Video Marketing in 2020: How Brands Can Use Short-form Video to Succeed

As more people engage with brands, businesses, and creators through digital channels, marketers are funneling their efforts to utilize short-form videos in their marketing campaigns. When 4.57 billion of the world’s population is active on the internet, it would be a foolish decision to ignore the enormous opportunity to market your brand digitally. Experts predict that by 2021, the amount spent on digital advertising will rise by $375 billion. 99% of the marketers currently using video marketing are willing to continue doing so in the coming time. That being said, 58% of the marketers who aren’t using videos want to try this powerful branding strategy due to the success and effectiveness of video content.
According to the video marketing trends in the 2020 report, people spend more time daily watching videos on social media channels than ever before. On the contrary, the attention spans of online users in consuming content has decreased. Brands are no longer just competing with each other for the attention of consumers, however. The best performing content often comes from individual creators – and brands need to have the infrastructure in place to discover and react to that content when it crops up.

A viral TikTok featuring Nathan Apodaca drinking Cran-Raspberry Ocean Spray to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” catapulted the band and juice brand to the limelight in early October.
Creating and scaling short-form video can be time-consuming and challenging. How can you affirm that your content is going to resonate with today’s fast-moving and skeptical audience? These tips will help your brand master short-form video.
Creator Videos & User-Generated Content
One of the best ways to introduce your brand freshly is through creator content and influencer marketing. Consumers trust each other more than brands. A subtle endorsement from a creator can go a lot farther than a standard brand campaign. Creator content can also help reduce content costs as there is minimal overhead associated with producing and licensing creator content. Simply asking permission to reshare and republish can go a long way with most creators. Learn how you can get access to the top influencers and perfect your influencer marketing campaigns.
Starting a relationship with creators or influencers can be time-consuming, but what many brands don’t realize is the wealth of content already existing around their brand on channels like TikTok. By simply having an influencer marketing and UGC platform in place, brands can be well-poised to leap on relevant content when it arises or inspire their own content with social media contests.
Teaser Campaigns
There is a reason why short-form videos are more enticing – they are short, to-the-point, and intriguing. If you can recall a movie or product teaser that stuck with you, then you probably realize the effectiveness of this strategy. Teaser campaigns are all about releasing that wave and buzz among the people. Once you float them, your audience will begin a dialogue about the upcoming announcement and, most importantly, check what you have in store for them. Teaser videos are all about getting your brand community curious and excited with a single thought: WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT? Ultimately, they’ll keep coming back for more.
While you do that, ensure you already have a refined repository of videos or other content explaining what you are selling to them. This content must be revealing and should meet your customer’s now high expectations.
Don’t Knock Long-Form Video – When Appropriate
Using short-form videos doesn’t mean saying goodbye to long-form video. Using both short-form and long-form videos in the same campaign can help you cater to a holistic experience for your audience. Long-form videos can also be user-generated. Especially for more popular brands, there are often existing videos explaining how to use a product or offering reviews. These can be collected and reused in the right channels. Or, potentially even re-edited to make short-form clips out of one video. Remember that overly-promotional and hyper-produced content doesn’t always resonate with audiences. Keeping your videos authentic, relatable and practical is a great place to start when reusing or creating video content of any kind.
Video Content Above All
You have to make every second count due to length constraints, and short-form videos offer limitless ways of connecting with audiences when used correctly and creatively. As video becomes more pervasive on every social media channel, brands will need to come up with scalable strategies to keep up with the fast-moving media environment.
Sheryl Jones is a Senior Marketing Specialist at Uplers - An affordable SEO services company. The company specializes in white label services in web development, web designing, digital marketing & marketing automation. She enjoys sharing her insights and thoughts on web development and digital marketing best practices.