We published a blog post a couple of years ago discussing the benefits of creating short video content. Since then, the purveying opinion has shifted. Video content should — more often than not — be short, sweet, and to-the-point. While long-form content is important for gaining a positive SEO ranking for your site and explaining your company, products, and services, short video content should also have a place of honor in your marketing strategy.

Where Short Video Content Works Best

Short video content works for so many reasons, not least of which because our attention spans are rapidly shrinking. In fact, 75% of all videos published in 2018 were less than 2 minutes long. if that’s the case, shorter seems to be better According to a 2018 HubSpot report, the following video lengths performed the best on these social media channels:

• 30-second videos performed the best on Instagram
• 45-second videos performed the best on Twitter
• 2-minute videos performed the best on Facebook and YouTube.

Capturing Your Audience’s Attention

The overall length of the video shouldn’t be your highest priority. If the content manages to convey your message in 5 or 30 seconds, that’s great. What matters most is that you’ve managed to engage your target audience and you can keep their attention throughout most — if not all of — your video, then you’ve won all of the video content prizes.

Here are three things to keep in mind when creating your short video content that appeals to your target audience:   

1. Use compelling storytelling to make an initial impact with your audience — you only have three seconds to capture their attention.
2. If your video needs more than 2 seconds to load, you’re in trouble. As mentioned above, you have a very short window to grab and keep your audience’s attention. If it’s wasted on waiting for your video to load, there’s no coming back from that no matter how great your content is.
3. Create an interesting, eye-catching thumbnail and a compelling video title to pique your viewers’ interest — draw them in so your content can do the rest.