Remember when Instagram was all about perfectly filtered square photos? Now, you can’t scroll for ten seconds without encountering a video. There’s a reason for that – in 2023, users spent an average of 60 minutes daily watching short-form videos. But here’s the real question: as a creator, are you making the most of this shift?
Creative Insight: The New Rules of Digital Storytelling
The rise of short-form video isn’t just a trend – it’s a fundamental shift in how we consume and create content. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, a well-crafted 30-second video can tell an entire story, spark a movement, or launch a career. Many people became sensations overnight because of just one reel. Check out this article from Social Media Magazine on the most viewed reel on Instagram.
What makes short-form video so powerful? It’s proven that visuals are the perfect storm of psychological triggers:
- Our brains process visual information 60,000 times faster than text
- Music and motion create emotional connections in seconds
- The rapid-fire format keeps viewers engaged while satisfying our shortened attention spans
But this is what is fascinating – the most successful creators aren’t just pointing and shooting. They’re using sophisticated storytelling techniques compressed into bite-sized formats. Take Sarah Chenoweth @scdceramics, a ceramist who transformed her traditional art gallery posts into 30-second process videos. Her engagement jumped 400% when she started showing the mesmerizing process of throwing clay, with the wheel spinning and clay taking shape under her hands. The secret? She understood that people aren’t just interested in the final product – they’re captivated by the journey.
And the data backs this up. Posts with video are shared 40% more often than images alone, and users spend 88% more time on websites that feature videos. But perhaps most telling is this: 68% of people will watch a business video all the way through if it’s under 60 seconds.
If you don’t have a process for your content creation process, you may find it difficult to break even. You need to take a moment to re-assess your process, the tools and how you’re presenting. Here are a few tools that may be of use to you.
The Toolbox: Your Short Video Arsenal
- CapCut is a video editing app you can use to put your videos together. It’s perfect for creating professional-looking videos with minimal effort. CapCut offers a free version of their app which may be all you need to revamp your content creation process. Here are some standout features:
- It has built-in trending effects and transitions.
- There is also a built-in music library for music and sound effects that you can even use commercially.
- You can generate auto-captions with multiple styles.
Pro Tip: If you’re creating YouTube videos horizontal videos, you can use their standout feature that helps you to quickly repurpose horizontal videos into vertical formats.
- Repurpose.io is a content automation platform. It is perfect for cross-posting content across platforms even to cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox. Create content once and then let it automatically adjust for YouTube Shorts, Reels, and TikTok. You can subscribe for a 14-day trial and see how this works for you. Here are some key features of repurpose.io:
- It automatically reformats videos for different platforms.
- You can schedule posts across multiple channels
- It helps maintain content consistency
- Descript – I discovered this app in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown and I can say this is a wonderful tool for creators. Descript is perfect for creating content with lots of talking or voiceovers. Here are what I feel are its best features:
- It offers text-based video editing. Remove a text and it edits the part of the video seamlessly.
- It can automatically remove filler words.
- You can also use it to generate automated captions
- With their AI Eye Contact, you can adjust your eye to keep looking at the camera no matter where you’re looking.
- Canva – If I don’t mention Canva, I would be doing you a lot of injustice because Canva is becoming an all-in-one suite for content creation. If you are very new to all of this, I would recommend you turn to Canva. It’s good for both image and video content. If you want a quick turnaround with your content, go ahead to Canva. Here is why:
- They have an extensive template library. Pick one and repurpose it.
- If you have a brand and you have everything figured out on typography, colour scheme and the like, you will love their brand kit integration. You can save your brand colours and fonts to maintain consistency across your content.
- Canva has an easy resize for all platforms even for prints!
If you have been doing this for a while, you can also leave a comment about what tools have been useful for you in your content creation journey.
Let me leave you with this quote by Cal Newport – “In a world of noise, clarity is power.”
Share your wins. Reply with your most successful short-form video to date. I’d love to feature some success stories in our next edition!
Keep creating!