Short videos are one of the content formats that has emerged with more strength over the past few years, partly due to the rise of social media and the widespread use of mobile phones.
While mobile browsing and shopping keep growing with no signs of slowing down, online content continues to shorten up, forcing companies to deliver it in smaller units to retain attention, engagement, and happy communities.
So, if your company is still not using short videos, here are a few good reasons to start (and a couple of hints to get started with).
What are short videos?
The use of video has already proven itself as an engaging form of communication that makes a real impact in purchase likeliness.
Generally speaking, short videos are:
- 20 seconds or shorter*
- Shot vertically
- Single-purposed
But there are different formats for every goal: while longer product videos can make a great sales agent, shorter videos are useful to provide short messages with little work. That includes highlighting features, solving queries, and creating short stories with your product as the main star.
Today’s accelerated rhythm, the rise of Social Media, and the long-debated decrease of the attention-span call for shorter, concise, and useful content, as seen with the rise of TikTok, and Instagram.
What are short videos good for?
Short videos are great on Social Media, where they have a big impact. Mostly TikTok and Instagram. In fact, User-Generated-Content has a lot to do with their upsurge and growth.
The chosen platform mostly depends on the brand’s audience and segmentation. Other platforms, like, Youtube, Snapchat, and LinkedIn, have contributed to the rise of short videos for awareness and promotion, and we’ll talk about that in upcoming posts.
Generally speaking, short videos are good for:
- Approach your audience more personally
- Promotional use
- Function explainers and how-to videos
- Brand communication
Benefits of using product short videos
The key of using short videos is providing useful information in short formats, that can be easily watched, understood, and shared, and that complete product information
Creating short videos may be intimidating at first, but the results (engagement, views, …) are worth the work. Especially because they are easy to make, cost-effective, and can benefit your brand and your product with a personal approach.
Short videos:
- Are highly engaging and faster to consume.
- Provide valuable information in little time.
- Work great as teasers to redirect users to your product page and for larger strategies.
- Live long (just like product infographics).
- Can boost your brand consistency
- Open great promotion opportunities. From giving a closer look of your company to influencer collaborations.
Short videos can be made from larger videos with quick and easy edition tools. And on top of that, you can create a series of short videos as learning pills, or to show different aspects of a product’s benefits, values, or testimonials.
Why are short videos becoming so popular?
While Microsoft stated the attention span has decreased over 30% in 20 years, other studies refute the alarming headline that it is now shorter than a goldfish’s. While a conclusion is reached, two things we know for sure: time is precious, and there’s too much information to process.
From the consumers’ point of view, the popularity of short videos makes a lot of sense when we consider:
- 73% of people would buy a product after watching a video (Hubspot)
- 72% prefer video to learn about a product (Wyzowl)
- 68% of people will willingly watch videos if they’re shorter than a minute long. (Vidyard)
Social Media not only allows users to share small pieces of content but also to get in direct touch with companies. For companies, that opens interesting opportunities in terms of promotion and education. That, in turn, completes the information about a product makes it easier to respond to customer concerns in a prompt, clear, and visual way.
Some things we can conclude about why short videos are becoming so popular in e-commerce:
- They’re intended for life on-the-go.
- Their easy consumption. Anywhere, anytime.
- Educational purposes bring products closer to consumers
- Captivating content retains viewers’ attention.
Getting started on short videos
It is rare to see them as a one-time thing – at least when we talk about product short videos. Moreover, their use is frequently part of a bigger communication strategy where several publications work as chapters of a story.
Short videos do not require a lot of time or money to be shot. You should spend more time defining your general objectives and the message in each video of the series, than actually producing them. And this is how you get started.
Designing your short video
- Define your goal before writing your script. That will help you creating an attractive story.
- Tell your message in less than 20 seconds. Keep it crisp and to-the-point.
- Keep your focus on know what you want to show and tell.
- Define the scenes you will use to tell your story. Unless it’s a short interview or you want it to be a one-shot video, you shouldn’t need more than 5 or 6.
- Make sure you finish with a clear CTA to tell your viewers what to do.
Producing your video
- Short videos must capture attention from the first shot and clearly state their goal. Every second counts.
- Educate. Short videos must be useful and valuable to maintain viewers’ attention.
- Make clear and smooth transitions. You really can’t lose your viewers’ attention!
- Place your CTA in one frame so it has clear visibility.
- Consider overlay text if you’re using music or voice-over or lighten spoken information.
- Do mind brand consistency. Try to stay aligned with your brands colors and scenery.
Publication and share
Hopefully, before shooting and publishing your short videos you’ve made some research about your audience, their concerns, and how they interact.
Reaching the right people on the right platform is essential for their success.
- Use thumbnails that brief your short video content
- Do not forget captions. How your short video is found will mostly depend on the keywords and hashtags you use. Remember every platform has its own characteristics.
Because everyone, with the right guidelines, is a potential content creator.
Should you need help to create yours, just schedule your call with Content2Sell and let us know!
P.S.: About the statistics paradox
Short videos are highly engaging and more likely to be entirely watched. So, in the end, you might find yourself with more views and more entirely watched videos, but fewer watched minutes. When it comes to video monetization that may be something to worry about. But the main objective of short videos is not that of regular videos, which should get their fair share of views as more conversation is created around your product.
