Becoming a successful content creator online is no easy feat. Even if one of your videos goes viral, you’ll have to put in a lot of work to engage and maintain your new-found audience. It requires consistency, dedication, and a lot of planning. However, the tides have started to turn with the advent of short-form video platforms like TikTok.
All these YouTube Shorts, TikToks, and Reels require less production value and usually lead to better engagement. While those benefits are certainly appealing on the surface, it’s not all fun and games for short-form video creators.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to building your career on platforms like YouTube Shorts and TikTok.
The Benefits of Creating Short-Form Content
There are many reasons why this particular type of content has gained the attention of both creators and viewers. Here are some of the more notable benefits of making short-form videos.
Lower Requirement for Production Value
Creating traditional videos requires relatively decent equipment along with dedicated editing software. On the other hand, you may create, edit, and post short-form videos all from your phone. Platforms like TikTok let you film directly in the app and feature various built-in effects and filters. If those tools don’t do it for you, there are a lot of third-partyapps you can use to edit and enhance short-form content.
Most TikToks and YouTube Shorts already rely on easy editing techniques and viral sounds, so putting in that extra effort isn’t always needed. However, this can be a double-edged sword as it sometimes sacrifices quality over quantity.
Higher Chance of Going Viral
You can’t visit a social media website these days without being bombarded by short-form videos. ThisTikTok-ification of social mediameans that algorithms are now designed to present you with as many short 60-second videos as possible.
Short videos are easier to digest and people are likely to spend more time watching them. This accessibility attracts a larger audience for you as a creator. A larger audience directly correlates with thechance of going viral on TikTokand other platforms.
On top of that, algorithms are designed in a way to push videos that contain certain topics a viewer might enjoy. This means that even videos from smaller accounts are pushed out to the masses all the time.
Higher Engagement
As dreadful as it sounds, short-form content preys specifically on a shorter attention span. People aren’t thinking about much when they’rerandomly doomscrolling through social media, so they’re more likely to like a video and leave a quick comment. People are also more likely to finish a 60-second video rather than commit to something that’s over 20 minutes long.
This ultimately leads to higher engagement. If a viewer likes, comments, or follows your account, they’ll see your videos on your feed more often. We’ve seen this sort of algorithm long before short-from content was a thing, but it feels like it has become even more aggressive since the boom of short-form videos.
For any creator, lead generation directly correlates to a higher income. The increased visibility and higher engagement with short videos translate to a bigger audience that frequently keeps up with your content. you may then point this audience to other social channels. For example, if you have a YouTube channel, making YouTube Shorts is a great way to expand your audience.
Short-form videos are quick and to the point. As it’s nearly impossible to cover certain topics in detail, you can tell viewers to check your other social channels or websites for more information. You can also quickly post the exact same short-form video on multiple platforms.
The Downsides of Creating Short-Form Content
While the obvious benefits of creating short-form content are great, there are some underlying issues with this career path that you should be aware of.
Quality vs. Quantity
As a short-form video creator, it is necessary to maintain your online presence by posting multiple times a day. This often means prioritizing quantity over quality. Short-form videos are not as profitable as longer ones, so creators have to churn out content at a higher speed to keep up. Programs likethe TikTok Creator Funddon’t pay too fairly either.
Low-quality content eventually fails to gain traction and in the long run, this practice is detrimental to both the creator and the platform. Creating multiple quality videos every day is not easy, so you might end up pushing out lower-quality content in the hopes that you get paid fairly.
Monetization Is Not the Best
Shorter videos do not generate the same revenue as longer videos. Despite short videos offering better lead generation, the direct revenue from a video is insignificant in most cases. The reason behind lower revenue is the fact that you may’t really add a 10-second ad to a 60-second video.
Instead, the only way to show ads is in-between two or three short videos from different creators. The ad revenue is lower because of this, and creators don’t get paid much as a result. If you want to make a successful income by creating short-form content, you’ll have to post multiple times a day. That factor once again brings up the issue of quality vs. quantity.
In-Depth Discussions Are Difficult
Although there are exceptions, for most creators it can be very challenging to prove a point or have any in-depth discussions within a short time frame. This negatively impacts the quality of the content and how the viewer perceives the creator. As such, you may find it difficult to build your own identity and leave an impact on your audience.
This is why many short-form videos are awfully misguided, full of misinformation, and emotionally charged. A lot of creators use these aspects to their advantage, so they can push their agenda or make a quick buck. While that works in the short term, audiences will eventually figure out that you are not trustworthy.
It Gets Overwhelming
As fun as it may seem, short-form video creators do not have an easy job. You need a lot of creative fuel to crank out high-quality content every day. For most people, that lifestyle is not going to be sustainable in the long run. It can quickly get exhausting to shoot, edit, and post multiple videos all on the same day.
The search for inspiration every day is also daunting and overwhelming. It gets to the point that you’re just thinking about content with every passing moment. If you don’t get the results that you were hoping for after all that effort, you’re going to feel sorely disappointed and defeated.
Is Short-Form Content the Right Path for You?
Despite issues associated with the quality of content and monetization, short-from video content is here to stay. A lot of people only open apps like YouTube or Instagram these days to watch Shorts or Reels. That alone is enough proof that there’s a very large audience for this content out there, and it’s worth investing in.
Of course, you’ll need to make some changes if you want to become a short-form video creator. The first steps involve getting used to the grind and thinking of new ideas. You could also borrow some creative inspiration from ideas that are already popular.
