It’s no secret that people have short attention spans these days. So does that mean that all of your videos should be super short? Not necessarily…here are four things to think about when determining the length of your next video.
1. The Content
What’s the message and tone of your video? If it’s something fun, lighthearted or humorous, shorter is often better. Shorter videos are also ideal for how-to tutorials, which are an excellent way to provide value while promoting your product or service.
Meanwhile, for more serious videos that have a strong message, longer form videos are often a good way to go. Think: TED talks or short documentaries.
Long videos also work well for online courses and more thorough tutorials. But even so, in this case it’s probably a good idea to consider breaking up the video into shorter segments.
2. The Target
If you haven’t built a large following yet, short videos can be an effective way to grab the attention of people who aren’t too familiar with your brand. People are unlikely to invest a lot of time watching your video if they don’t even know who you are or what kind of value you are capable of providing.
If, on the other hand, you are targeting loyal followers or people who are familiar with your brand, longer videos can be highly effective.
3. The Desired Action
When determining the length of your video, you need to ask yourself what action you want your viewers to take upon watching the video. If you want your viewers to take a specific action, like share the content or make a purchase, then you should keep the video short and to-the-point. And be sure to insert the call-to-action within the first 10 seconds, since many viewers won’t make it to the end of your video.
If your goal is simply to educate viewers or entertain them, then the length may not be an issue.
4. The Platform
If you’re sharing the video on social media, you should make it short. According to Hubspot, Facebook users engage the most with videos that are one-minute long. Meanwhile, Instagram videos should be about half that —30 seconds or less. If you’re putting the video on Youtube, two minutes tends to be the ideal length.
Test
Finally, make sure that whatever length you decide on, you test each and every video that you put out there.
Find out what users are clicking on, what platform is generating the most views, and at what point in the video you are losing viewers.
From there, you can create the optimal video—and length—for your audience.
