Beautiful still imagery, a dynamic website and well-crafted written content are all valuable pieces of the marketing puzzle. But these days, it’s high-quality video that takes the cake.
Video remains one of the most powerful and effective ways to draw in and engage your target audience, thereby increasing the odds of converting them into loyal, paying customers. And one of the most impactful types of video to achieve these goals is short form.
Let’s take a closer look at what short form video content is all about as well as the best way to start using it for your brand.
What are short form videos?
Short form videos, also known as micro-video content, are videos that last anywhere from just a couple of seconds to a minute. Many people question the validity of short form videos being more beneficial than longer content, particularly when it comes to budget compared to the final product.
After all, we all want to feel as though we’re getting the most “bang for our buck.”
But cramming as much information as possible into a video can actually be ineffective. And while longer video content certainly has its place, short form videos are excellent tools for marketing your brand, especially on social media.
Simply put, shorter content is better at capturing the attention of your audience and, more importantly, holding their attention throughout the process.
Here are four expert tips on how to leverage the power of short form video for your company.
Focus on catching their eye quickly
For a short form video to be successful, you have to first grab the attention of your prospective viewers. The challenge is that you have mere seconds to do so.
But if you do succeed in getting your audience to start watching, it’ll pay off. 65% of viewers who watch the first three seconds of a video will continue to the 10 second mark. 45% will watch for 30 seconds. So, focus on those first precious seconds and use bold, compelling messages and imagery to reel them in.
Keep it short and sweet
It sort of goes without saying, but when it comes to short form video, the shorter the better. Consider the fact that the average length of a video view on Facebook is just 18 seconds. That’s indicative of the fact that the human attention span is getting shorter and shorter. As such, marketers should be careful to meet that demand with shorter, more focused videos.
In fact, recent research has determined that video content under one minute retains 80% of viewer retention rate up to the 30-second mark. The higher the retention, the better, so keep your message brief and to the point.
Edit them for social viewing
The advent of auto-play on social media has been a tremendous boost for marketers, but that has also presented a new challenge: the silent video. The fact is, 85% of Facebook users watch video without the sound on.
As such, creating videos that work with our without audio enables you to deliver your message effectively regardless of whether your viewers can physically hear it. For best results, consider adding text, whether it’s with captions, subtitles or text overlay. Doing so can increase view length by up to 12%.
Optimize for mobile
More than half of all video content is viewed on mobile devices. Short form video is ideal for mobile viewership because it addresses users that are on the go and often short on time. And people aren’t just watching videos on their smartphones or tablets.
They’re sharing them too. 92% of mobile video viewers will share the video content they’ve watched with others. This can dramatically increase your reach and the ultimate outcome of your video marketing campaigns.
Some ideas for short form video content include:
• Product teasers
• Quick tips, hacks or how-tos
• FAQs
• Behind the scenes
• Culture pieces
Without question, short form video has become the focal point of content marketing strategies for businesses across all sizes, industries and interests. The above tips should help you fine tune your short form video content to produce even better results.
Looking for efficient ways to create more video content? Not sure where to begin with your short form video campaign? Just don’t have the time to devote to producing quality video content? Get in touch! We can help you develop and execute an effective strategy that will drive consistent audience engagement.
