The Rise of Short-Form Video Content What We Can Learn from TikTok & Insta Reels

When Facebook’s Instagram launched Reels in 2020 there was so much for new marketers to learn and enjoy. But, soon after, TikTok would come to the forefront with short-form video content, capturing the audience by storm and largely taking over the space. While both of these platforms seem to target short-form video content, there’s actually a lot that marketers can learn from them in terms of using these same types of content for their own marketing on other platforms and into the future. Analyzing the ways that TikTok and Insta Reels differ can help us to dictate how short-form video content can be put to use in our own content strategy. 

What is Short-Form Video Content?

Short-form video content is typically under 2 minutes in total length, but depending on the platform you’re using or where you intend to post the content, it could be much shorter. For example, the maximum length for a TikTok video is 60 seconds, or 1 minute. Likewise, the maximum for a Reel is only 30 seconds. What does this tell us? Not much!

However, when we analyze the fact that TikTok has taken over much of the landscape, we see that the trend is more towards short-form video content that is slightly longer than the shortest. Sounds confusing doesn’t it? It’s not really, though!

Creators are able to dive slightly more in depth when they have that extra 30-seconds to work with on TikTok and apparently, they enjoy that feature! So, as you consider creating your own short-form videos, think about pushing the content between 30 seconds and 1 minute, with the goal of closer to the 1 minute guideline.

Who’s Watching Short-Form Video Content?

I used to think it was just my kids that were engaging in the short-form video, but surprisingly enough, brands and marketers alike are finding that people of all ages are engaging in short-form videos.

While TikTok and Reels seem to cater to the millennial and Gen Z ages, consumers as a whole are losing their ability to focus as we grow. Thus, the key takeaway is that people of all age groups, from all walks of life, and with all interests are engaging in short-form videos.

If your audience is primarily of the lower age range, you should certainly be targeting a lot of short-form video content for your marketing efforts.

If you’re targeting those in their 40s and up, statistically we still see that as many as 47% of those in the age of 30-49 are still using Instagram reels — so short-form content can be targeted to them as well!

To TikTok or To Insta Reel – Which is Right for Me?

You might find that both, or neither are right for you – in fact, the purpose here is to note that we can learn a lot from short-form video content, and it’s not necessarily that short form videos are only for these two platforms!

Short form videos are ideal for a variety of marketing and advertising initiatives. You might find them useful for marketing on your own website, on social media, and in email outreach campaigns.

Short videos are also ideal for use on landing pages, product pages, and in boosting awareness of your brand anywhere that you’re currently able to distribute video content.

Creating short-form video content for both platforms can help you to stand out and achieve maximum reach from these opportunities, but we encourage you to also check other short video content options out as well.

It’s all part of making an informed decision on the video marketing strategy that’s right for your business.