Video content is integral to a business’s marketing mix today, especially on social media platforms, your website and, of course, YouTube.
YouTube alone has 1.7 billion unique monthly visitors. The 15-year old platform has simply gone from strength to strength as bandwidth and internet speeds have improved and video has become the preferred form of media consumption.
META (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) had been drilling marketers for some time now about creating more video content for campaigns vs. static images. Both still work, of course, but video content and been regarded for some time now to often offer better traction and reach.
But here’s the big question…
How long should the video content be?
And if we are to create short-form videos, how do we tell the full story?
Let’s break it down…
Why cut my video content short?
Incredibly, recent stats published by Microsoft’s research team reveals that our attention span has gone from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds today, before we start to lose interest.
Eight seconds!
The two main factors contributing to this are that firstly we are bombarded with so much digital content today that you’re literally given eight seconds to make an impression, or the viewer will move on and secondly, up to 65% or more of all content on YouTube and social media platforms is consumed via mobile phones.
TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter are designed to seize our attention and then to keep us scrolling on their platform for as long as possible by restricting video lengths. YouTube has also jumped onto this bandwagon with their YouTube Shorts option, recognising that many people are now ‘programmed’ to view ‘video bytes’ of information rather than longer formats.
Short-form vs. long-form video content
Google defines ‘Short-form videos are under 10 minutes and long-form videos are over 10 minutes.’
To be honest this definition may be a bit outdated. TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are all engineered to serve shorter video formats of 30 seconds to one minute and this has become the current standard.
On TikTok you can host videos up to 10 minutes so maybe Google’s definition isn’t that outdated, however as explained earlier social media platforms are designed to keep you scrolling, so short form simply works better on these.
READ: 5 SECRETS TO VIDEO MARKETING
In a nutshell, short form is defined by the platform you are hosting the video content on.
When to use short form video
- Social Media – as explained earlier, these platforms are designed and engineered to serve small bits of info at a time.
- Building awareness – short form videos are the ideal way to create awareness about one’s brand or services.
- Driving people to the longer form content – YouTube Shorts is a perfect example of how to ‘tease’ viewers with short bits of information to ultimately drive them to your channel or website to find out more.
- Advertising – short form video content has been the standard for advertising since television advertising became a thing. Nothing has changed there. Except today, video ads (on channels like YouTube) can be as short as five seconds even.
Why use long form video?
You may be thinking, why use long form content if our attention span is so short these days. Couple that with the way most platforms push the shorter form and what’s the point?
Here’s why…
- Can you really tell your full story in one minute or less?
- Longer form videos offer more tangible value
- It’s great for SEO. As a rule longer form content boosts SEO and video content is the same.
- Viewers of longer form video content are more engaged and will remember your brand or your story/message way longer
- Storytelling has become a way more powerful means of marketing than the traditional one-way marketing tool. It builds better and lasting relationships, often leaving viewers wanting more.
MUST READS
- WHY A VIDEO STRATEGY IS IMPORTANT TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS OR NPO
- HOW TO MAKE A VIDEO FOR YOUR BUSINESS OR NPO
- 5 THINGS YOUR WEBSITE SHOULD BE DOING TO BE EFFECTIVE
- KEY VIDEO MARKETING STATISTICS FOR 2020
- STORYTELLING THAT DOESN’T SUCK: BEYOND CONTENT MARKETING
- VIDEO TIPS FOR NPOS, SOCIAL IMPACT CAMPAIGNS & FUNDRAISING