Video can capture attention, evoke laughter, tears, or outrage, and convey information that’s unlike any other form of content. In just a few years, video has risen to the most popular form of content on social media, and brands are taking notice.

If you launch video marketing campaigns, it’s a must to have them on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. Specializing in short-form video content, these platforms give consumers the short, digestible videos they long for.

In fact, in 2023, data showed that online videos had an audience reach of 92.3% globally. Whether they were music videos, humorous videos, or illuminating tutorials, the data doesn’t lie. Marketers for all types of brands need video to elevate their marketing, make a great first impression, and reach their goals.

Ready to get started? Here are some tips to master short-form video content and capture the attention of audiences on TikTok and YouTube Shorts.

Tell a Great Story

Effective storytelling is one of the most important aspects of compelling video content. TikTok and YouTube have video editing tools that you can use to keep your videos short, snappy, and enticing from the first click to the end.

Some of the best types of storytelling are personal stories, customer success stories and testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content that offers a “peek behind the curtain” for your brand. Make sure you get creative with it and use an emotional angle, rather than a dry, advertising approach.

Include Sound Effects and Embrace Challenges

Part of TikTok’s engagement ecosystem is trending content, which changes constantly. You have to pay attention to TikTok trends to see what’s on its way in (and out), and think of how you can apply it to your brand. You can get an idea of trends on your For You page.

Keep in mind that not every trend is appropriate for your brand or audience. Don’t just jump on trends for the sake of it. Focus your efforts on trends that connect with your brand and make sense for your audience.

Always Be Authentic

When TikTok rose to popularity, it revealed that users are looking for authentic, raw content over polished, overly professional advertising, which spread to other platforms. If you want to succeed on TikTok and YouTube Shorts, get creative and showcase your personality in your videos.

You don’t need to be silly or off-brand to promote authentic content. Even if your brand is business to business, you can show authenticity with live Q&As, product demonstrations, customer testimonials, industry commentary, and behind-the-scenes content.

Captivate the Audience

TikTok and YouTube Shorts provide plenty of opportunities to interact with your audience in ways you can’t through blog posts and articles. Consider content that engages organically, such as contests, probing questions, polls, and Q&A sessions. You can even challenge viewers to create their own content based on your video.

It can take time to build up an audience for engagement, but it’s worth the effort. When you engage with your audience, it makes them an active part of the experience and helps you build trust and community.

Be Consistent

Consistency is crucial to any marketing campaign, video included. With TikTok and YouTube Shorts, the sheer volume of content means your content can get lost if you only post intermittently. Make sure you post on a consistent schedule to keep them engaged and looking forward to your posts. Over time, your viewers will see more of your posts than those of other brands, ensuring that your brand stays top of mind.

Being consistent doesn’t mean posting every day or posting low-quality content just to have something out there. Pick a schedule that seems realistic for you, such as twice a week, and plan your content around that schedule.

Optimize Your Hashtags

Hashtags are important for keeping your content discoverable and visible on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Like keywords, you need to research the hashtags that are appropriate for your industry and include them in your video captions to improve searchability.

Avoid tactics like spamming your videos with irrelevant hashtags. While it will drive traffic to your videos, it’s not the traffic you want. Keep your hashtags relevant to your video’s content and industry, mixing both broad and niche hashtags to draw your audience in.

Use Compelling Visuals

TikTok and YouTube Shorts offer a lot of exciting tools and effects to make your videos more interesting and enticing, such as stickers, filters, audio, text overlay, and animations. While these won’t all be ideal for your brand and audience, think of how you can use them strategically to make your content more unique – especially if your content has a lot of competition.

Follow Trends, But Don’t Be a Follower

Trending content is vital to TikTok and YouTube. However, if you do what everyone else does, you can’t stand out from the competition. You have to walk a fine line between being up on trends while also putting a unique and original spin on your content.

Once you get a feel for trends, see if you can spot emerging trends to get ahead of the curve. While this takes some guesswork and research, producing content early in a new trend can give you a lot more traction than following a trend on its way out.

Analyze and Improve

Like any content strategy, video marketing isn’t something you can just create and leave. You have to stay up on the TikTok analytics to see what’s working for your audience, what you can improve, and what content your audience wants to see. This could be topics, video elements, video style, or other aspects.

Pay attention to all your metrics for a big-picture view of how your videos are performing. Evaluate views, shares, comments, likes, reactions, and completions to pinpoint what’s successful (and what isn’t) and use it to inform your future strategy.

Embrace Short-Form Videos

Video content can give you incredible results, especially when you embrace short-form videos for TikTok and YouTube Shorts. The key with this content is tailoring it to the respective platforms and leveraging their strengths for your success.

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