How to Use Short-Form Video Content to Grow Your Business

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Attention has always been a currency in marketing, but with the rapid increase in short-form video popularity in recent years, social media platforms like Tiktok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram and Facebook Reels have become the prime marketplace for user attention. Apps that trace their roots to a place for memes and short dance videos are now leviathans in the realm of internet marketing. To effectively compete in the online marketplace, businesses need to have a presence on social media, and short-form videos are the content pushed the most on these platforms. The bottom line is simple — creators who have the most eyes on them can turn those views into profitable calls to action.

The best part of this? Anyone can create short-form videos. It’s easier than ever to make high-quality content regularly, and it’s a great way to engage with your potential consumer base. A common complaint among creators in 2022 is that it’s not as easy to grow organically as it was in 2020 due to an oversaturation of content, but don’t let this deter you. It’s never too late to start posting, and starting today is better than starting tomorrow. Although an increase in creators raises the bar for quality and quantity expectations among users, this also means that there are more users than ever spending time on the app. This only serves as an advantage for you. With a smartphone, a little trial and error and a few extra minutes out of your daily schedule, you could start posting short-form videos today and see notable growth within a month.

An attainable formula for success can be used across all short-form video platforms. The following six tips are commonly cited among creators to see growth on each platform.

1. Consistency is key

You’ve heard this phrase throughout your life, and there’s a reason for that: consistency = reliability. This rule applies to short-form video creation more than ever. Posting regularly not only trains platform algorithms to push out your content more frequently, but it also shows followers that you are a reliable creator. Find a regular, realistic posting schedule that works for you, and stick to it. This is the only way you can achieve growth and create potentially viral content. Achieving virality with videos is like gambling: You never know which videos will go viral, but posting more videos only increases the chances that one of them will resonate and be seen by hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

2. Follow trends, including trending audio

Hop on trends as fast as possible, and apply them to your niche. The nice thing about trends is that they’re usually easy to replicate and can be a low-effort way to crank out content to push to new viewers. By consuming content when you scroll in your free time, you’re already doing your homework to understand trends and see how other creators are using them. Save ideas and trending audio as you go. When you’re ready to film, you will come to the table equipped and ready to apply these ideas to your own content.

3. Look at these apps as search engines

A Google exec has acknowledged that TikTok is repositioning itself as an effective search engine, and the search engine features on these apps serve as tools to be utilized by creators for growth. This is especially true among young people, who use TikTok to search for everything from product recommendations to local places to eat. TikTok recently increased its caption character limit to a whopping 2,200 characters, leaving more real estate in the form of text for you to drop in the keywords that you want to gain traction. Include these keywords and phrases in your closed captions (if applicable), in the on-screen text of your videos, in the hashtags and in your comments to increase your discoverability and bring hits to your profile.

4. Create a library of content

Posting consistently will naturally create a plethora of content to feed users who land on your profile. If a user finds your video and likes it, they’re more likely to follow you if they click on your profile and find similar videos. If users binge your content when they land on your profile, not only does this score more likes and views on your videos, but it also signals to the algorithm to push your content out to similar users.

5. Lean into your content that performs well

This strategy is not new, but it’s dependable. After you have a library of content, analyze your past videos and make intentional decisions about how to use that knowledge moving forward. Replicating content that performs well doesn’t need to be a cookie-cutter process, but using consistent elements that users like increases the likelihood the algorithm will push it out to the same users who originally interacted with the content. Your comments are a valuable asset to quantify these differentiating elements that help users identify you. Your audience will already be communicating the parts of your videos they like or that stand out to them, and it puts the ball in your court to capitalize on those elements repeatedly.

6. Reuse your content across platforms

Successful TikTok videos can also become successful YouTube Shorts or IG reels, and inversely, a video that performs poorly on TikTok could become successful on YouTube Shorts or Instagram and Facebook Reels. Download your old content, remove the watermark of the original app and post it on other apps using trending audios to reap the benefits of your video creation efforts and increase your footprint across platforms.

Building your own platform through short-form video content is an investment of your patience and effort, but with time, you will see your work pay off. This is a networking opportunity for you to connect with similar creators and potential customers and receive feedback on your content or products. There’s no ceiling for the success you can achieve with your short-form videos, and you already have the resources at your fingertips to start posting today.

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