The Rise of Short Form Social Content

It is without a doubt that short-form content is on the rise still, despite already filling a huge section of social media already.  Video content has always been a brilliant way to digest information and since TikTok’s massive popularity spike in recent years, other brands have followed suit in making their own feature that mimics TikTok.

TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight – all these platforms allow users & brands to tell fast-paced stories that can convert viewers into consumers. 

TikTok has over one BILLION users and is on its way to taking down the long-time Facebook giant. What is even more impressive is that those numbers add up fast. In September 2021, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance reported that they had hit the one billion mark— a 45% increase since July 2020.

They don’t look like slowing down either, they continue to release new features like the recently rolled out TikTok stories that is a direct competitor with Insta stories & Snapchat stories.

The reason why TikTok is so undoubtedly unique is their ‘For You’ page. This page is the main content feed on the app, brands who tap into the platform can instantly become much more visible, as each piece of content tailored to a target audience’s interests will scale naturally on TikTok. Users are recommended videos related to what they interact with the most. This means the app as a whole is a lot more effective & accurate when it comes to demographic targeting.

Another way to amplify your brand’s visibility on TikTok is to aim to jump on different trends on the platform that suits your niche. Using elements such as trending sound clips or a viral topic can immediately draw the attention of the viewer and give the algorithm a nudge to boost you to a wider audience.

According to a social study delivered by HubSpot, social media users claim that they are more likely to make a purchase after watching a video from a brand. Short-form videos on TikTok allow brands to experiment with how they can dynamically showcase their services while keeping the attention of the viewer – 68% of people from the same study agreed to clicking off or swiping up on a video that did not offer significant value to them or make them become intrigued within an average of 20 seconds.

If short-form is so effective, why did platforms like Vine fail?

Vine was an extremely popular platform and it kickstarted an inordinate number of creators’ careers. The main problem with Vine though was the inability to monetize your content. The only way you could gain revenue from the platform was through things such as brand deals. This made the platform in most cases unprofitable for creators unlike TikTok & Instagram etc.