Whether you are creating them or watching them, you will likely have come across short-form videos as you scroll through social media. With platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts gaining rapid popularity, many franchise businesses have added this form of content to their digital strategy as a way to reach their target audience, especially those already engaging with this type of content.
This article is part of a series. Check out our other articles below:
- How Franchises Can Implement Localization in Their Digital Strategy
- How Franchises Can Use First-Party and Zero-Party Data to Remain Competitive
- Trends and Strategies for Franchise Acquisition in 2023
- Can AI and Machine Learning Improve Franchise Marketing?
The Rise of Short-Form Video Platforms
Video content accounts for 82% of all online traffic. Breaking that stat down, the latest data from the popular social platforms indicate that YouTube has 2.2 billion monthly active users, TikTok has over 1 billion, and Instagram has 1.4 billion.
Over the past few years, TikTok, in particular, has seen massive growth. What was once a new platform that seemed populated by teens has now become a platform filled with content from brands, everyday people, celebrities, and influencers. Not only that, but usage is evident across generations.
Albeit catering to a younger audience, the platform is still popular among older generations. Recent data indicates 50% of Millennials and 38% of Gen X-ers have spent time on the app in the past three months. Breaking that down further, 35% of users worldwide are between =29 years old, 28% are between 10=19 years old, 18% are between 30=39%, and not far behind are 40-49 year olds, who represent 16.3% of users.
YouTube Shorts has also picked up steam recently, as the entire platform has over 2 billion monthly signed-in users. When you think of long-form videos, your mind likely goes to YouTube. However, their approach to Shorts has gained users’ attention. In fact, Shorts are watched by over 1.5 billion logged-in users every month, which averages 75% of total YouTube users. As for the platform’s audience, data indicates 18- 24 years old accounted for 34.62% of users, while 33.41% of users were between 25- 34 years old. These two age ranges make up the largest number of users on the platform.
Unlike TikTok and YouTube, Instagram was primarily a photo-focused app, meaning users placed a greater emphasis on photo content and some video content when posting. Then Instagram Stories launched, and short-form video became much more prevalent, along with their dedicated short-form video component to the platform – Instagram Reels.
In 2022, Instagram Reels had the largest average engagement rate at 1.95% compared to carousel, image, and video posts. It also dominated with view rate, as Reels had a 2.54% average video view rate compared to regular videos (1.74%). Reels had an average 20.59% reach rate, far exceeding other post types on the platform. Similar to the other platforms, the largest percentage of Instagram users are between 25-34 years old (31.7%) and 18=24 years old (30.2%).
Time spent on these popular platforms is also growing, indicating just how popular they are. TikTok users averaged 95 minutes on the app, with YouTube in second place at 74 minutes and Instagram at 51 minutes. This is not a quick glance here and there – users are actively viewing content, which means adding short-form video into your social strategy can be highly effective.
Short-Form Video Popularity Among Users
It comes down to attention span. Users want bursts of information that they can take away rather than having to sit through a lengthy video or read a long caption. When a video is short, there is a higher likelihood a user will watch it through its entirety and share it. Keep in mind that short-form videos exist in a format that makes them easily scrollable. Therefore, grabbing the user’s attention and providing as much detail as possible in a “bite-size” amount of time is important. Otherwise, a user will move on to the following video.
While it can seem like there is an overwhelming number of users on these platforms, do not let their large-scale audiences deter you from getting your franchise business in on the action. Keep in mind that users spend a great deal of time engaging with content, and if a short-form video will get them potentially more interested in your content, that makes it worthwhile.
Short-Form Video Popularity Among Marketers
As a franchise business, marketing can play a significant role in reaching prospective franchisees, customers, etc. To align with the popularity of short-form videos, a survey of over a thousand marketers from around the world indicated that 90% who already use short-form video plan to either maintain or boost their spending on the medium in 2023. Meanwhile, one in five marketers has a plan in place to try short-form videos for the first time. Looking specifically at TikTok, 56% of marketers have reported plans to increase spending on the platform this year, which makes TikTok rank the highest in increasing investment compared to other social platforms.
What makes video content so popular for marketers? Besides the obvious (that the public is interested in consuming that form of content), videos can help in other areas, such as boosting sales. A report found that 84% of consumers have purchased a product after watching a video. It was also found that 96% of video marketers indicate that video marketing has boosted user understanding of a product or service. In combination with website copy, video content on your franchise’s website can be a great move, especially if you sell products through your website.
From a return on investment (ROI) perspective, the same report specifies that 95% of marketers say marketing with video assists their efforts to increase brand awareness, 91% say it helps increase traffic, and 90% say videos help boost leads. As a result, marketers are allocating more funds toward this type of content now and likely in the coming years.
How Franchise Companies Can Use Short-Form Video
If you are already incorporating video content on your social media channels and website, even if it is long-form video, keep it up. Long-form video content is a great way to provide detailed information about your franchise business, products or services, and more. However, if you haven’t ventured into short-form videos, especially TikToks, Reels and YouTube Shorts, 2023 is the year to start.
With such an array of franchise industries, short-form video content will vastly differ. Some may want to show a “behind the scenes” look, while others may want to only focus on the products/services. Either way, there are some universal tips to keep in mind to help your franchise generate success in this area.
First, get your franchise owners in on the fun of short-form videos. While creating localized content through images can be great, videos can add another element of engagement that may be missing. Encourage the franchise owners in your network to make fun, informative videos specific to their location. This could look like filming a highlight reel of the store, meeting the team, a Q&A about the location, etc.
By doing so, franchise owners can build quality local connections while allowing customers in the surrounding neighbourhoods to follow and engage in content that they know is specific to that location.
Create social media accounts for each franchise location. That way, franchise owners can post localized content to their accounts and reach customers in the surrounding area.
If local short-form video content is not yet possible, but you want to get a head start on creating this type of content, you can create videos on a national scale. That means you would share and post short-form videos to your franchise’s main accounts and websites. While this eliminates the benefits of a local approach, it can still be an effective way to contribute and reach your audience.
Short-form videos can also translate into a video advertising strategy. Allocating more of your marketing budget to produce quality short-form videos on any of the popular platforms (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts) allows you to target a specific audience and measure your results.
Moving Forward with Video Content
If this is the first time you are considering short-form video content for your franchise business, or you are looking to optimize your approach, you should create a plan that encompasses the key objectives of each video, your strategy, the audience you desire to target, and the KPIs (key performance indicators). Having a strategy with a clear process can help you feel more confident creating content.
Also, remain agile. If trends change or you find one type of video content does better than another, you want to be able to change direction swiftly. Assess your plan with your performance and adjust accordingly.
The ideas presented in this article can be found in our free guidebook, Top 5 Franchise Digital Marketing Trends for 2023. Download the free guidebook here to uncover more details on this and other digital marketing trends.
Be sure to check out the other articles in our series below:
- How Franchises Can Implement Localization in Their Digital Strategy
- How Franchises Can Use First-Party and Zero-Party Data to Remain Competitive
- Trends and Strategies for Franchise Acquisition in 2023
- Can AI and Machine Learning Improve Franchise Marketing?
