How To Create Short-Form Videos That Captivate Social Media Audiences

When TikTok was nearly banned in January 2025, some were surprised at how angry people in the U.S. were. TikTok, a site known for its short-form videos that range from silly to informative, is beloved by many, with over one billion users worldwide. People love short, user-generated content, and businesses can use this to their advantage.

Bite-sized bits of content are perfect for keeping users engaged and interested, and they’re also the ideal size for sharing. As a result, many companies have jumped on the short-form content bandwagon, and many are finding that short-form content is doing very well as a marketing strategy. By creating short-form videos that captivate your social media audiences, you can boost your marketing strategy and watch your conversion rates soar.

What Are Short Form Videos?

Short-form videos are, as their name suggests, short videos — usually less than a minute but no more than a couple of minutes long. They’re typically fast-paced, concise, and focused on a single topic or subject. 

Short-form videos rose to popularity through the app Vine, which launched in 2013. When it was discontinued in 2016, there wasn’t anywhere else that offered exclusively short-form content. Though many Vine creators moved to YouTube, it wasn’t until TikTok started gaining traction that short-form videos became as popular again. TikTok launched in the U.S. in 2018, and its popularity soared when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Today, it has about 170 million users in the U.S. alone.

Wanting to capitalize on the renewed popularity of short-form videos, both Instagram (Meta) and YouTube launched their own platforms for short-form content. Instagram Reels, launched in 2020, follows closely behind TikTok with 169 million users in the U.S. YouTube Shorts, also founded in 2020, has about 153 million U.S. users.

Why Are Short-Form Videos So Successful?

Short-form videos are so successful, in essence, because they’re short. The brief length of short-form video content is ideal for times like your lunch break or when you’re sitting in the car in the school pickup line. 

Additionally, engagement rates tend to be higher on short-form videos because they:

• Get to the point quickly
• Are more impactful due to their direct and short nature
• Hold viewers’ attention better
• Are more sharable
• Are designed for scrolling on social media platforms

Short-form videos also have an advantage when it comes to algorithms. Customers are more likely to watch short-form content all the way through to the end. When customers watch a video all the way through, it tells the algorithm that it’s a good video, meaning it gets pushed out to more people.

When you’re determining how to balance your video budget, short-form content can be a big help. Thanks to the popularity of short-form videos and the low cost and labor required to make this type of content, the return on investment (ROI) is often pretty high. Many companies now use short-form videos to create video ads and raise awareness of their brand.

Why Should You Add Short-Form Videos to Your Strategy?

There are many types of video marketing, so what makes short-form videos so special? And does short-term video content convert users?  

Consider these stats:

• Short-form videos can boost conversion rates by up to 80%.
• 93% of marketers report that short-form videos help them gain new customers.
• 55% of consumers watch videos before purchasing.
• Short-form videos get 2.5 times more engagement than longer videos.
• 66% of marketers say short-form video content offers the highest engagement rates. 

Additionally, shorter videos are much cheaper to produce than long-form videos, making them a great option for smaller brands with a limited budget. As a result, the ROI for short-term videos is much higher than that of other types of marketing.

Many companies now use short-form videos to advertise, including the WWE, Duolingo, and Ben & Jerry’s. Although these companies are vastly different from one another, they use similar short-form video strategies, including: 

• Keeping their videos brief
• Playing on current platform trends
• Interacting with viewers in the comments

How To Make the Best Short-Form Video for Your Business

Anyone who has worked in video marketing for any length of time knows that you can’t just throw something together, put it out there, and hope it works. You need to consider certain factors before creating and publishing a short-form video. 

Six of the best practices for short-form videos are:

1. Identify your target audience and trends. Determine who your content is aimed at and find out what types of content this group interacts with most.
2. Keep your content relevant and timely. Jumping on old trends just looks cringy. Find out what’s trending to increase your chances of high engagement rates.
3. Produce high-quality videos. Users will scroll away from anything that looks cheaply or hastily made.
4. Optimize videos for mobile and accessibility. Vertical format is the best format for short-form videos on mobile. Additionally, adding comprehensive captions and accurate closed captions increases your content's accessibility.
5. Choose the right platform for your business. TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are your best bet if you’re focused on B2C sales, especially to a younger audience. If your goal is more B2B-focused, check out the short-form videos on LinkedIn.
6. Analyze engagement metrics and ROI. Once your video is up, monitor the metrics. This will tell you what’s working and what’s not, allowing you to adjust your strategy for the next time.

The best structure for short-form videos will depend on your brand and the type of content you’re creating. While starting with a hook and having a clear beginning, middle, and end are common sense for most storytelling formats, short-form videos don’t always need all that. 

For example, this TikTok of the Duolingo owl doing the dance from Squid Game 2 has none of that structure, yet it has 5.6 million likes on the platform because it’s trendy and unexpected. Similarly, this TikTok from Ben & Jerry’s has nothing to do with ice cream, but it has over 12 million views because the topic is timely and relevant.

Understanding Platform-Specific Characteristics

While you can often cross-post one video to multiple platforms, each has different characteristics and requirements. When looking at how to create YouTube short-form videos, you can’t just read a TikTok tutorial and assume they’ll be the same. 

YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts must be between 15 and 60 seconds long and shot in vertical orientation. The majority of users on YouTube Shorts are millennials, with Gen Z just behind. Men are slightly more likely to use the platform than women. More than 40% of ad buyers advertise on YouTube Shorts, and videos have an average engagement rate of 5.91%.

TikTok

TikTok has the broadest range for video length, anywhere from one second to 10 minutes. While the vertical format is by far the most popular on TikTok, it also supports horizontal videos. Younger people, specifically ages 18-34, make up the largest demographic by far on the app, with slightly more women overall than men. 

Videos on TikTok have an average engagement rate of 5.75%. Three-quarters of ad buyers advertise on TikTok, and both ads and influencer collaborations are popular. Thanks to the TikTok shop, you can sell your product directly on TikTok.

Instagram Reels

The limit for Instagram Reels used to be 90 seconds, but the brand recently announced that Reels can now extend up to three minutes. However, videos posted to your Instagram Story are capped at one minute. Like the other apps, you’ll need to use the vertical format.

67% of ad buyers use Instagram Reels, and influencer collaborations are very popular on the platform. The engagement rate is about 5.53%.

LinkedIn Short-Form Video 

LinkedIn short-form videos — a relatively new feature on the app — can be great for B2B sales. Videos need to be at least 15 seconds long and should be less than two minutes long, with vertical orientation. The platform recommends having an accompanying post to coordinate with the video. 

Statistics aren’t available for LinkedIn short-form videos just yet. However, 60% of users on the platform are between ages 25 to 34, and 57% identify as male. 

End-to-End Video Production: Scaling Up With Charter & Co

Short-form video content is only increasing in popularity, and its high ROI makes it a fantastic choice for companies of all sizes looking to expand or enhance their video marketing strategies. You can work with a short-form video agency or a full-service company like Charter & Co to ensure your content is high-quality and engaging.

Charter & Co offers full-scale, end-to-end video production, including video strategy, pre-production, filming, editing, motion graphics, and more. Contact us today to learn how Charter & Co can help you captivate your audience with video.