When it comes to creating video content for your business, there are two main types of videos you can produce: short form and long form. Both have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the right format for your business will depend on your audience, goals, vertical you are in, and the type of content you want to share with your users.
Short form videos are short in length. In a nutshell, they are usually less than 10 minutes long. These videos are often used to share quick tips, showcase a product or service in a fun and engaging way, or provide a sneak peek into your company’s culture. They are also great for social media, as they are more likely to be watched and shared by users.
On the other hand, long form videos are typically longer in length, usually over 10 minutes, and are designed to provide in-depth information or tell a story. These videos are often used to share company values, provide detailed tutorials or demonstrations or explain complex products or services. They can also be great for creating a more personal connection with your audience by allowing them to get to know your company and the people behind it.
When deciding which format to use for your business, it’s important to consider your audience and the type of content you want to share. Long form videos are great for providing detailed information and creating a personal connection with your audience, but they may not be as engaging or shareable as short form videos. Short form videos are great for quickly capturing attention and providing bite-sized pieces of information, but they may not be able to provide the same level of detail as long form videos.
Short Form Video
When creating short form videos, here are a few things to keep in mind.
· Keep it short and sweet: Short form videos are designed to be quick and easy to watch. It’s important to keep things short and sweet. Aim for videos that are less than 10 minutes in length, and make sure your message is clear and easy to understand for your audience.
· Be creative: Short form videos are a great opportunity to get creative and showcase your company’s personality. Use graphics, animation, or even humor to make your videos stand out and be truly memorable.
· Optimize for social media: With short form videos, it’s important to optimize them for social media platforms. This means creating videos that are vertical, have subtitles, and are easily shareable. This will help get the message out.
Long Form Video
There are a few key things to keep in mind when creating long form videos for your business.
· Keep it engaging: Long form videos can be a lot to take in. Therefore, it’s important to keep your audience engaged throughout the entirety of the video. Make sure to use a variety of shots and angles, add in animation or graphics, and include interesting sound effects or music to keep things interesting. Users need to be engaged with it more since it is a longer video.
· Be clear and concise: While long form videos do provide more time to explain complex concepts or share detailed information, it’s still important to be clear and concise in your message. Avoid using industry jargon or complex language that your audience may not understand. Create the video for your audience and not yourself.
· Have a call to action: Just like any other type of content, it’s important to include a call to action at the end of your long form video. This could be anything from asking viewers to visit your website, sign up for a newsletter, or follow you on social media. This is why you always hear “hit that subscribe button” on various YouTube videos.
Short Form vs. Long Form Videos
A good comparison of various companies can be beneficial in deciding whether to do short or long form videos.
Business 1 – Mama Meghan’s Breakfast Restaurant
Mama Meghan’s is a family-owned breakfast restaurant located just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. They are open daily for breakfast and brunch. They have seen and heard about the hot new social media app called TikTok. They know that everyone seems to be using it and they wonder if they might be able to use it to get a new customers into their restaurant.
They ask a young family friend to come up with content to be filmed for TikTok. These young professionals have seen the popularity of short form cooking content on the platform and decide to film some of the popular dishes at Mama Meghan’s being cooked. The group follows all of the industry trends they have researched. They do a showing of the final product first before detailing the steps that they go through to create the dishes.
Business 2 – Synergy Ireland
Synergy Ireland is a digital marketing company based out of Dublin, Ireland. They leverage their knowledge of trends in both short form and long form video content to utilize both as much as possible. They have a bi-weekly podcast uploaded to their YouTube Channel, wherein they talk about marketing (both organic and paid) trends. They also post short form content in line with their client’s major milestones (conferences, events, major completion of projects, etc).
This combination of short form content to show how they are impacting their client’s bottom line, and long form showing that they have experts in the field within their own four walls, demonstrates to any potential clients that they have a focus on ROI and are industry thought leaders.
Business 3 – Safety First CPR Instructor Training
Dakota is the owner of Safety First CPR Instructor Training and wants to be able to reach a broader audience. Fortunately he realizes that his classes are enjoyed by his customers and clients. However, they wish there was a quick refresher tutorial that they could show as part of their monthly safety training. Dakota also realizes that there would be value in sharing these 3-5 minute refresher or how to handle an emergency videos with the public.
He recognizes that they have to be longer form videos because he wants people to be able to find them in case of an emergency and scrolling through an infinite number of short form videos is not conducive to saving a life. Dakota ensures that his titles and thumbnails are as memorable and straightforward as possible, because he wants people to be able to differentiate his videos from the rest of his competition. In the end, he is putting tremendous effort into making the videos high quality and more importantly, straight to the point.
So what now? If we examine the three hypothetical businesses, we can see how leveraging the unique factors of each format benefits the company’s goals for exposure through video based social media. Each company is able to leverage the attention span and needs of their potential clients in a way that leads to an increased probability in click through rate and and more importantly viewer conversion.
Conclusion
In conclusion, long form and short form videos are truly great options for businesses looking to create engaging video content. The key here is to choose the format that best aligns with your goals, audience, and the type of content you want to share about your business.
If you want to learn more about video marketing and Slicketts Digital, then contact us today!