Your Guide to Short Form Video Ads

According to HubSpot’s 2023 Social Media Marketing Report, short-form videos are set to be the most effective social media content this year. If you’ve been on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram lately, you might have seen an increase in short-form video content. Since short-form videos are less than 60 seconds long, it’s easy for people to watch and share them with their network.  

For marketers and brands, this growing trend is changing the paid advertising landscape. Let’s take a closer look at how your brand can use various social platforms to capitalize on this trend.  

Short-Form Videos Can Make Waves on TikTok

If your brand has a goal to boost awareness and visibility of your products or services, it may be beneficial to utilize TikTok short-form video ads to boost your reach. The platform has a massive user base of over 1 billion globally, and there’s a variety of influencers with their own tight-knit communities. TikTok Ads Manager, paired with its Marketing Partner Program, makes it easy for brands to make creative videos that speak to their audiences.  

When starting TikTok video ads, we recommend choosing the in-feed display option. This gives your brand the chance to embed a video that will auto-play in your target audience’s For You feed. If you’ve ever used TikTok, you’re probably familiar with scrolling through this feed to see if the next video was better than the last. Best practices to keep in mind for this type of ad are:

• Keep the video length to 15 seconds or less. Videos that are 30, 45, and 60 seconds long tend to perform better on other platforms like YouTube or Instagram.  

• Design the video to be played vertically to make the content mobile-friendly.  

• Include a clickable CTA button that drives viewers to a relevant landing page.

Engage Your Target Audiences with Instagram Reels

Instagram says one of the best ways to reach people who don’t currently follow your brand is through Reels since 91% of the user base watch videos on the platform every week. Similarly, to Instagram Stories, Instagram Reel ads will take up the entire screen with a vertical video. It’s important to note that these ads will loop and allow viewers to like, comment, share, and save the video. To help your brand create the best Instagram Reel ad, aim to do the following:  

• Capitalize on any current video trends on Reels to create effective content.  

• Plan accordingly and choose what copy, music, and hashtags you’ll use for the ad.  

• Research Reels that are being shared with your target audience so your ad can include elements that will get attention.  

• Customize what you want the CTA button to say.  

Once you have a plan in place for how the video will look, you’ll also need to determine what the audience details are going to be. In the Meta Ads Manager, you can target who will see your ad based on geographic location, demographic information, and more. If you’re looking to optimize your paid budget and audience, an experienced digital advertising team can help.  

YouTube Shorts Gets Your Brand in Front of More People

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YouTube Shorts are vertical videos that are 60 seconds or less and have their own section on the YouTube platform. Ads for YouTube Shorts play in-between videos and give your brand the opportunity to:  

• Expand brand awareness: YouTube Shorts get billions of daily views and are a great way to get your brand in front of target audiences.  

• Quickly see how your ads are performing: Since video ads get in front of more people, you’ll quickly know how your ads are performing. This gives you the opportunity to optimize content to make the most out of your budget.  

• Leverage robust targeting features: YouTube Shorts gives brands the ability to customize the audience targeting for your campaigns. Outside of specifically focusing on demographics, you can also launch retargeting ads to YouTube users who have visited your website.  

If your brand already has a YouTube channel and is looking to get into Shorts, it’s important to maintain a level of consistency. For example, you could keep the CTA the same and include a link to your website in the video description to help any returning target audience members recognize your brand.  

See How True Can Help Take Your Paid Advertising Strategy to the Next Level

True has a team of experts ready to help your brand get the most out of short video ads on social media platforms. From developing content strategy to video creation, execution or optimizing your budget, we’re here to make digital advertising simple. To learn more about how we can use short-form video ads to help reach your marketing goals, contact us today.

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