Are you creating YouTube Shorts yet? Did you know that videos between 15 – 60 seconds can help you reach a wider audience and grow your brand awareness? That’s the power of YouTube Shorts’ videos. It can transform your business. Here’s proof: In just two weeks, Brandon Baums went from 2,300 subscribers and 227,000 total views to 148,000 subscribers and a whopping 65 million views – thanks to YouTube Shorts and Baum’s enthusiasm to upload consistently. Shorts are designed to entertain your audience and help you to persuade the right prospects to take action. In this article, you’ll learn what they are, why you should create them for your business, how to create Shorts, and some real-life examples of brands doing it right – including us.

What is YouTube Shorts?

YouTube Shorts are short, vertical videos, which you can create using any smartphone and upload to YouTube through the YouTube app, like Stories.  YouTube has built-in video creation tools for Shorts, which makes it easier to capture, add your favorite copyright-free music, adjust the speed of your footage, add animated texts, and quickly edit several 15 – 60 second video clips to create an engaging short video.  Just like the standard long YouTube videos (1+ minute videos), your Shorts can attract viewers who will enjoy the video, share it, comment, like, dislike, or/subscribe to your YouTube channel while watching the video.  Unlike short-form video apps such as Snapchat and Instagram Stories that disappear after 30 days and 24 hours for each platform respectively, YouTube Shorts never gets deleted.  The growth of YouTube Shorts has been phenomenal. Right now, many people (especially mobile users) consume more short-form videos than the standard YouTube videos.

These short-form videos will continue to get views, engagement, and results for the brand or creator that published them.

What content is best for YouTube Shorts?

When creating a YouTube Shorts video, make sure you know what kind of content to post.  “Shorts don’t necessarily have to be entertaining to be successful. However, they do need to fulfill a promise,” says Derrel Eves, a video marketing strategist. Viral YouTube Shorts can be about anything; dancing videos, pets, funny skits, how-to videos, tutorials, announcements, and the list goes on.  While it is possible to publish any type of content on YouTube, it is best to keep it short and simple. Besides, you can also use hashtags to promote your YouTube video. 

The more viral your video idea/topic is, the more likely it is to be viewed by people. MrBeast Shorts is a perfect example of a YouTube Shorts channel with great ideas. It has been gaining views since it launched in August 2020. The total views have surpassed 1.2 billion. 

You can create a short video for your channel and use it to market a business or product.  The recommended duration is 60 seconds, but you don’t have to use the entire time allotted to your videos.  Instead, focus on delivering your message in a concise way.

Benefits of YouTube Shorts

Depending on the audience, YouTube Shorts can be extremely effective at building brand recognition.  Let’s dive into some of the core benefits for our brand:

1. YouTube Shorts video reaches a wider audience

YouTube Shorts is the most recent addition to the platform, and they are already receiving more than 15 billion views per day. It has generated $7 billion in ad revenue so far. These videos are similar to regular YouTube videos in the way that they count as views and subscribers but are accessed from a different platform.  Because they’re shorter, they’re easier to share and are more likely to attract a wider audience. There’s a huge audience to tap into on YouTube with 774.6 million active mobile users. These are users on iPhone and iPad alone. And all you need is just your smartphone to create short videos for them.

When it comes to marketing your brand, you’ll get the widest exposure possible with Shorts.  The short videos will reach a wider audience than your regular videos. You’ll also gain more followers if your short-form videos are interesting and appeal to an audience. As with any other video format, YouTube Shorts has several advantages.  It can complement your regular YouTube schedule by keeping your audience entertained while they wait for the next video.  These videos can also keep your audience updated with other topics. You can also use the platform to post videos on a regular basis. The YouTube Shorts platform is a valuable tool to market your brand and its products.

2. Brands are using YouTube Shorts to tell stories

YouTube Shorts have gained popularity among brands because of their shorter lengths.  And, the introduction of the $100 million Shorts Fund, which will be distributed to qualified Shorts creators in 2022 has equally inspired creators and businesses to embrace shorts.

They can be made for 60 seconds or less, and are much easier to view than a 20-minute video.  If you love storytelling, then you can take advantage of shorts to reach a dedicated audience on YouTube. YouTube Shorts allow brands to use the platform’s video features to highlight unique products or services. 

At Metigy, we’ve also started using YouTube Shorts. A statistic that we found very interesting was that our Youtube Shorts gained us 47 followers over the past fortnight. What’s more, our Youtube Shorts have accumulated over 18,332 views in less than two weeks.

Most of our traffic came from the Shorts feed itself as well as the Youtube search function.  Note: You’re able to add hashtags after your video has been uploaded to make your content more searchable. Our strategy has been to add additional content every few days which has led to an increase in Metigy’s following and view count. But it’s not only our individual posts getting views, all of Metigy’s content continues to increase across the board. Here are our top performing pieces of content to date. Some interesting notes about this content:

• Each content’s subject is different
• We tried different trending sounds on each video (provided by Youtube) 
• In each video, we added a description, hashtags and kept the video length to 30 seconds or less. 

YouTube Shorts are not long-form videos. Instead, they are short and snappy, giving viewers the opportunity to interact with the content.  In addition, they are free to post on YouTube, so brand owners can easily promote them to their audience.  For brand content, YouTube Shorts are a great way to engage audiences and build relationships with them.

3. YouTube Shorts videos provide long-term benefits for brands

If you are looking for ways to promote your brand through videos, YouTube Shorts is a great choice.  These short-form videos are easy to produce and have multiple benefits for brands. 

They are ideal for a variety of topics and can be posted on your main channel or a secondary channel.  They can also be posted in the Shorts section on your channel’s homepage.  According to the Creator’s Guide, any content category can be adapted for the format, but some categories are better suited than others. Shorts are more likely to be watched than other types of content. The reason for this is that they are more engaging to younger audiences.  They also provide instant satisfaction, which is an important factor for brand awareness.  Think Media, a brand that helps small businesses to grow online with videos makes engaging shorts that are growing its community and customers. YouTube Shorts videos have less competition, so the chances of your getting noticed are greater. As a result, you can expect your brand’s content to get more views and attract more subscribers.

How to make YouTube Shorts

If you want to create a YouTube Short, you must understand how it works. You should use keywords to optimize the format for YouTube.  The title of your video should be descriptive enough so that people will not get confused.  Note: Always add the hashtag #shorts in your video title. This will tell YouTube that your video is actually a Shorts video and not the standard video.

To make your first video, follow these simple steps:

Step #1: Download the YouTube app

YouTube allows you to make Shorts video natively in the YouTube app. YouTube wants to keep everything organized in one place, instead of pushing users to download and use a different app for Shorts.   Here’s how to access the YouTube app: 

• Go to Google Play Store or iOS App Store
• Search for YouTube and download the official YouTube app. 
• Log in using your Gmail account id or use a separate YouTube login

Step #2: Start creating your YouTube Short videos.

• Simply click on the (+) icon at the button of the app homepage
• Tap Create a Short.

• Tap and hold the record button to record a 15-minute video clip. You can tap the button again to stop recording. 

• To record a full 60-second video, simply tap the number 15 above the record button to easily change the video length to 60 seconds.

• You can easily add special effects and elements to your short-form video by browsing the toolbar on the right of the screen.

• You can add sound to your Short video, here’s how:

Tap the Add sound icon at the top of the screen. You’re only allowed to add an audio track to your Short before recording your short video or afterward in the editing process

To fix your mistake or error, simply tap the undo arrow next to the record button to undo

Step #3: Edit and publish your Short video

• When you’re done recording your Short, tap the checkmark to save it.
• Consider adding a music track, text, and filters to improve your Short.
• You can even control your texts by using the video timeline. Just tap the timeline icon to adjust and time your text entrance and exit. 
• Once you’re finished editing, tap Next in the top right-hand corner
• Fill out the other details of your Short. Choose whether the video should be public, unlisted, or private. This is similar to adjusting the settings on a standard YouTube video.
• Is your Short suitable for kids? Select the right restrictions accordingly. 
• Click Upload Short to publish your video to the world.

YouTube Shorts: In summary

Creating Shorts can increase the average view duration and bring new subscribers.  For creators, YouTube has made Shorts as easy as possible to produce.  So, why not start a channel today or isn’t it time to start incorporating Shorts into your existing channel? 

Enhance your Youtube Shorts with Metigy’s Creative Services

If there’s limited time to create vertical video content yourself, bring your Youtube Shorts to life with Metigy’s Creative Services. With Metigy, you’ll be getting the services of experienced graphic designers and video producers who come with domain expertise across categories.  Professional graphic design and video production can significantly elevate your brand communication, make your business seem bigger and credible, and make it easy to acquire and retain customers. For small businesses without adequate marketing support, this is the easiest way to incorporate top-notch visual content into their brand communication.