Why Short-Form Videos are Essential for Your Marketing Strategy

In today’s fast-moving world, the average attention span for an internet user has continued to drop year after year. According to The Read Group¹, experts say that the average attention span for an internet user sits at about 8 seconds. Time Magazine², explains that this is compared to almost 50% higher in the early 2000s at about 12%. Yet, video consumption has reached a virtually all-time high compared to past generations. It is very apparent how essential video content has become to our changing society.

Adding marketing tools that are innovative and fresh should be a part of your digital marketing strategy. One of these tools is short-form videos. Short-form video content can be quicker to create and is more direct compared to traditional, longer videos.

We have put together a list of key benefits for using short-form videos.

1.  Require less time.

Typically, longer-length videos are seen as a long-term project rather than a daily task for a business. Creating longer videos can take more time and resources to create, edit, and finalize. These videos also require more software, hardware, and general maintenance. Short-form videos on the other hand provide an opportunity to create, edit, and share your ideas in real time through improved mobile-friendly editing software. Many video applications on smartphones provide the ability to record and edit all within one platform. This can result in less time editing and more time creating.

2.  Effective for the social media-driven world.

We live in a fast-moving world where individuals commonly find themselves looking for the next thing to capture the attention of their social media followers. Marketers should adapt to this need by providing content that can constantly keep up with the new norm. Short-form videos provide the ability to share content directly inside various social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. These social media channels provide integrations that allow short-form videos to post seamlessly within users’ timelines or newsfeeds.

3.  Trending and Engaging Content.

It is one thing to focus on creating content, but it is another thing to create content that engages your audience thoroughly. Based on common updates with social media channel platforms, it is important to understand that you want your users to watch most, if not all your video. This can be achieved by creating shorter-length videos that directly solve a viewer’s problem and/or directly provides value. For example, imagine you had a question about accepting invoices for your small business; you would rather watch a short three-minute video on “setting up invoices for your small business” as opposed to a conventional longer-length video about “How to create and run a small business.”  Video apps such as Tiktok and Youtube now give users the ability to break down their longer videos into playlists and short-form video segments. This benefit allows for more niche-specific content that provides more direct information and value instead of content that’s more generalized.

4.  Creation at your fingertips.

You no longer need state-of-the-art cameras to create high-quality content. Short-form videos require only a smartphone to create captivating and innovative content. This also allows you to create, edit and post at the touch of your fingertips. These types of videos allow you the ability to share videos from almost anywhere at any time. This gives businesses access to a wide range of various topics and ideas they can easily bring to reality in real-time.

Why should you implement short-form videos in your marketing strategy?

Innovation and convenience are at the forefront of this modern world. Businesses want the ability to utilize tools that provide manageable resources without breaking their budget. This low-maintenance, easily accessible, and cost-effective marketing tactic can be used on many different social media platforms. Choosing to utilize short-form videos inside a digital marketing strategy will ensure the viewer understands what the content is about verses posting lengthy videos that could potentially lose their attention.

Are you currently using short-form videos? If not, Next Level Marketing Communications can provide you with the ideas and tools to implement this digital strategy into your firm’s marketing plan.