Remington BeggNo matter what kind of business you own, when it comes to sharing video on social media, short-form video “tidbits” can be a great way to serve information to your prospects and existing customers.
What’s considered a short-form video?
Short-form video refers to any video less than 10 minutes. A video longer than 10 minutes is considered long-form.
According to Social Media Examiner, short-form video is popular on social media due to a number of factors, including their “snackable” nature and ability to suit our busy lives and brief attention spans.
Short-form videos are what people typically want to see when they’re scrolling Facebook because more than likely they’re on their mobile phone or on the go. Not only that, some social networks actually have restrictions on video length. For example, Instagram only allows videos shorter than 15 seconds. That’s where short-form videos really come into play.
1. Product Tutorial or How-To
Showcasing your product or service in a short video for social is probably the easiest way to jump into short-form video marketing. This type of video shouldn’t take you too long to plan out because you don’t need to be super creative. Some people simply just want to see how to use your product or service, with explanations that make it as simple as possible.
Delish shines in short-form video on Facebook with their ‘How To Make Jingle Juice’ video. This video has received more than 14 million views and is only 58 seconds long.
2. Showcase Your Specialty
You’ll want to be a little creative with this one. Start by choosing a specialty product or service that you have and make a video about ONLY that subject. Take for example, our creative agency Impulse Creative. We're a full-service inbound marketing agency that offers a ton of marketing services. A great “showcase” video for us could be of our designer, Jeff mocking up a logo. By showcasing his talent and including a call-to-action promoting our [FREE] logo grader, he’s bringing attention to our business.
3. New Product or Service Teaser
Think about Apple and how they unveil a new iPhone. They drop a simple, short-form teaser video of a new iPhone and fans go wild. New product reveals are a great video subject because they build anticipation and get customers excited!
4. Behind the Scenes
People are naturally curious. If you’ve got something cool behind the curtains, show it off. Show your customers that your team is human. Having an in-office dance off? Share it with your social media followers. In a (friendly) heated debate over a business-related topic? Document it. Be authentic and show off what’s going on in your day to day. Your customers want to know there is a real human on the other side of the screen, so show them.
5. FAQ’s
Does your business receive frequently asked questions? Answer them on video. This is another easy way to leverage short-form video. List out at least 5-10 FAQ’s that you know your customers would like answered, then break each question up into a 30-60 second video answering the question.
6. Product or Service Hacks
If your business offers a product or service that can be used in different ways, a hacking video is perfect to try on social media. Team up with your creatives and brainstorm a few ways to “hack” (or repurpose) your product. Sometimes, customers aren’t even aware of all the cool features a product might have, so show them!
7. Employee-Generated Content
You’ll get more enthusiasm for your internal messages if you engage your team to produce the materials themselves, in their own voices and styles. Gain some momentum by combining content creation with contests and employee spotlights. They’ll be more inclined to share these types of videos too, which means a larger audience for you!
Ready to take your business to the next level with video marketing?
Ready to learn more? Check out our Video Marketing Guide filled with video tips and tricks to slay your marketing. You can also download the Definitive Guide to Video SEO below so people actually find your videos once they're live!
[Note: We first published this article Dec 15, 2017. In March 2020 we updated the copy and links to keep it relevant and ready for you.]
"Phone video" photo by Joey Huang on Unsplash