By now, you must have become familiar with short-form videos such as Reels on Instagram, Shorts on YouTube and Toks on TikTok.
Short-form video content is rising rapidly in popularity.
There are probably quite a few reasons, but the most obvious ones are the huge amount of content available and the little time we have [as viewers] to consume it all.
Videos can be much more engaging than written text and impact us better on an emotional level than pictures.
In this week’s episode of the Building a Modern Employer Brand podcast, we’ll discuss why short-form videos have become so popular, what types of short-form videos are popular, how your talent marketing can benefit from short videos, and I’ll also share three very simple ideas for your short-form video content creation.
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Why are short-form videos so popular?
I’ve mentioned our rapidly decreasing attention span on this podcast many times. That’s one of the main reasons why short-form video has become more popular than long-form.
Videos turn on automatically on our feeds without us having to do as much as lift a finger.
As stated in this article in Forbes, there is nothing new in short-form content. We’ve had snaps on Snapchat, Vines on Vine and some other social media platforms now long gone where short-form video creation was possible.
As a part of someone else’s audience, you can probably agree that you don’t have time for everything.
When someone wants some of that time, you prefer them to get their message to you as quickly as possible.
We must also respect this as talent marketing content creators [when it comes to our talent audiences’ preferences].
So many people are trying to win the attention of all of us, including our audiences, and those who make it through are likely to know how to hook attention and deliver a meaningful, tailored point in a matter of a minute or so.
Now that all the major social media platforms enable us to create short-form video content very easily, this type of content is highly accessible to social media users and creators.
What are short-form videos?
No one has really determined how long this type of video is. Mostly because the maximum length available varies on different platforms.
On Instagram Reels, it can be between 15-90 seconds, while on TikTok it is between 15 seconds to 3 minutes.
On Facebook, it might mean anything from 60 seconds to 3 minutes, while on YouTube, it can be anything from 1 minute to 5-10 minutes depending on whether you are posting your content as YouTube Shorts or actual video.
What are the benefits of short-form video content?
There are four clear benefits of short video content.
#1 Opportunity to go really creative
Short-form video calls you to go creative when showcasing your company culture, people, value, career opportunities, benefits and whatnot.
#2 Higher reach than posting images or plain text
Most social media platforms currently prefer to show short-form videos and push your short-form video reach organically.
#3 Using trends in your videos can make your video go viral
TikTok introduced trending content -types with sounds and music. When you use trends in your videos, you have a huge chance of going viral and getting massive engagement in your video!
#4 Getting discovered by relevant non-followers
Did you know short-form video content on social media will help you to get discovered?
Again, it’s the algorithm.
Your short-form video content is likely to be pushed in front of relevant non-followers.
Other short-form video benefits
What about the fact that video content is easier for your audience to memorise? Especially if you leverage the narrative form and make it about your audience. Or share simple, useful and memorable tips.
I also recently heard that social media videos, even short-form videos, benefit from SEO (search engine optimisation) when you use keywords in your captions and narrative.
We’ve discussed email marketing in the context of talent marketing. Did you know that adding a short-form video to your email marketing content can increase open rates, especially when you type “video” in the subject line?
And finally, short-form videos allow brands, also employer brands, to connect with our audiences in fast and fun ways that aren’t the usual boring, too commercial or too corporate.
Shorter videos help grab attention better than blog content. Why not use the short-form video for career storytelling instead of making them in the over-consumed article format?
What data says about short videos in marketing?
According to Video Marketing Report 2022 by Hubspot:
- Short videos rank #1 for lead generation and engagement.
- Almost half of the marketers surveyed believe short videos are most likely to go viral.
- More than half of the surveyed marketers said that their companies are already investing in short video content.
If your competition uses short-video content, it ranks number one in generating engagement, is much better in getting their messages in front of your shared audience and gets them discovered by relevant non-followers; how long are you going to let your competition take advantage of short-form videos when you are not?
If your competition uses short-video content, it ranks number one in generating engagement, is much better in getting their messages in front of your shared audience and gets them discovered by relevant non-followers; how long are you going to let your competition take advantage of short-form videos when you are not?
@rantanensusanna
What kind of videos should we be creating in the short form?
Remember, I’ve mentioned the four types of content audiences search for.
Those are informational, inspirational, educational and entertaining.
I can tell you, I’d be careful with informational type because that can easily turn into a boring video about you. No one is interested in you. Or me. Or the next person, as such.
Unless you are an intriguing person or a massively popular employer.
Let’s focus on the threesome formed by inspirational, educational and entertaining types of content.
Educational and entertaining content are the two most popular short-form video content.
@rantanensusanna
Educational and entertaining content are the two most popular short-form video content. Both fit your employer brand marketing plan for sure.
#1 Educational short-form videos
Educational videos help your audience in their day-to-day lives and connect your audience with your brand much more tighter than any advertising will do.
#2 Entertaining short-form videos
Entertaining content has its place in our newsfeeds. And it is pretty easy to create these days, thanks to, for example, TikTok’s trending content and sounds.
Did you know that social media users prefer video to photos and articles, especially if they are looking into something new?
I don’t know how to convince you if that’s not a call to action with short-form videos when building your employer brand or marketing your vacancies.
Let’s end this podcast episode with three ideas for your short-form videos.
If you are my weekly podcast email subscriber, check out this week’s email because I’ll share more ideas and tips in the email.
3 ideas for your short-form videos
#1 Duets / Remixes
If you are a TikTok user, you have noticed duets whereby someone posts a video of them watching and reacting to someone else’s video.
What makes this content idea great is that you don’t even have to say anything in this video! Just react with your expressions!
There are also other duets in which you speak your mind, as in explaining your thoughts about the video you are duetting.
Pro tip! When you pick a video to duet with or remix, pick one already viral because it pushes your duet version in front of the eyeballs of those who engaged with the original video.
#2 Day in my life
Day in my life -videos continue to be popular because people are curious to see how other people they follow online live their lives, what their home or office looks like and what kinds of routines they have during their day.
Record, for example, ten clips throughout your day, and at the end of the day, put them together, do a bit of editing and post the following evening.
Pro tip! Search for inspiration with hashtag #dayinlife on Instagram or #dayinlifework on TikTok!
#3 Behind the Scenes
This type of video is super for inviting your audience to peek behind your working scenes.
You shed light on how you select candidates in your recruitment process or how to ideate and create content in-house, how you onboard new employees or how you prepare a welcome pack for your new employee, to mention a few examples.
Hey, I have an announcement to make!
We are now launching a new hybrid program for in-house recruiters called Instant Employer Brand Accelerator.
This is a 12-week program where you get it all: online training, personal coaching and online guidance when you define and develop how you will integrate employer branding into your recruitment process.
Everyone joining this program integrates at least key employer brand marketing and communication elements into their existing recruitment process, messages and key content.
If you have more time available during these 12 weeks, you can also get our coaching in developing an additional employer branding element, such as an updated career site or a talent ambassador program!
The great benefit of this program is that this is more than just you studying online. This is you getting coaching as you plan, develop and start integrating employer branding as part of your recruitment process.
At the end of this program, you should be ready to start implementing your employer brand integrations into your recruitment process and start accelerating your employer brand awareness recruitment process by recruitment process.
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