Short-form videos have gained exceptional prominence in recent years, partly thanks to our ever-narrowing attention spans. This is why all major social media platforms now offer opportunities to create short video content. Just look at TikTok’s massive ROI.
There are many reasons for this. Shorts are easier to produce cheaply and quickly, allowing content creator flexibility and a chance to react quickly to memes, trends, and culturally important topics. They do not require expensive equipment to make, so anyone with a phone camera and basic editing skills can create videos of their own.
What Makes Video Clips So Popular?
Short-form content is easy to watch and share, and is generally free. It is universally accessible across all devices and platforms and prioritized by social networks’ algorithms, which helps them reach a wider audience, boost engagement, and encourage viewer participation.
For example, think of videos that start different challenges, from dancing to planking. This allows viewers to feel a sense of belonging and connection with others sharing their interests and passions.
Just as importantly, shorts are a great way for content creators to make substantial revenue. Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram allow users to monetize their content through various options such as paid memberships, live donations, creator funds, and ad revenue sharing.
How to Use Video Shorts for Marketing Purposes?
Shorts are also a great marketing tool. In fact, one study found that 73% of users prefer to watch a short video to learn about a product or service.
According to the Hubspot report on marketing industry trends for 2023, short-form video is the most popular and the most effective trend among marketers, offering the highest return on investment. It is also estimated to see the most growth of all marketing strategies in 2023.
Here are the 5 pro tips for making social media clips for shorts that will help you stand out from the competition and increase your engagement.
1. Be Authentic
More than anything, online video viewers value authenticity and transparency. You don’t need expensive equipment, elaborate scripts, groundbreaking ideas, perfect lighting, or editing. What you need is to find ways to connect with your viewers and the best way to do that is to bring your authentic self to the table (or camera, as it were).
If the brand you’re promoting is yourself, share things about your life, work, beliefs, problems, or whatever you’re comfortable sharing, and think that other people will find it relatable, informative, or educational.
If the content you’re creating is focused on a product or a service you provide, showcase them in use or provide an in-depth look at the process behind it.
For example, if you’re a clothes designer, provide a step-by-step inside peek into how you design and create a clothing item. Have each of the shorts focus on one aspect of the process, and soon you will have a whole series of shorts that tell a compelling story.
2. Hook Your Viewers
When you’re creating short-form videos, you only have a few seconds to hook your audience before they scroll down to the next video. That means you must pay particular attention to how you open your videos.
You can start with a provocative thought or question, an inspiring thought, exciting visuals, or an appealing piece of music. The goal is to provoke curiosity in your viewers to persuade them to stick around and find out what happens next. Take a look at the clever use of the comment screenshot here to get you to continue watching.
3. Always Use Subtitles
Using subtitles is an easy and simple way to ensure that your video is accessible to the widest possible audience: to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, to those who find themselves in noisy or quiet environments, to those who are not native English speakers or are not familiar with a particular dialect or jargon.
Subly makes subtitle, translate, and transcribe video or audio content easy. Simply upload your video to Subly, then add highly accurate subtitles to your video. You can also style and edit the subtitles to make them more fun and easily readable.
Subly also gives you options to quickly translate your subtitles, considerably increasing your worldwide audience without you having to do any extra work. Subtitles will also help you improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which means more people will run into your content.
In addition, Subly gives you options to easily edit your videos, shorten them (for example, remove awkward starts and ends of your clips), and create snippets and teasers you can upload to social media.
You can also download your video in whatever aspect ratio you need for your preferred social media platform. For example, you can upload vertical videos on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, and horizontal videos on YouTube. Creative possibilities are truly endless with Subly.
4. Post Regularly
Consistency is crucial when it comes to engaging with your audience and ensuring that a social media platform’s algorithm prioritizes your shorts.
How often you should post depends on the platform of your choice, but Hootsuite recommends approximately 3-5 posts a week on Instagram and TikTok (they can be the same or different shorts).
Of course, none of us feels like posting all the time, but here again, shorts come in handy because you can create and edit them very quickly, thanks to Subly. Because of this, you can become a highly efficient and prolific content creator, which will again help people notice your brand (whether that’s you, a product, or a service you provide).
5. Tailor Content to Your Audience
When creating your shorts, remember always to keep your audience in mind. Listen to your viewers and engage in a dialogue with them. Make them feel included in your content and they will be likelier to stick with you, support you, and share your clips. Humor and emotion are more likely to help you connect to a broader audience.
If you’re selling products, create hype around their releases, offer free trials or create giveaways, contests, or events in which your viewers can participate. A survey by TikTok found that 77% of platform users like it when brands come up with memes, trends, and challenges they can hop on.
Now that you know exactly what to do, there’s nothing stopping you from creating unique and memorable social media clips for shorts that will help you attract more viewers and build your brand.
