Fluid in length and purpose, short-form video has become the content format of choice as consumers’ mobile consumption behavior evolves. Check out the numbers.
- 52% of Millennials watch short-form premium mobile video daily (vs. 47% of Gen Zs)
- 55% of Millennials say they are watching more short-form premium mobile video than they were a year ago (vs. 42% of Gen Zs).
As bite-sized video takes the mobile world by storm, here’s how you can integrate short-form video into your marketing strategy.
Instagram Reels (by IG)
Spanning just 15 seconds per clip and visible to everyone, Instagram’s latest TikTok-like video feature Reels, offers brands a new way to engage their audience on Instagram. Incorporate Reels into your marketing strategy to promote your products playfully on Instagram. Ensure your content is more focused on creativity using Reels than the product itself.
For example, luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton drove conversions by recruiting models to showcase its Cruise collection in a subtle way using Reels. The highly stunning creative content raked in over 8 million views. To get traffic and drive conversions with Reels, edit your content to conjure emotive responses from your audience. Also, advertise your products in a way that is innovative and custom-tailored to your audience.
You can also make your brand go viral on Instagram by creating challenges on Reel. Challenges generate a lot of hype on social media, are engaging, and bring more attention to your Instagram account. Sephora’s #Sephorasquad challenge with beauty influencer Ryan Potter led to a 2.1M view count, over 29K likes, and 329 comments. To gain traction, collaborate with influencers and use a unique hashtag to expand your reach.
YouTube Shorts
YouTube recently introduced a new section in its app called Short Videos that allows digital creators to make short-form vertical videos of less than 60 seconds using mobile devices. Since YouTube is focused on promoting shorts, you can dramatically increase the number of subscribers for your channel by creating short videos.
When Shorts becomes available in your geographical region, consider starting a 30-day challenge to experiment with shorts and see how your audience responds to it. Focus your content on your brand messaging and use the hashtag #short at the end of your video title to let YouTube know that your video was created specifically as a short.
Byte
Released in 2020, Byte is a social media app that lets users upload six-second videos. Byte was downloaded 1.3 million times within one week of launching, and Generation Z appears to be the app’s primary users.
Since Byte is a new platform, get a competitive edge by growing your audience early with fresh, original content. Nike launched the first-ever Byte ad program featuring a series of “Self-Hail Mary” videos, which showed people throwing and catching impossible football passes. To drive engagement, ensure your content is shareworthy and exclusively created for Byte. Byte is big on originality-so don’t repost content you’ve used on other platforms. If you’re in the beauty or fashion industries, consider making short mini tutorials. Showcase your product in an attention-grabbing way and infuse some humor.
Triller
Triller is an AI-powered music video app that lets creators choose a song snippet and record a video to it. Although Triller is not a mainstream app, it has 65 million active users. Deliver a virtual reality shopping experience by leveraging Triller’s access to Snapchat’s augmented reality capabilities. Beauty brand NYX used Thriller for its Spring 2021 collection. Fans got to attend a virtual concert, access an augmented reality pop-up store, and try on NYX products virtually on Thriller.
You can also create awareness about your brand and expand your reach on Thriller by creating a curated music experience. Elf cosmetics partnered with up-and-coming musicians Halston Dare, Yasmeen, Kiana V, and Rosette to launch a five-track holiday album on Thriller. The album had over 37 million streams across all social platforms in addition to Spotify and Apple Music. If you want to do well on Thriller, create entertaining videos that resonate with the audience you’re targeting. Use trendy songs and popular challenges to generate awareness of your products.
TikTok
Short-form video king TikTok experienced a surge in growth in 2020 and continues to be the social media platform of choice for many. Following Generation Z’s appetite for short-format, authentic and entertaining content, leverage the authentic spirit of TikTok to give consumers a new way to discover and engage with your products. A couple of ways you can use TikTok to drive engagement and sales include hashtag challenges, tutorials, and partnering with influencers to promote your brand.
Whichever strategy you decide to use, create unique content with a laidback vibe, and ensure your content is designed to feel native to TikTok. Promote your products in videos subtly and share content in short, digestible, and visual parcels.
Dubsmash
Recently acquired by Reddit, Dubsmash allows users to film a short video of themselves and sync it with audio from a popular television show or movie. Dubsmash is particularly suited for brands looking to use entertainment to connect and drive user engagement. Dubsmash claims to draw around 1 billion monthly video views, with 30% of users logging in daily to produce content.
Dubbed ground zero for culture creation in America and home for underrepresented communities on social platforms, Dubsmash is worth keeping an eye on for brands looking to use entertainment to reach Black and Latino teens.
Short-form content has won a place in the heart of consumers. Now is the time to find out the short-form video platforms your audience hangs out on and see how you can use the marketing tips in this article to engage them.