Short-Form Video Marketing Tips

Short-form video has grown in popularity over the last few years. Platforms such as Instagram, Youtube and TikTok each adopted short-form video content in different ways, adding new features, duration and effects. 

Every day more brands and businesses are recognising the power of these short video clips to market products and services, and reach a new audience. Currently, three of the most popular short-form video platforms are Instagram Reels, Youtube Shorts, and the original short-form video mogul: Tiktok. 

So here are our tips on how you can use short-form video marketing to your advantage and integrate it with your current social media strategy.

TikTok Marketing Tips

TikTok is at the forefront of short-form video and is the real pioneer app that allows for all sorts of entertainment videos, with a duration of 15 seconds to 3 minutes. 

Tiktok has been evolving, moving away from a sole focus on creators and introducing tools for brands that now allow them to advertise and promote their products using ads and sponsored content, rather than a regular video that isn’t guaranteed to be seen. 

When it comes to TikTok strategy for brands, whether you are a small business, larger business or a creative or media agency, these are the 3 main TikTok marketing tips to keep in mind:

• Influencer Marketing – Due to the ‘novelty’ factor, TikTok creators are seen as a more credible source of information than Instagram influencers who have partnered with brands consistently. Keep this in mind when tailoring your approach to TikTok marketing by focusing on organic content that blends with a TikToker’s existing videos seamlessly, focusing on building brand awareness and avoiding highly sales-oriented language.
• Original Content – TikTok marketing doesn’t require you to come up with the next viral trend by yourself, in fact, the majority of videos become popular by recreating a trend. Curate your ForYouPage to match that of your target audience in order to understand what your consumers are viewing and interacting with (popular sounds, trends, filters) and recreate them on your page. 
• Paid Ads – TikTok has tools that allow you to create an ad, based on your business size. The app allows you to set your goal, select your audience, set your budget and design your ad, all through TikTok For Business. Make use of it, particularly as a new account to get in front of your ideal audience. 

Instagram Reels Strategy

Instagram Reels is a short video format that uses similar features to TikTok to create entertaining content. Reels is an effective feature to build and reach an audience for brands. Because the videos are easily shareable across the many Instagram features, such as DMs and Stories, it’s easier to increase engagement. 

As a brand, your Instagram reels strategy should integrate short-form video content that showcases products/services, creates tutorials or how-tos and makes announcements. At the same time, you should use the stories feature to drive traffic to your reels and take advantage of user-generated content across your profile to leverage social proof.

In terms of paid short form video marketing, reels are one of the best platforms to run ads, especially for those who are already familiar with Facebook ads. You can add objectives like traffic, reach, app installs, video views, brand awareness and conversions. As well as display reels ads in three different ways: on the feed, on the explore page or in the reels tab. 

YouTube Shorts Strategy

The new kid on the block is YouTube Shorts. A relatively new feature on YouTube, Shorts allows users to post short video content with a maximum duration of 60 seconds. 

But what can YouTube Shorts do for your business? As the popularity of short form videos grows, so does the dwindling attention span of viewers. Thanks to their quick time frame, Shorts can reach a bigger audience than regular long-form Youtube videos. In fact, YouTube Shorts have brought in more than 2 billion active users per month, so definitely should not be overlooked in terms of short form video marketing.

For a B2B brand, your Youtube Shorts strategy should focus on connecting with a professional audience that might be difficult to reach on TikTok. Targeting specifically those who are already searching for industry-related content, Shorts can provide tonnes of value.

Simultaneously, YouTube shorts can be a great way to bring value to your channel, enticing viewers to your long-form content where you can address their pain points more in-depth. Although initially, it may seem that your reach and like ratio on Shorts is much smaller than other apps, keep in mind that YouTube has been around for much longer than other social platforms, which means their video algorithm is more fine-tuned to users’ needs and that works in your benefit.

Keep in mind that YouTube is also owned by Google, so a great YouTube Shorts strategy will rely on looking at the platform as a search engine and optimising videos for specific keywords. Finally, YouTube videos have a life span that is much longer than reels or TikTok, so when creating a Shorts, focus on high-value content with great audio and camera quality.

Pinterest Video Strategy

Last but not least, do not discard Pinterest, in particular Idea Pins. Though they are a relatively new feature, they reach a larger audience than regular pins. Your Pinterest video strategy should focus on using Idea Pins as a way to drive traffic off of Pinterest and into other platforms (your website, your blog, etc). 

Remember that, much like YouTube, Pinterest works as a search engine, so make full use of Pinterest trends to understand what your audience is struggling with and how they phrase their struggles. Then, tailor your Idea Pins content to answer their needs in a clear and concise way. 

And there we go, the best way for your brand to use short-term videos. For more information on marketing tips, check out our blog page. Get in touch and take your business to the next level with Limelight Digital.