From TikTok to YouTube Shorts to Instagram Reels, video is everywhere in digital marketing in 2023. 50% of consumers prefer video over other types of content, and 91% say they want to see more video content from brands. In 2022, a whopping 82% of global internet traffic came from video streaming and downloads, making it a highly valuable medium for marketers everywhere.
However, with all these different platforms come different preferences and trends among those viewers. For example, TikTok is built around short and snappy videos, while YouTube is known for its longer format content. When creating your video marketing strategy, it’s important to know the ultimate goal of your video content and be ready to experiment with different formats and lengths. Different video lengths serve different goals in your marketing strategy, and in this post, we’ll share the main types of video content along with why diversification is important.
The Main Types of Different Video Lengths
There are four main types of video lengths, all of which play a role in your video marketing strategy. From super-short content to full-length documentary-style videos, all content plays a role.
Micro Content — less than 15 seconds
Micro content is defined as less than 15 seconds. This type of content is a short informative teaser that often previews a longer video. It’s typically used on social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
Social Media Content — up to 90 seconds
Standard social media content can vary anywhere from 15 seconds to 90 seconds. However, the sweet spot here is still less than 60 seconds.
Full-Length Videos — up to 2.5 minutes
These longer-form content videos might appear on your website or YouTube channel. Typically, these are informative content and are not generally used for ads as they are too long and might include behind-the-scenes videos or customer testimonials.
Long-Form Content — more than 2.5 minutes
This is the longest content style and can last as long as an hour. Keep in mind that if you have longer content like this, you can easily chop it up into shorter segments to repurpose it into ads.
Video Marketing Trends
Video marketing trends are always on the move, and user preferences and behavior change rapidly. Even in only two years, consumers developed an even deeper preference for shorter videos, going from 50% of consumers in 2020 to 66% in 2022. Depending on their goals, people also consume different video lengths at different times throughout the day. If they’re looking to make a purchasing decision, they might be interested in longer-form, detailed content; if they’re just looking for entertainment, quick and short is the way to go.
1. Shorter-Form Video Often Wins
Consumers consider shorter videos 2.5 times more engaging than longer videos. Use 10, 15, or 30-second formats to capture attention, highlight pain points, and create a specific call to action. For car dealers, this might be showing a real-life mom unloading a bunch of kids and groceries, highlighting the car features that help make her day easier, and ending with a promotional offer encouraging her to come test drive.
2. The Ideal Length for Purchasing Influence Is Less Than 5 Minutes
83% of consumers say that when looking for a video to inform a buying decision, they’re looking for 5 minutes of content or less. 42% want to see a 360-degree view of a product or see it being used. In automotive video marketing, this might be verbally walking through the features of a car or showing a demonstration of a unique feature.
3. 55% of Consumers Look to Video for Purchasing Decisions
If you were just getting started in video marketing, you might be skeptical about the payoffs. However, everyday consumers are specifically looking to video to help them make bottom-of-funnel purchasing decisions, which means it’s a valuable medium to spend your marketing time and budget on.
4. Only 3% of Business Videos Are 10 to 20 Minutes Long
Sometimes you might think longer is better because you can cram in more information. However, research shows that most likely, the longest video lengths need to be around 10 minutes; any longer and people tune out.
5. It’s All About the First 3 Seconds
No matter how long or amazing your video is, you only have a short window in the very beginning to capture the viewer’s attention. The sweet spot is three seconds; if you haven’t connected and engaged your viewer, they won’t complete the video. Don’t bury the main hook of your video 30 seconds in. Lead with the strongest pain point, statistic, or challenge your audience is facing right in the beginning.
When you can capture the viewer’s attention in the first three seconds, your ads will also perform better. Most ad networks reward engaging videos that people actually want to watch and not skip. When the algorithms can identify your video as a top-performing piece of content, you will often get shared with a wider audience for a cheaper cost.
Also, when you experiment with different video links, you create a content library of easily repurposable videos for the future. Next year, long-form content might perform better, and creating different video links as you go will help you build an ongoing library of content to continuously pull from.
Why You Should Diversify Video Lengths
A sure way to have a video marketing strategy flop is to stick with a single format and length of videos. For example, if you only produce 10-minute-long customer testimonial videos, you’re missing out on a huge strategy pillar of video marketing. Here are a few more reasons you should consider diversifying your video lengths.
1. Easy Repurposing for Ads
Different ad platforms have different requirements when it comes to video lengths. When you have 15 seconds, 30 seconds, and two-minute video options, you have room to A/B test and experiment with what performs best. You might be shocked at the results! Different lengths will help you test what works, and you can easily spin up new ad creatives as the old ones get fatigued.
Best practices for advertising recommend swapping out creatives every 14 days as any longer, and audiences experience ad fatigue. From YouTube pre-roll ads to display ads before content, you have so many different platforms and formats to utilize your video content as ads.
2. More Accessible Video Content
Not everyone has the time to watch a 30-minute video, but your most interested viewers might be! Diversifying your video length is key for creating content across your different buyer personas. For the people who are not even aware of your solution, short video formats, like 30 seconds, will engage them.
For people who are further along your buying funnel, a longer 15-minute video might interest them because they are looking for more in-depth information. Accessible video content meets your buyers where they’re at in their buying journey, and adding captions helps increase inclusivity and accessibility as well. 80% of viewers are more likely to finish a video with subtitles.
3. Experiment with Live Video
Have a dealer’s show coming up or a big blowout sale? Experiment with live streaming the event through Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, depending on where you believe a majority of your audience hangs out. 60% of car shoppers will visit a dealership after watching a video, and live content is the perfect way to speak directly to your customers, answer questions and build a relationship before they even step in the door. Research also shows that users are watching live stream videos anywhere from 10 to 20% longer than other types of video content.
4. Increase Viewing Frequency
When you create videos of different lengths, you can reach the same viewer multiple times. Repeat exposure in video marketing is a critical part of buying behavior. Most people need to see something around seven times before making a choice. When you can pepper content around different social media platforms at different lengths, your audience is more likely to be exposed to your message.
5. Reach Different Types of Buyers
Most likely, your ideal buyer spans different age groups, genders, and demographics. All of these groups have different video-watching preferences, so diversifying video length helps you attract all of those different buyer groups. For example, less expensive “starter” vehicles might be more attractive to college-aged students or young professionals. 60% of TikTok users are Gen Z, so short-form, trendy videos will help attract that buyer. On the other hand, 81% of Gen X is on Facebook, so that might be the perfect place to live stream a demonstration of more expensive cars since that buyer has a larger income.
6. Increase Engagement
Diversifying your video length not only helps you reach more people, but it helps them stay more engaged. Especially for a short-form video, people are more likely to watch it all the way through and absorb the entirety of your message, including the highly valuable call-to-action at the end. Videos under 60 seconds get the most engagement, so if you can create digestible short-form content, there’s a chance that your audience will hit a 100% completion rate, meaning they watch your entire video.
Get Help Diversifying Your Video Content
You can use video in various ways to power your marketing and sales. From YouTube pre-roll ads to OTT streaming, videos can be used in powerful ways to increase your revenue. However, it’s not easy to create high-quality videos on your own. Working with a professional video marketing agency helps you easily produce and edit content and distribute it across different social media platforms.
Contact J&L Marketing today to learn more about our work and see how we can help power your video strategy.
