As someone who’s spent years creating video content, I know how challenging it can be to decide between short-form and long form video content. Should you provide in depth tutorials for your viewers or opt for something snappier like Youtube Shorts? Do you appease the search engines or capture attention of potential viewers?
It's not so much "short form vs long form video." They each bring something unique to the table. Determining where they fit into your marketing strategy is key. Let me walk you through what I’ve learned about these video content formats, the best use cases for long form video content and short form video content alike, and the platforms where they truly shine. I'll also highlight how you can choose the best platforms for long form and short form video content depending on your marketing strategy.
What is Short-Form Video?
When I think of a short-form video, TikTok videos, Instagram Reels and Instagram Stories, as well as YouTube Shorts immediately come to mind.
These digestible, short videos—usually lasting a few seconds up to three minutes—took off during the COVID-19 pandemic for good reason. They cater to our shorter attention spans while still packing a punch with engaging yet detailed content.
In an age where audiences are seeking instant gratification, I love how short-form videos can capture attention of a target audience mid-scroll. Whether it’s a tutorial, a behind-the-scenes look that provides a brief history into your brand, or a product highlight, these shorter videos are perfect for sparking curiosity and connecting with new audiences.
Best Uses for Short-Form Video Content
In my experience, short-form videos are best if your content strategy aims for quick, snappy engagement that attracts new viewers.
If we were to look at the overall content marketing funnel, short-form video content would sit at the top-of-funnel. This is where your business is looking to increase brand awareness, create meaningful connections with new audiences and customers, and hook them in with your brand messaging.
I really like short-form videos for the variety of video types you can produce using the format - think:
- Quick tutorials
- Behind-the-scenes clips
- Short form skits
- Product highlights
- Customer testimonials
Short form videos are also great if you’re on a budget, given they don’t cost a lot of money to produce, but can still be incredibly effective to build brand anticipation and awareness with new or potential customers.
What is Long-Form Video?
If you’ve ever planned to watch Netflix but ended up lost in a 20-minute YouTube video, you’ve experienced the power of long-form content. Long form videos exceed five minutes or more and tend to convey in depth information or complex topics.
I use long-form videos when I want to dive deep into topics, showcase in depth expertise, or tell a compelling story with an emotional connection. Many companies will also produce long-form content internally for company training and personal development purposes.
I turn to platforms like YouTube and Vimeo for long-form video content, but hosting videos directly on your website can also work wonders. This keeps your audience engaged with your educational content without distractions from third-party platforms.
Best Uses for Long-Form Videos
Long-form videos are ideal for highlighting thought leadership and expertise, educating customers on the intricacies of your product, or conducting content deep-dives.
I like to think of long-form video content as suitable for:
- In-depth tutorials
- Interviews
- Webinars
- Branded storytelling
This enables businesses to really dig deep with their video content strategy, getting clear with their brand messaging, highlighting complexities and use cases for their products and services, as well as engaging and educating viewers through long form video.
I'm also seeing more video content accompany podcasts, so viewers can watch rather than listen to their favorite podcast.
Pros and Cons of Short-Form Video Content
Pros
If you’re in any sort of video or social media marketing role, you’ll know that consumers seek authenticity and transparency in the brands they follow. They want the opportunity to connect with your employees, explore product use cases, and more. The highly engaging and shareable nature of short-form videos paves the way for personalized authentic connections between your brand and your viewer.
The brevity of short-form videos forces you to get your point across in as few seconds as possible while still providing an engaging viewing experience. I especially like using short-form videos given their low cost to produce and my team can have a Reel or TikTok video turned around relatively quickly, too.
What’s more, you’re meeting your viewers where they primarily interact with content - their mobile devices. Short-form video aligns really well with mobile-first platforms for its accessibility and popularity offerings, given this content style can be shared and watched from any device.
Cons
Of course, I can’t touch on the pros of short-form videos without also highlighting the cons.
Like I mentioned above, short-form content forces you to get to the core of your messaging quickly given its brevity. This can be a downside for brands looking to convey complex messaging and depth of content in limited time. Additionally, short form content can be detrimental to your brand if you don’t convey information effectively enough, as your viewers may end up searching for additional information.
Your short-form content is also at risk of feeling fake or inauthentic if not well-produced. Ensuring you have a clear video marketing strategy in mind, understanding your resources and equipment, as well as budgeting to produce short-form content ahead of your actual production, helps to create high quality videos despite the brevity of shorter video content.
Pros and Cons of Long-Form Video Content
Pros
Long-form video content really lets you flex your creative freedom while increasing brand recognition in an effective yet memorable way. Whether it's detailed tutorials or memorable brand stories, long videos enable in-depth storytelling and brand connection, while engaging your audience for longer durations across your marketing channels. This is beneficial as it improves viewers’ brand recall, increasing loyalty and trust as you build your business fan base in the long run.
Given the length of long-form video content, it’s ideal for educating and nurturing audiences in the middle or bottom of the funnel. At this point, your long form video viewers are likely already converted as loyal customers or are on the verge of taking action with your brand. Whether that’s signing up for your newsletter, registering for a lead magnet that provides relevant in-depth information, or purchasing your product or services.
Cons
There are a few negatives to long-form video content. Depending on your video's length as well as the complex topics covered, long form content may require additional time and investing substantial resources to produce. Depending on your budget and timeframes, long-form videos may not be an achievable goal for your brand and its marketing efforts.
There's also the risk of decreased audience engagement with a longer format. Long-form video is often a long game with potential viewers, as this format takes more time to gain traction with audiences. Case in point, despite being further along in the content marketing funnel, a viewer who sees your long form video content is 20 to 30 minutes, might immediately be turned off by its length.
It’s important to be strategic in where you publish your long-form video content seeing as the format may not be suitable for all social platforms. Again, it’s about identifying your video content goals and your messaging ahead of video creation, to determine which platform will be the best fit for your longer videos.
How to Choose the Right Format for Your Marketing Strategy
When considering to implement short form vs longer videos, there are a few factors to help determine the right video format for a successful video marketing strategy. Not only does this aid your video marketing, but it also helps you to get to the core of your goals and audience preferences, cutting through any potential ‘fluff’ in the process.
Evaluate your goals
Determine your “why” behind your short or long form video. Why are you going through the efforts to create content, especially if you're collaborating with a video production company. What do you hope to achieve with your potential audiences interacting with your online video content? Is your video length part of your overall strategy?
Some examples of goals might include:
- Brand awareness
- Educating customers
- Nurturing leads for your youtube channel
- Audience engagement
I like to understand and evaluate my goals before creating videos, as it helps me to make better decisions for my preferred platform, given different goals will benefit from different platform placements. For example, educating customers is best done through how-to’s and explainer videos.
Consider audience preferences
While you might know what your business needs in terms of your video marketing, you also need to consider the video content preferences of your viewers. This helps achieve higher audience retention rates as well as creates deeper connections with users.
By analyzing your viewer demographics, behaviors, and engagement levels across your social media platforms, you gain a better sense of the type of video content and video length to focus on as part of your marketing strategy. You also meet your potential viewers where they’re most likely to interact with you on a major video search engine.
Review platforms your audience frequents
From filters and music libraries to video templates, different social media platforms provide marketers with various offerings for video marketing purposes. These marketing channels also provide comprehensive insights, enhanced seo and analytics tools to ensure success with your long form and short form video.
Just because you heard younger generations prefer TikTok doesn’t make it true or relevant for your video marketing strategy. Do the work to uncover if this is applicable to your social media platforms and your target audience's attention spans.
Utilize each platform’s analytics to get a sense of audience preferences and pain points, which you can use to develop personas and hone your video content strategy.
Combine Short-Form and Long-Form Video in Your Strategy
When it comes to it, one type of video content is not better or worse than the other. While it can sometimes feel like a contest of short form vs long form video content, a better comparison of the two types of video content is like apples and oranges.
While both short-form and long-form video content offer marketers valuable benefits, a balanced approach that leverages different video lengths is often most suitable to meet your marketing needs.
Incorporating one or two long videos alongside several short form video clips on constant rotation, offers a healthy mix to boost your content marketing tactics. Not to mention, creating videos by repurposing long-form content into short-form clips helps maximize your reach with target audiences, as well.
The Right Video Format for Your Strategy
Whether you lean toward short-form, long-form educational videos, or a mix of both - the key is aligning your video's content strategy with your goals and audience. Start experimenting today and see how video can elevate your brand!
