Creators’ new leverage for millions of views
Launched in 2021 by Youtube to compete with TikTok, YouTube Shorts are now a real opportunity for creators and brands to make millions of views. The giant YouTube’s new video format has already won over 1.5 billion monthly users worldwide, and generates over 30 billion views a day. Fad or real opportunity? Solid Rusk explains the latest social networking trend: YouTube Shorts.
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What are Youtube Shorts?
YouTube Shorts are very short videos of up to 15 seconds, with several sequences linked together by dynamic editing. The themes can vary, from humorous videos to tutorials, tips, educational videos or even interviews (see examples with GQ).
The great strength of this feature is that it’s accessible to everyone, with an intuitive interface that’s easy to use from a simple mobile device.
With over 2 billion users every month, YouTube is a breeding ground for brands and creators who want to create original, quality content in no time, and take advantage of YouTube Shorts to gain visibility on social networks.
As we’ve seen with Tik Tok, short videos tend to elicit more engagement and interaction from users, and especially the new generation. Launched since 2020 in India, YouTube Shorts are an excellent opportunity for brands to promote their products or services in a creative and engaging way to their target audience.
How does it work?
Like Instagram and TikTok, YouTube has designed its interface so that creating YouTube Shorts is simple and accessible to all.
As YouTube explains in the description of its new tool, the application offers a host of creative features: the ability to easily add a music title or audio track, integrate text that can appear and disappear thanks to the “timeline” tool, the ability to speed up or slow down the video as you wish, hands-free mode, etc. Once published, Shorts will then be available directly on the YouTube Shorts page.
Once published, the Shorts will then be available directly on the YouTube home page in a dedicated section, where they will be accessible to all by simply scrolling through the videos, and in the “subscriptions” section of the interface for your subscribers.
How do I create a Short on the YouTube application?
To create a YouTube Short, simply log on to the YouTube app from your smartphone, press the “create” button and let your creativity run wild. You can then add any music and information you like, as well as a title of less than 100 characters.
How do I import a video to create a Short on Youtube?
If you’ve filmed a video in advance with your smartphone, or if your favorite videographer has concocted an exquisite video for you that you’d like to post. It’s perfectly possible to import your video to create a Youtube Short. To do so
- Open the YouTube application,
- Click on the “+” at the bottom of the screen,
- Select “Create a Short”,
- From the Short recording menu, click on the icon at the bottom left of the screen to access your video library,
- Select a video from your gallery.
Note: if your video is less than 60 seconds long, you can add sequences to complete your Short. You can also import several videos from your film library to create a YouTube Short.
Why use YouTube Shorts?
Over 50% of social network consumers say they watch short, funny videos for entertainment and relaxation. And the success of TikTok isn’t going to prove us wrong. Shorts are clearly an alternative proposed by YouTube to catch up with profiles that are increasingly turning to TikTok and abandoning the longer content offered on the platform.
This new short, vertical video format, created as a response to those who are abandoning the platform, is perfectly in tune with the format favored by Internet users, as well as adapting to the way video is consumed. Smartphone viewing accounts for more than 70% of YouTube video viewing time, and the figures keep climbing! (Source: YouTube, 2019)
YouTube's new lever for millions of views
“Youtube announced in April 2022 that creator Shorts containing excerpts from a longer video generated 100 billion views in the same month.”
But YouTube Shorts aren’t just about countering all those profiles launching on Tik Tok, and becoming a pale copy of the Correan social network!
YouTube Shorts are also a way of teasing out and attracting the public to the creators’ longer (and monetized) content, by arousing their curiosity through a short, attractive, easy-to-watch video.
The short format encourages content to go viral, making it easier for more people to discover your channel. So getting your YouTube channel off the ground will be a lot easier with short-form content than with long-form content! After all, convincing a new audience to watch a video lasting less than 60 seconds will be much easier than inviting them to click on a 40-minute video.
Note that YouTube judges the interest of your short by the engagement it generates (viewing time, shares, likes and comments), creating a virtuous circle: the more your short works and the more people like it, the more people will see it! The priority must therefore remain the quality of the content you offer!
🫰Update: Since February 2023, shorts have been monetized. This should motivate even more creators to adopt this video format!
While creators have every interest in adopting this new format, it’s also a very promising strategy for brands. Shorts make it possible to create content tailored to audience expectations and reach new viewers quickly and easily. And even Dior and Chanel have understood this well 😌
The big luxury brands are also getting into shorts ...
According to fashion companies using Shorts, including Burberry, short videos are effective for promoting their high-investment content and events. Shorts should therefore become increasingly popular, even in the very closed circles of fashion and luxury.
Indeed, Shorts are often teasers for longer-form content, to promote runway shows, like Dior, or to highlight the highlights of a past or current physical event, like Prada. This gives fans a unique behind-the-scenes look at such a large-scale fashion show. Fashion Week as if you were there – marketing genius! Chanel and Dior are the luxury brands with the highest number of subscribers on Youtube, with 2.1 million and 1.6 million subscribers respectively.
What to make of the YouTube Shorts trend?
With 86% of consumers saying they want to see more video content from the brands or companies that interest them (Source: Wyzowl, 2020), YouTube Shorts are a perfect option to meet this demand and offer new, ever more creative content that will help you stand out from your competitors and gain visibility.
Brands that add Shorts to their YouTube strategy see up to 20% more conversions. This format is becoming essential for triggering purchasing behavior, so why deprive yourself?
With strong expansion in France, we recommend you seize this great opportunity now. Not yet as widely used as on the other side of the Atlantic, starting now to integrate YouTube Shorts into your content strategy will make it easier for you to stand out from the other creators on the platform, and from your competitors, who will continue to lag behind 😉
Call on Solid Rusk to create and produce short videos in vertical format for your social networks.
Based in the south of France, our videographers work with professionals in Monaco, Cannes, Nice and Avignon.
Article written by Emeline l Prête-moi ta plume
