YouTube has always separated itself for other social media video platforms, like TikTok, by appealing to video makers in a different way. While TikTok is more for entertainment and features short videos, YouTube offers videos of all shapes and sizes. While YouTube can be incredibly entertaining and has plenty of silly videos to watch they also offer millions of how-to videos and instructional videos on everything from cooking to learning a new language.
Well, the success of short snip-it video social media sites like TikTok has inspired YouTube to try and compete with them by creating a new feature on their site, YouTube shorts.
What Are YouTube Shorts?
YouTube shorts are very similar to another YouTube feature called YouTube stories. The main difference is that in the past YouTube stories was limited to channels that had at least 10,000 subscribers. YouTube shorts is available to anyone no matter their channel size and gives them the opportunity to participate so they can attempt to grow their subscriber count.
YouTube shorts are videos of under 60 seconds that are featured in a separate shelf on YouTube and must be shot in a vertical format. This is YouTubes attempt at competing with TikTok. So far the platform is in Beta Testing and the videos are only available to YouTubes Indian viewers but its shown great success in test markets, with YouTube planning to launch it in the USA in March. While still in Beta Testing, anyone can create and feature a YouTube Shorts video, no matter their location or viewer count.
Will It Bring You More Subscribers?
Successful YouTubers from around the world immediately jumped on this new feature in hopes to utilize it to grow their own channels and to teach others how to use it successfully. There are numerous reviews on YouTubes newest feature but there are mixed reviews. Whether it can be successful in growing your subscriber count is still hotly debated.
The general consensus is yes, it can help you gain subscribers, especially if you are a smaller channel because you are more likely to get your video shorts featured in YouTube shorts beta testing days than on its regular channel. But, the results are mixed when it comes to success stories with YouTube Shorts so far, its helped some small YouTube channels gain thousands of subscribers and other channels haven’t seen a boost at all.
The algorithms for this type of content on YouTube are still untested and unknown but that doesn’t mean its not worth exploring. YouTube shorts is still in is infancy so nows the time to create short brand related content and launch it for optimal results.
Keep Your Videos at 58 seconds or shorter. While shorts are advised to be 60 seconds or shorter by YouTube there are rumors that videos that are exactly 60 seconds long don’t make it into the official shorts viewing section of the site so for the best chances of having your video seen, keep it under 60 seconds.
Hashtags are important in all of social media in order to have your content seen by your target audience. While there are some reviews saying you don’t need to include the #YouTubeShorts tag in order to be properly featured, YouTubes official guide says otherwise so you’ll want to include this to be sure you’ll get featured in the appropriate portion of the site. You also need
Use a thumbnail. This is is very important with your typical YouTube videos as well, but also very crucial with shorts as well. Include a thumbnail image in the appropriate dimensions to make your video look professional.
Your video should stand alone. Shorts are not intended to be a part of a series or even a preview to your longer full length videos on your channel. Shorts should stand on their own, no matter how short they are. Try to create original content that tells a story with a beginning, middle, and end without any need to watch other videos to understand the overall message.
Use the correct format. Shorts are intended to be created and recorded on a smartphone but can be shot on your computer as long as they are shot in a vertical format, which is required.
It’s Worth Trying
Anyone who entered into rising social media platforms early had the best chance at success. We all remember the early social media influencers like Tila Tequila and BryanBoy and how well they did on social media. Since YouTube Shorts is a new platform that is backed by such a popular platform, its worth entering into to the platform early in an attempt to gain popularity and add more subscribers to your channel. In time, you may find yourself a new YouTube favorite!
