Our attention spans are declining and the Gen Z has an even lower attention span than Millennials.
You as a marketer, need to take note of that. Advertisers and content creators may not like the idea. But our audiences need to be drawn forcefully to watch long-form videos.
Frankly speaking, it is what it is. You don’t have much time to catch your viewer off-guard. Perhaps, you only have a few seconds to delight their view and compel them to watch more.
Fail to do so, and you might never have anyone viewing your content. What’s even more bothersome is that the content quality shapes the brand image.
So, if you plan on turning your browsers into buyers, then you must look for a better and surprisingly, more attractive alternate. But what is that?
Short-form video.
Why Short-form video?
More than 90% of roll-over ads on YouTube are skipped shortly after five seconds. No user is interested in watching these out-of-context ads. To them, it’s just a distraction to watch the video they so desperately want to.
Though there may be instances where the viewer does not have many options to skip. But, that’s not helpful either.
It is so since the average consumer attention span in the current time is measured at 8 seconds. Earlier in 2000, the human attention span was measured at 12 seconds.
With declining attention spans, we must eye for short-form delivery.
More so, the content we watch daily is short form too. In fact, creators are working more on what we may term as ‘Content Funnel’ to draw the most interested viewers and delight their video experience.
They’re doing it by curating several pieces of shorts or reels that highlight interesting parts of the full video. You’ll see people creating shorts to make the most of their internal traffic as well.
Shorts link to full podcasts allows people to look for more interesting info and watch the full video.
Plus, dividing the long-form video into 20-30 second shorts mean you can actually attract a diverse audience by targeting a variety of user intent for the content.
Now, that also adds to the advantage of short-form. Plus, you also save yourself from rolling out long-form videos to a general audience. This tactic has proven to be seriously impactful for podcast creators.
Besides, short-form videos are working best in the fitness arena for creators.
People now are able to boost organic growth by a massive margin in no time. 30-second videos work perfectly for workouts. People inspired by the idea would watch the full video to learn exercise form and order.
And, it can even be perfect for explainer content. 30-second promotional video cost is also reasonable.
Brands have also partnered with training video production companies to curate training manuals dispersed across short-form videos.
How do we attract viewers with a shorter attention span?
While viewers continue to hate ads in the middle of videos on YouTube or social platforms, we must know that ads might not be the best option. That leaves one to ponder where to go from here.
With shorter attention spans, one marketing trend has begun to rule the content world, and that is short-form video content.
Even though the short-form video has been here for a while, it has recently picked up steam. Perhaps, it’s due to its cost-savvy feature. What’s more prominent is the connection viewers can develop with short-form delivery.
Short-form is cost-effective
In 2020, advertisers had more than 25% of all digital ads spent on video ads. What may have motivated them to do so is the fact that everyday users watch 1 billion hours of video content.
Plus, what’s even more motivating for them to dive in is the fact that 60% of businesses posted videos on social every day. While they’re eyeing higher ROIs, they have targeted short-form video content. But why?
Because it’s cost-effective. You might see businesses paying millions or thousands of dollars for shooting several minutes of video content.
But, here’s the catch. Short-form videos fall in the five to thirty-second timeline. Plus, shooting these videos is also ridiculously cheaper.
And, with user-generated content as another cost-effective way, marketers are swooping in more cash.
More importantly, while user-generated content saves you big, they also serve as quality testimonials to build the trust of new prospects.
Potential of Animated delivery
Short-form video becomes even more strong and eye-catching with animated delivery. Animations have the power to catch your viewers off-guard and make them wonder (Wait! what just happened there?).
So, if you’re eyeing short-form, see if you can blend your videos with a handful of short, well-timed animations.
These won’t just prove to be attractive, but animations speak volumes about your brand identity. So, if you want to see your viewers left in awe and say Wow! (That’s some branding!), then make use of animation in your videos.
How to tell short stories
Since time is limited, you need to focus more on delivering amazing value in no time. The viewer only has a few seconds. Fail to pique their curiosity, and you’re done (That person would never return to your content). So, what to do?
Storytelling. You tell compelling stories in a 30-second video. It’s unrealistic to finish stories, but the video can always have enough to hook your audience.
You can focus on character and conflict. That would pique the curiosity of your viewers. Draw them in, don’t reveal the ending of the story. Never.
Bottom line
To wrap up, short-form video has been the smartest variation in content. While it has become popular quite recently, businesses are already raking in big. It is not to say that long-form content has lost its value.
But, long form is as important as short form. In fact, long-form often has the complete story.
To allow long-form to retain its value, we also need to understand that we need a content funnel, to filter out the most interested viewers and direct them to long-form content. And, for that short-form video is the way to go!
