Investing in Short Form Video Content in 2024 - What You Need to Know

Investing In Short-Form Video Content In 2024 – What You Need To Know

“MORE REELS, please!!” These were the words from a franchisee of one of our clients just a couple of months after launching our partnership with them to create compelling video content. They had been hearing feedback from multiple franchisees about the increased engagement and interactions from the new strategy.

We know that short-form video can be a successful content marketing strategy and will continue to be a great option for businesses in the future – the rise of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts has displayed that reality. But maybe you’re evaluating if this strategy is right for your business, and you’re uncertain if investing in short-form content is the route to pursue.

Below is a short guide that will help you make this evaluation.

What Is Short-Form Video Content?

Short-form videos are between 10 seconds and 2 minutes in length, but most are typically between 15 seconds and 45 seconds. Oftentimes this content is edited in portrait orientation to prioritize viewing on mobile devices. Short-form content has been around for years, but the rise of TikTok has pushed users towards this style of content rapidly, with Instagram, YouTube, and even now X following suit to prioritize short-form video content.

Why Are Companies Investing In Short-Form Video Content?

There are two key reasons.

First, rather than investing in one or a few expensive pieces of long-form content, brands today are opting for dozens of pieces of short-form videos to build their audience and drive people to their long-form pieces of content.

Second, smaller brands working with a limited budget have to be scrappy and think of fresh ways to engage their audience and draw attention. Large brands are able to spend millions of dollars on advertising distribution platforms such as cable TV ads, out-of-home advertising (think about Times Square billboards), and even trade shows. One cost-effective strategy growing in popularity is posting well-crafted short-form videos on social media platforms. This has been working so well because consumers simply love short-form videos, causing social platform algorithms to show them more often. In fact, one study found that 73% of consumers prefer to learn about a product or service by watching a short-form video.

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Benefits Of Short-Form Content

Increased Engagement: Short-form videos consistently outperform other types of content in terms of engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments. In fact, consumers find that short-form video is 2.5 times more engaging than long-form videos. This is why it is such an effective strategy to use short-form videos to tease and drive excitement for longer-form videos and other stories.

Mobile Optimization: Short-form videos are able to be seamlessly optimized for mobile viewing. Across the globe, over 60% of internet traffic is via mobile device. The vertical orientation of many short-form videos makes them ideal for consumption on smartphones, ensuring a favorable viewing experience for audiences on the go.

Social Media Algorithms and Targeting: Platforms like TikTok and Instagram prioritize short-form video content, making it more likely to appear on users' feeds. Further, when brands consistently post content that is aligned with their target audience, this takes advantage of social media platforms using their algorithms to show users the content they want to see. Leveraging these algorithms can help businesses reach a wider audience and increase brand visibility.

Cost-Effectiveness: Producing short-form videos is often more cost-effective than creating longer, high-production videos. With shorter production times and simpler editing requirements, businesses can create a higher volume of content without breaking the bank.

Pro Tip: When producing high-production stories, plan to produce additional short-form videos. You’ll maximize engagement, increase the reach of the key story, and optimize every bit of your budget.

Creativity and Innovation: Short-form video platforms encourage creativity and innovation, allowing brands to experiment with different formats, styles, and storytelling techniques. This flexibility enables businesses to showcase their personality and connect with audiences in unique ways. Further, brands can group content into varying buckets that cater to different audiences to maximize reach.

Data Analytics and Insights: Since social media platforms provide robust analytics tools that track the performance of short-form video content, brands are able to analyze metrics such as views, engagement rates, and audience demographics. As a result, there is the ability to refine a content strategy and optimize future videos for what is working best.

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Should We Invest In Short-Form Video?

Ah, the golden question. You see competitors, peers, and leaders in other industries investing, but you wonder if it’s really right for your business. Unfortunately, we can’t give you the answer from inside of a blog post, but we can provide you with some questions to think through.

What are your business goals over the next 90 days, 1 year, and 5 years?

What are the gaps that need to be filled to accomplish those goals?

Who needs to know about your business to reach those goals?

How do your customers buy from you? Sales staff, direct-to-consumer, etc?

What is it that your prospects need to know to make a decision?

How can you make it easier for prospects to know about your company and have the information they need to evaluate your value?

These questions are often a part of our Strategic Storytelling workshops, which are designed to craft a marketing strategy that aligns to business goals and objectives. If you are considering content marketing, it is important to first think through the highest priority items to accomplish from a business perspective. If content marketing can facilitate success towards the business strategy, then it is time to evaluate how to craft an effective content marketing campaign.

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Some Final Things To Consider

People buy from people. No matter if you’re selling tennis rackets to teenagers or million-dollar software implementations to Fortune 500 companies, at the foundation there is a human being selling to another human being.

Building off of this, it is important to remember that people buy emotionally and justify logically. You may have an excellent production, amazing people, a killer onboarding process, and outstanding customer support, but that is all logic. It certainly matters, but first, you need your prospect to trust you – to WANT to buy from YOU. They need to feel like you can solve their problems no matter if that problem is a weak backhand that kept them from the state tournament last year or an outdated ERP that is now threatening their job. You and your sales staff have to work on connecting and building trust every day, and so does your content. When a prospect visits your social media, your website, or your sales materials, they get a feeling. Give them the feeling that you are the foremost authority and THE solution to solve their problems.

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Interested in learning more about how content marketing can take you from where you are to where you want to be? Our team at The Courtside Group would like to offer a no-cost consultation for you. Use the button below to find some time with a member of our team.

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