Reaching consumers in a 'Short' and sweet way

One of the competitors in the short video platform space in India is YouTube with its entity - YouTube Shorts. The space was first popularised by Bytedance's short video platform TikTok, but the app was banned in India on June 29 2020. Post the app's ban, other players such as Sharechat's Moj, MXPlayer's Takatak, Chingari, Instagram Reels have tried to make their presence felt in the short video space.

This space can be a tricky one to navigate for both content creators, as well as marketers who are looking to leverage the platform for visibility. On Day 2 of Goafest, a representative from YouTube took to the stage to deliver a Masterclass on how to reach out to consumers in a new way - via YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts aims to be a collaborative effort - meaning that content creators can collaborate across genres, languages, and video content formats (both long and short) to create content.

The speaker added that micro reviews - which aim to summarise the features of a product (usually) with a verdict - performs well on Shorts. Another format that works well for YouTube’s short videos or Shorts as they’re called is ‘Story time’. This is when a content creator breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to their audience, usually to tell a personal story which involves a brand integration too. She went on to play a ‘story time’ video that had an integration with the brand Pacsun.

In this video, the influencer talks about how she liked the quality of the shirt and the implication was that the fabric quality was good enough to withstand a tie-dye activity. “It’s a great way to collaborate with multiple creators without the content sticking to the same micro-review format,” she explains.

Facts and hacks are another format that work well for learning, edtech or financial brands to create knowledge and awareness around certain topics, as well as awareness about what they do.

The speaker also stressed on the fact that it was important for brands to not think of content creation in terms of just occasions, but to plot out a content calendar for the whole year and to consider themselves creators in the first place.

She also stressed that YouTube's Shorts' content library is home to a wide range of music which is popular and copyright-free. Creators and brands can also use audio and music from other long and short videos while creating original Shorts videos.

The illustrative example used was of mattress brand Nectar - which made a video comprised of reactions of their customers' to the mattress delivery. The speaker mentioned that reactive content which prompts users to feel things also works well on Shorts.

It's also important to keep the videos short and snappy. Creators have to keep in mind that unless a user scrolls up, the short video will play repeatedly, so its important to create a short video that loops smoothly.