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It may seem like short-form videos are taking over social media, and that is because THEY ARE! Almost every platform now supports some type of short-form video with TikTok, Instagram Reels, and now YouTube Shorts.
Short-form content has really taken off in the past couple of years due to its fun and attention-grabbing ability. Users are able to watch multiple videos in a short amount of time, which keeps them constantly engaged. There has always been talk of how our attention spans are shortening constantly; that it is getting harder and harder to capture and maintain people’s attention.
I don’t know how true that is, but I do know that we are all consuming way more media on multiple devices simultaneously. So I do think that the quicker you can capture someone’s attention, the better. A study done at Princeton suggested that our attention spans are more like pulses that jump around four times per second. This sounds an awful lot like short videos and one of the main reasons I think they are becoming wildly successful.
So, by now you know what TikTok is all about, and you might have started dabbling with Instagram Reels, but what are YouTube Shorts? Like I have hinted at, YouTube Shorts is YouTube’s rival to the earlier mentioned platforms. They are vertical videos up to 60 seconds in length.
Previously, you could upload a vertical video to YouTube but it wouldn’t be formatted correctly for the platform, which could result in lower viewership and engagement. Now, in addition to showing on your channel, viewers can find your short-form video on the homepage Shorts section that is formatted for a vertical viewing experience.
At Marketing TEA, we are firm believers that you don’t have to be everywhere, you just have to be everywhere that makes sense for your business. So, if making short videos works well for your business, services, and type of content you like to create, then this is a great opportunity. If not, there is no need to force certain platforms to work for your business.
We believe that creating quality content for 1 platform is way better than mediocre content for three. If you have been finding success in short-form content, using YouTube shorts opens up the door for connecting to a new audience in a new space. A lot of people use YouTube as a search engine of sorts, so this is a great way to be discovered for the work that you do!
If you are familiar with YouTube, uploading the content is the same when using desktop. You can head to your Creator Studio to upload the video with your title, description, thumbnail, tags, and so much more. One thing you should add to the description of the video is the “#short”. This puts it into the Short category on the home feed. You can also create a playlist to house all of your Short videos neatly on your feed.
If you aren’t uploading an existing video, you can head to mobile to use YouTube’s short-form creation tool which lets you add music, change the speed, and use a timer to help record your video.
Businesses should be thinking about their short-form content strategy if they aren’t already. If you are interested in diving into creating custom video content and need help getting started, let’s chat!