenge” also generate a sense of community, where people try new things together, share ideas and participate in global trends and competitions.

Part of the great appeal of these types of short-form videos is that they are immersive and create the feeling of a one-on-one connection.

When executed well, branding efforts on short-form video platforms provide a new medium to reach audiences in ways that were not previously possible.

There is a world of possibilities in how brands can participate to become part of the place where the trends and conversations that shape today's culture take place.

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3 platforms that are trending in short video marketing
Without a doubt, this new format is here to stay, and the platforms that are mostly exponentially increasing its growth in the market are, mainly:

1. Tik Tok
Tik Tok is the leading platform in the current short-form video movement with a total of 689 million monthly active users globally; its videos are most commonly associated with trending music and dance challenges.

The average TikTok user spends 26 minutes on the platform per day, and 62% of users are between the ages of 10 and 28. So there is a huge opportunity for brands to engage with younger audiences here.

Additionally, this incredible platform generated the most downloads for any app in a quarter.

Tik Tok emerged as a sort of mashup between Vine, the discontinued 6-second video platform that often featured short-form comedy, and Musica.ly, a karaoke app for teens that was absorbed by Chinese company ByteDance into Tik Tok.

An example of a brand using Tik Tok well is Crocs. In a challenge called #ThousandDollarCrocs , they teamed up with singer Post Malone and poked fun at their own brand by prompting people to “upgrade” their Crocs.

This worked out well for them as the challenge generated 2.9 billion videos and over 3 billion views. Amazing, don’t you think?

2. Youtube Shorts
Youtube recently announced its “Shorts” feature for Youtube app users. Shorts are 15 seconds long and allow users to compile multiple video clips together, adjust the speed of the video, and record along with music hands-free.

Shorts is still in beta testing, however. Some have noted its lack of collaboration features, as well as the inability to allow users to curate their own feeds, as it is currently purely algorithm-driven.

However, they are here to stay, after all, the tech giant, Google, announced a USD $100 million investment fund for the period 2021-2022. This is just the beginning!

3. Snapchat spotlight
Snapchat has been having a good moment. The platform recently announced that its revenue increased by 66% over the previous year and its average daily users increased to 280 million .

Snapchat's "Spotlight," a feature that shows short videos on a continuous loop, was created to compete with TikTok and was added as a new tab on the platform.

To encourage its users to generate content experience for this feature, Snapchat is offering daily monetary incentives for the best videos (decided based on the number of views), which seems to be paying off. More than 125 million Snapchat users watched Spotlight videos in February 2021.

3 tips to boost your short video strategy
Short-form videos are meant to be quick, fun, and provide creative content that is largely user-driven. As a brand, using this medium has the potential to strengthen your online community, help you attract new types of people, and see deeper levels of engagement. Here are some tips for your short-form video strategy:

I. User Generated Content (UGC)
Since most of the content posted on short-form video platforms is user-generated, it makes sense to give your own branded content as authentic a feel as possible.

Capturing content from your brand followers and fans and featuring it in their own short videos allows your customers and audience to have a voice and speak on behalf of the brand.

Since consumers are 2.4 times more likely to say user-generated content is authentic compared to brand-created content, it’s definitely worth collecting UGC, as this is the type of content that people who watch short videos love to see.

You can also collect infinite amounts and it's more cost effective than having just one team generating all that volume of work!

II. A look behind the scenes
Consumers are increasingly looking for personalization and authenticity from brands.

Consumers love authenticity, which is a huge factor when deciding which brands they like and support. Part of what has made short videos so appealing to people is that originality is built into their structure.

Whether your brand is on Tik Tok, Instagram Reels, Snapchat Spotlight, YouTube, or any other platform, short videos are a great place for people to see beyond the logo and get detailed insights into what’s going on behind the scenes.

This could be a day in the life of the brand’s CEO, a Q&A with employees, or even a video showing how the brand’s products are made.

You've probably seen a documentary (at least a few minutes) about how large factories produce their products, which is quite shocking, isn't it?

This is the same feeling your target audience will have, only they will see all the content and not miss anything, all thanks to highly effective organic traffic .

III. Educational and informative shorts
If you don't know where to start, educational content is a great place to get started.

Show people different ways to style a garment, do a makeup tutorial, offer top travel tips for a specific destination – anything where your brand is a thought leader or expert that will make users curious about your products and services.