Studies show 72% of Americans use social media, and video content is an essential marketing asset in your social media strategy. According to HubSpot, video has the highest ROI among content formats. Video formats are effective for content marketing and building your brand awareness. Video content is effective for organic growth, too. This blog will explain why you should consider utilizing short-form and long-form video in your marketing strategy.

Short-form vs. Long-form Video

Short-form video content is a video that is less than 60 seconds of total run time. However, the optimal run time for short-form video content should be between 31 to 60 seconds. 

• Short-form video content tends to see higher rates of engagement, as 62% of users finish watching videos under 60 seconds in length. 
• Short-form content makes it easy for audiences to access, building brand awareness over time, and garner more engagement. 
• Apps like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube reels are great for posting short-form content.
  
  

Long-form video content is videos that are ten minutes or more. YouTube is the most popular outlet to find this content, hosting user-generated and business videos on several topics. 

• Long-form videos are still majorly impactful on your brand and marketing. A study from 2017 found videos that were fifteen minutes or longer had an audience engagement rate of 50%. 
• Long-form video content plays a role in an effective social media strategy to drive audience engagement. 
• Using long-form video content to showcase products, share information, and leave an impression on your viewers. 
• YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn are some of the most popular platforms that feature long-form video content.

Maximizing Video Content on Different Social Media Platforms

Effective marketing strategies utilize social media and its features in their campaigns. Almost every industry has a niche on some social media platform. Video content is invaluable to these industries because the options for connection and sharing information are endless. The platforms boasting the best video engagement and editing features are TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube. 

 

TikTok

TikTok's fast-growing popularity and user engagement make it one of the most downloaded apps of all time, garnering three billion downloads worldwide. At the start of 2022, TikTok amassed one billion monthly active users. In the U.S. alone, TikTok has 138 million active users. With these numbers, TikTok's popularity makes it a valuable asset in your video content strategy.

What makes TikTok so appealing is the endless stream of content the app provides users. Every user has a personalized "For You" page that cultivates the content they are interested in. The algorithm constantly refines the content presented and thrives off user engagement. 

As discussed previously, content under sixty seconds in length sees a high return in user engagement, explaining the success of TikTok. TikTok’s popularity following the peak of downloads proves that it is not just a one-time thing; TikTok continues to grow and evolve its video appeal to users and consumers.

Hundreds of companies have used TikTok to their advantage in their advertising and PR campaigns. TikTok's greatest strength is its accessibility for content creators and the ability to push out user-generated content (UGC). Brands have leveraged UGC by reposting the videos, using it for ad campaigns, or as customer testimony. 

 

TikTok has better engagement rates than Instagram or YouTube, so your content will likely perform best on that platform. Using TikTok's popularity and algorithm is a great way to experiment with short-form video content and see what will perform best. 

 

Instagram Reels

Instagram is one of the most downloaded apps, with 3.8 billion downloads worldwide and an average of one billion active users monthly. In response to TikTok, Instagram launched Reels as a competitor and an additional feature of the main app. Reels are similar to TikTok videos, but it has not grown to the same extent. That’s not to say they can’t be impactful, as Reels is estimated to have reached 675.3 million users in 2021.

Reels is a great place to repost your TikTok content or create video content but remember to use SnapTik to remove the TikTok logo. If you repurpose a TikTok on Reels without removing the logo, it can throttle your post.

 

Reels tend to have an average engagement rate of 1.5%, ensuring your content will receive attention. Reels are effective for delivering that short-form content on a platform where you’ve built an audience.

 

YouTube

YouTube is the most popular long-form video content platform, collecting over two billion monthly active users worldwide. The platform is the second most used search engine after Google, making it a valuable place for curating and promoting brand content.

After the popularity of TikTok and the release of Reels, YouTube released its short-form video competitor, YouTube Shorts. This feature is similar to TikTok and Reels and will show content from channels a user subscribes to. Shorts has been a successful venture, garnering 15 billion daily views from users worldwide. YouTube is a great platform for building an audience from your other social media who wish to see more content from your brand.

While a lot of marketing attention is now on short-form video content, long-form video content is still just as valuable. Short-form content is immediately successful in views and likes, whereas long-form content earns payoff from user engagement and subscriptions over time. Videos over twenty minutes long retain 26% of the audience until the end. Long-form video isn't dead, but it does require more work and audience engagement than short-form videos.

Of course, these are not the only social media platforms with video content functions. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Snapchat also use a mix of short-form and long-form video content for their audience and followers. Oftentimes, the video content on these outlets is reposted from other platforms as video compilations or small clips to advertise. 

Key Takeaways of Video Content 

Recognizing the importance of social media and maximizing the usefulness of short-form and long-form video content is essential for building your brand and generating leads. 

• Short-form video content is popular to encourage user-generated content, which will improve brand recognition and awareness. 
• Fenty Beauty showcases user-generated content on their TikTok. These videos feature creators using Fenty products and praising the company. #FentyBeauty has over 1.1 billion views on TikTok. Fenty Beauty’s popularity on TikTok can be attributed to the large amount of UGC it receives about its products. 

• Short-form content (under 60 seconds) sees much higher engagement rates. 
• TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube are the best platforms for creating engaging videos.
  
  

Need help creating content for your social media strategy?

We are content marketing experts. From drafting the perfect video script to creating content that engages your readers and converts them to leads and customers, we can help you take your marketing to the next level. 

Are you frustrated with the lack of results you are seeing with your marketing efforts? Get advice on how to boost your professional brand and follow best practice video marketing tips to get more engagement and results.