Making the Most of Short-Form Content

When PR agencies are tasked with creating content, short-form content is going to be a huge component of your work.  On top of being savvy video editors, we have to be in-tune with current trends and understand what actually resonates with users. It’s important to understand what would best represent our client but also resonate with someone scrolling on TikTok or Instagram. These days, short-form content is king, and there are many advantages to mastering this format and style. Here’s how you can get started with making the most of your short-form content for your clients. 

 

When you’re on TikTok and hit with an ad, what are you going to do?  Keep scrolling, of course! Nobody goes on social media to be served ads.  People primarily use social media to be entertained, informed, and inspired.  And smart brands take advantage of this to create fun and fresh content that people actually want to watch.  Otherwise, you risk users scrolling past your videos and we don’t want that.  So before we make content, we need to understand why people consume short-form videos to make sure it’s something that users actually want to watch.  So as a lifestyle PR agency, how can we really make our content work for our clients?

 

Depending on your client, the type of videos you create will vary.  For Jurlique, a holistic skincare company, their content is going to be heavy on showcasing the aesthetics of their product and someone using their products.  So you can imagine a “Get Ready With Me” (GRWM) video or an ASMR unboxing.  However, if you’re creating videos for a place like the Manhattan Village, which has shopping and dining experiences, then you’re going to rely more on vlog style videos with trending audio or voice-over.  It truly depends on your company’s industry, so do your research! (Hint: This is your excuse to scroll on TikTok or Instagram Reels). See what other competitors in your industry are doing on their socials.  Consider what video style trends do you notice?  What is their editing style? What text or trending audio do they include?  Now your job is to get inspired by those trends but then personalize it for your client.  That’s what will make your content work!

 

It’s no secret that attention spans are getting shorter over time.  A video that’s 2-minutes long is probably not going to have the same retention rate as a 20 second video.  So when you’re editing your videos, think about how you get to the point fastest without compromising your story.  You can always start your edits long, but then start to narrow down!  (We love filming more content than we actually end up using).  Think of TikTok- their speciality is serving you great content in a short period of time.  The ideal TikTok length is around 21 seconds to 34 seconds, so ideally under a minute. We love using InShot and Capcut to make quick edits for our videos! But knowing this, how can you leverage quicker and shorter videos but still keep them interesting and engaging?  

 

People love social media for the entertainment, so of course the videos we create should be fun!  It’s very obvious when a video feels forced and feels like an ad.  People scroll to feel some sort of authenticity and connection (even if it is somewhat polished). Remember, our job is not to create an advertisement.  Our job is to connect to our audience through entertainment, storytelling, humor, and relatable content. No matter if you decide to make a trending video or something unique, always have the mindset of having fun.  And of course, enjoy the process of being creative!

 

To make sure your short-form content is keeping up with the most important industry trends, click here to learn more about how our lifestyle PR agency can help your brand stand out.