Social media has never been the same after TikTok. TikTok popularised short-form video content and introduced a new video platform for creators.
With platforms like TikTok, it was all about keeping things short, fun, and entertaining. TikTok focuses on trends, humour, and telling a story in as little time as possible.
Soon after, other social media platforms followed suit. YouTube and Instagram came up with their own iterations of a short-form video platform.
So with short-form video content, the social media landscape changed forever. Video platforms realized that consumers prefer to watch short-form video content more than regular YouTube or static posts.
Now, short-form video platforms are the best places to spend time on and learn about a product or service. People spend more time on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts than on other platforms.
This means you can prioritise these platforms for your video marketing with a YouTube Shorts maker or similar app.
Short-Form Videos Respect the User’s Time
TikToks, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are inherently fun and engaging because of their bite-sized nature. Since these shorter videos average around 20-30 seconds, people are more willing to sit through them.
Besides, these short-form videos provide an almost instant payoff. Unlike regular YouTube videos, users can satisfy their curiosities faster and move on to the next one.
So in a sense, these short-form video platforms don’t waste time. They conclude each video, allowing people to keep watching and engage in more variety.
How Content Creators Boost Engagement with Short-Form Videos
The best short-form videos go viral because they grab the user’s attention and keep them hooked until the end.
Most of these videos have an almost irresistible thumbnail or preview video. Then, they maintain the user’s interest with a stimulating hook.
This way, they pace the video so the user doesn’t even have time to get bored and swipe up. The user taps on the video because of the preview and stays for the hook. Before they know it, the video is over and they’re either commenting, sharing or moving on.
Key Platforms for Short-Form Videos
Without a doubt, TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are the best platforms for short-form videos. They are the most popular and get almost 2 billion users logging in every day.
An average person spends more than 2 hours on either of these platforms. This means they go through more than 200-300 short-form videos.
What does this mean for marketers and content creators? It means that these three platforms are where people learn about a product or service they wouldn’t normally search for.
As such, you have a noticeable advantage if you can focus on these platforms to highlight your brand or product.
But, despite their similarities, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube do have certain nuances. Identifying them can help you go viral on each platform and highlight your brand above the rest.
TikTok: The Best Place to Start, As Any
TikTok is the platform that started it all. Because of the influx of users, content is always moving around and you have a higher chance of gaining views.
As such, going viral on TikTok can be the ultimate boost for your content’s visibility and marketing. That said, it’s not as easy. TikTok has a lot of competition and a specific formula for content that can go viral.
TikTok is mostly about UGC (User-Generated Content), trends, challenges, and entertainment. This means you must optimise your content for younger crowds and take a more lighthearted approach.
Trends are huge on TikTok, which means content can go stale quickly. You’ll have to post regularly and also stick with trending music, effects, hashtags, etc…
Instagram Reels: For Leveraging Instagram’s Existing User Base
Instagram Stories and Reels are the newest platform to introduce short-form video content. However, they’re still not late to the party.
Any type of content works but Reels are still following the footsteps of regular Instagram. This means that users there prefer the style and polish of their Instagram content.
So unlike TikTok, you can’t play it loose with Instagram. Instagram Reels need to have high-quality visuals and more professional-looking video content. However, Reels should still be even shorter, averaging around 15-20 seconds for each clip.
YouTube Shorts: Best for YouTubers
Finally, that leaves us with YouTube Shorts. Like Instagram, YouTube Shorts work best when coupled with regular YouTube.
This means YouTubers and podcasters can benefit from refining and posting smaller snippets of their existing YouTube videos. This can be teasers, highlights, key takeaways, or fast-paced tutorials.
YouTube Shorts are mostly for people who want to watch YouTube videos but don’t want to spend the extra time. As a YouTuber, you can leverage this by creating YouTube Clips that showcase your existing videos.
So with YouTube Shorts, always be sure to link back to your original content or use CTAs to funnel them in. YouTube Shorts have people coming in from all demographics. But, unlike TikTok or Instagram, they’re not always looking for satisfying visuals or pure entertainment.
Conclusion
More people spend their time on short-form video platforms nowadays. So the trend is shifting from YouTube and Facebook to TikTok and similar platforms.
Content creators will also have to adapt to this change. They can either out entirely into these platforms or use them to promote their existing content.
In that case, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are the best places to focus your attention on. These platforms get more than 2 billion users combined and you have a better chance of marketing your brand or product on here.
That said, be sure to consider the different nuances of each short-form video platform. You need to optimise each piece of content for these platforms for your content to rank well and possibly go viral.
