Short-form vs. long-form videos: which is better for your business?

Short-form vs. long-form videos: which is better for your business?

Audio-visual effects have always affected and increased the customer’s or consumers’ attention in any business. But more than a still picture, videos have a greater and more attractive impact on consumers. There is one single win in a battle of short-form vs. long-form videos. but both have their pros and cons as well.

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Let’s start the discussion about long form vs short form video content.

Short-form vs. Long-form Videos:

Let’s talk about short-form vs. long-form video. In short, Short-form videos are videos under 10 minutes. Whereas long-form videos are more than 10 minutes long.

Short-form videos: 

Short-form videos target the audience of social media where people want to be caught quickly and get concise but complete information within a limited period through videos. The best examples of platforms that use short-form videos are Instagram stories or Facebook reels where they catch their audience within a short time providing limited and concise business information.

Platforms which support short-form videos are:

  • Tiktok
  • Snapchat
  • Facebook and Instagram reels
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter etc.

Long-form videos: 

Long-form videos are more than 10-minute videos where any business may target their audience where the audience wants complete and detailed information about the content. When viewers want to spend more time on a video, the video has to be detailed and informative.

Platforms which require long-form videos are:

  • Youtube
  • Webinar
  • Brandfils
  • Facebook posts etc.

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Benefits of Short-form Videos

There are many pros and as well as cons of short-form videos, which are as follows:

Creates a quick connection with the viewer:

Short-form videos catch the viewer more than long-form videos. People do not always want a deeper knowledge and understanding of content. They just want a brief overview of the content within a limited period. So, short-form videos create a more quick and strong connection between a user and a video.

Easier production: 

Production of short-form videos is much easier than long-form videos of more than an hour. It takes less production cost, less time, less editing, less expertise, less coloring, etc.

Ideal for social media:

Short forms of videos are ideal for social media stories and reels where people just want to know the main objective of a video in a short time while scrolling down. If we create long videos on social media, we will lose interest in people viewing videos for such a long period.

Mobile friendly:

Short forms of videos are more mobile-friendly. As short-form videos are more focused on social media platforms using mobile phones, they are more mobile-friendly.

Rapid consumption:

Short-form video is designed for rapid consumption and appeals to the casual social media scrolled, which is ideal if your company wants viewers to focus on its content. Since the material is brief, the message must be memorable and compelling so that viewers will continue to watch more videos or long videos.

Besides having many pros, there are cons as well. Short-form videos do not provide detailed and extra knowledge about content. Viewers who intend to view short-form videos more may require long-form videos somewhere as it does not provide extra detailed knowledge of the content. They may want to know more about content that only a long-form video will provide. 

Benefits of Long-form Videos

The following are the benefits of long-form videos:

Detailed storytelling:

One of the most important and strongest benefits is that long-form videos provide detailed, complete, and in-depth knowledge about any content. This will provide the user with every knowledge that one may require to understand it.

Better optimization:

Video of content that is longer usually ranks higher in Google ranking. Long-form video content improves your website’s ranking and keeps visitors engaged for a long time.                         

Stronger connection:

By spending more time creating branded videos through long-form content, businesses may more effectively address the issues that their audience faces.

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Short-form vs. Long-form Video Content: Factors to Consider

The following factors will tell you to select the type of video (short-form vs. long-form video content) to use for your business marketing. The following factors may tell which video format is required for your business:

Purpose of a video:

One of the important factors that will let you select the best video format for your business is to know the purpose of a video. Whether you want to educate your audience, boost your sales, spread awareness, or just show off your products.

Whatever you want to have in your video, having a clear purpose of your video, you know your goals to achieve in a video then this will make it easier for you to select between short-form and long-form video.

Targeted audience:

The most important and easier factor that will affect the selection of a video for your business is your targeted audience. You should always know the platform where the video is to be shared and the interested audience for your content. Whether the audience is interested in getting deep knowledge or just wants to have a quick and important overview of the content.

If you know the platform of your video, you will automatically know the audience’s interest. If you want to publish your video on social media then the short-form video would be considered to be the best choice. Otherwise, long-term would be the next choice.

Type of video:

The type of video makes a great impact in selecting between short-form vs long-form videos.

For example, if it is any kind of educational video then this should be a long-form video. This should have to cover all detailed topics and explanations of the content. If it is an ad-related video of any institute, then it should be a short-form video that just tells the benefits and programs offered by that institute briefly.

Videos that work well in long-form videos are:

  • Tutorials
  • Event videos
  • Documentaries
  • Lectures

Videos that work well in short-form videos are:

  • Testimonials
  • Cultural videos
  • Ads
  • Product videos etc.

Your budget:

The budget factor is one more important factor to discuss for your selection between short-form and long-form videos. Long-form may require an expert team for more editing, more work, and more deeper understanding of video content. Long-form video is not a budget-friendly choice for your business when you are already low in budget. If you have a low budget, try to stick to a short-form video decision as it does not require any lengthy procedure or budget.

Channels used for marketing:

Your targeted channel or platform decides whether you should choose a short-form or a long-form video. Social media platforms provide only a limited time duration for a video to be shared. Long-form video is not shareable and acceptable on social media platforms, like TikTok, Instagram reels, TikTok, or Facebook. It is always better to consider the platform first before considering any decision.

Conclusion

Just keep in mind that whether you select short-form vs. long-form video, you should always know the platform where you share the video. Your audience, platform channel, and budget may decide which is better for your business marketing strategy. There are pros and as well as cons to both types, but always make the right decision of video length (short-form vs. long-form video) depending on content type, platform, targeted audience, and timings.

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