YouTube SHORTS: Rediscovering Content Marketing

YouTube has been the pinnacle of entertainment since it started in 2005 and it has changed the way we advertise. With more than two billion active users, YouTube is a massive marketplace for you to market your brand or business. If you haven’t optimized your YouTube marketing strategy by now—you’re completely missing out.

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Recently, new features that are game-changing for the marketing landscape were announced on YouTube. After a successful nine-month beta testing, the platform introduced YouTube Shorts#Shorts) globally to over 100 countries!

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What Is YouTube Shorts?

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This new YouTube Feature brings us the platform’s take on bite-sized video content that we see on other social media sites, such as TikTok.

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YouTube Shorts is a new feature that allows creators to publish short-form videos for durations of up to 60 seconds. This feature is integrated within the YouTube app where users can view Shorts seamlessly along with other “normal” YouTube videos. YouTube Shorts also have like and dislike buttons, as well as a dedicated comment section.

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Similar to Instagram Reels and TikTok, the selling point of YouTube Shorts is “quick entertainment”. It relies on catchiness and instant gratification to work. This allows the users on the platform to step away from the usual long-form videos and consume easy content without requiring too much focus. 

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With the popularity of short and direct videos on the internet, the new YouTube feature is an excellent opportunity for you to grow your brand effectively. 

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Key Features of YouTube Shorts

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To revamp your YouTube marketing strategy, YouTube Shorts is user-friendly for both creators and audiences. As marketers, you can take advantage of the simplistic approach of the platform to make relatable, engaging bite-sized content. 

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Learn more about the features of YouTube Shorts and how they can improve your content marketing below!

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1. Videos Up To 60 Seconds

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The key to successful YouTube marketing is to capture and retain the attention of the audience. YouTube Shorts allow you to upload videos for up to 60 seconds (15 seconds for Beta) which is a great baseline to pique the curiosity of your audience.

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A 60-second video, which is the maximum for YouTube Shorts, is still short enough to be digestible at a casual viewing setup. Nowadays, as people have much shorter attention spans, it seems like the shorter and concise the video is — the better. 

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In YouTube marketing, short-form videos do better in advertising because it forces you to be creative within a limited time. Since you’re not creating longer videos, the chance of adding unnecessary filler scenes is lessened. This makes your content short yet impactful —the ideal result of any promotional content.

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2. No Third-Party Tools and Fancy Gadgets Needed

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On the side of creatives, putting out content more or less requires specific software and hardware for production. When it comes to long-form YouTube content, you need a decent camera or camera phone that can handle at least 1080p resolution and a certain level of video editing knowledge. However, that is not the case with YouTube Shorts. 

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The new YouTube feature today brings us a decent amount of built-in editing tools that do more than clip and stitch footage. Since the YouTube Shorts is the laid-back version of the platform, a mobile device with a decent camera quality will do the trick in the recording.

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Editing is also completely doable using your mobile phone which is highly beneficial in producing content on the go. Because the new YouTube features for YouTube Shorts are still in their early stages of rollout, you can expect more innovative elements to be added to their editing library.

Here’s a glimpse to the new features specifically made for editing YouTube Shorts:

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Redefining Content Marketing With YouTube Shorts

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On the surface, YouTube Shorts might pass as the company’s response to the rising popularity of short-form content platforms like TikTok. While that may be partly true, YouTube Shorts gives something unique and groundbreaking when it comes to content creation and marketing.

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With the YouTube Shorts entering the global market along with new YouTube features, how exactly does this platform redefine the sphere of content marketing? We have some insights that may just convince you to re-tune your YouTube marketing strategy.

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1. Accessibility and Connectivity of YouTube to Google Ecosystem

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Google certainly made things efficient when it comes to advertising. For content creators and marketers, the ability to seamlessly connect all your projects to one ecosystem is a luxury that is slowly becoming a necessity. YouTube Shorts is not falling behind on that aspect. 

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With YouTube Shorts, Google has blurred the lines between their new features and their entertainment powerhouse. This makes it more accessible to the creators and their audiences. By utilizing YouTube Shorts, you’re also taking advantage of the stability and reliability of YouTube. There’s no need for you to reestablish a new platform just to create different forms of content and potentially reach new audiences.

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2. Availability of YouTube Shorts Fund

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Perhaps the highest incentive of incorporating YouTube Shorts into your YouTube marketing strategy is the availability of YouTube Shorts Fund.

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The YouTube Shorts Fund is a pool of $100M fund that serves as incentives to content creators for producing original YouTube Shorts that gained positive feedback from the community. Since YouTube Shorts is in its early phases, utilizing the new YouTube features before other creators will give you a considerable edge for YouTube Shorts monetization.

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Eligibility for YouTube Shorts monetization is evaluated monthly where creators can receive anywhere between $100 to $10,000 per evaluation period. The evaluation is adjusted accordingly depending on the scale of viewership and engagement of the creator. YouTube Shorts creators can also receive funds from AdSense. 

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Another bonus factor for YouTube Shorts is that you don’t need your channel to be monetized to become eligible for YouTube Shorts Fund. This makes YouTube Shorts an ideal platform to start building your audience if you haven’t yet.

At the time of writing, the YouTube Shorts Fund is available in almost 50 countries and regions. YouTube is set to expand the country eligibility later on.

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3. YouTube Shorts Have Wider Base of Content Exposure

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YouTube is the backbone of the multimedia entertainment industry since the rise of the Internet. Until today, YouTube singlehandedly remains to be one of the biggest online entertainment platforms —something that you can take advantage of. One key observation is that, unlike long-form content where it takes a lot to get around the YouTube algorithm to gain a new audience, YouTube Shorts have a considerably wider base of content exposure. 

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To compare, long-form YouTube videos get recommended to non-subscribers depending on their view count and its similarity to the current content that the user consumes. Reaching new audiences can be challenging for small creators because of this. However, when it comes to YouTube Shorts, driving traffic to your channel and content is more manageable. Your current subscribers still get notified whenever you upload Shorts and this is still discoverable on their homepage. 

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For new audiences, YouTube created a designated Shorts Shelf where it accumulates all YouTube Shorts posted by creators for all users to see. Once your video hits the shelf, your content is now more visible to other people, increasing your traffic and engagements.

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Since YouTube Shorts is integrated within YouTube, all statistics gained from Shorts are absorbed into your channel. It’s a brilliant cycle to build your YouTube marketing strategy since growth is accumulated for both long- and short-form content.

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Don’t Miss Out The Chance To Ride On This “Short” Wave! 

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Even in its early rollout phase, the potential of YouTube Shorts is undeniable. The new YouTube features are great initiatives of the company to adapt to the ever-changing trends of media and content consumption on the internet.

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For creators and marketers, this means better potential to build a stronger brand and a stronger community. Having a separate yet connected space on one of the biggest platforms on the internet can easily be turned into an excellent YouTube marketing strategy. 

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Having only been released globally earlier this year, there are still many updates and changes to the YouTube Shorts platform. Creators can expect more functionalities as YouTube leverages its new features to compete with other platforms. We can also expect certain adjustments to be made for YouTube marketing as we go on.

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However, despite these many adjustments, it is foreseeable that YouTube Shorts will have a great trajectory. With a strong reference base thanks to YouTube, wide exposure to the diverse segments of the market, and its perceptive take on the growing trends of content making and consuming —there is an untapped potential that you can successfully integrate into your marketing strategy and overall content creation. 

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