YouTube Shorts represent an ascendant short-form video format tailored for mobile that every creator must pay attention to in 2022. As viewing behaviors evolve, these snackable vertical videos deliver creators immense opportunities to reach wider audiences.
In this comprehensive guide as an experienced tech professional, I‘ll equip you with a complete overview of YouTube Shorts along with best practices for creating successful short video content. You‘ll learn what makes the format so compelling, how to measure performance via analytics, top money-making tactics and much more.
Whether you‘re a social media manager, aspiring influencer or established brand, it‘s crucial to tap into surging short-form video trends right now. Let‘s dive in!
What Exactly Are YouTube Shorts? A Complete Introduction
YouTube Shorts are short-form videos under 60 seconds long presented in vertical 9:16 aspect ratio ideal for smartphone viewing. Launched by YouTube in 2020, the format allows anyone to create mobile-friendly videos using multi-clip editing, licensed music, effects, filters and more.
The key advantage? Shorts tap directly into YouTube‘s 2.3+ billion existing monthly logged-in user base. That gives creators instant access to a massive audience actively searching for videos on every topic – while already comfortable consuming content on YouTube.
Over 15 billion Shorts views now stream daily as younger viewers in particular gravitate to bite-sized video content designed for quick mobile entertainment.
Compare this to competitors like TikTok (1 billion daily users) and it‘s easy to grasp why YouTube wants to own short-form too. The numbers don‘t lie – viewer attention spans keep declining as mobile usage climbs.
YouTube Shorts seamlessly integrate into the platform people already live on. For creators, that presents a supreme opportunity to expand reach.
Key Differences From Regular YouTube Videos
While YouTube Shorts may seem like traditional YouTube videos sliced shorter, some distinct differences exist:
- Max Length: 60 seconds
- Orientation: Vertical only
- Creation Tools: Mobile app-based shooting/editing
- Consumption: Full-screen short video feed
YouTube isn‘t abandoning the long-form video formats that made it famous by any means. Shorts merely complement this existing content with a mobile-first experience catering to faster pacing.
For creators and brands, you can leverage both long and short-form content in symbiosis. Let‘s explore why that matters.
Benefits of Using YouTube Shorts for Your Brand
From small creators to Fortune 500 brands, YouTube Shorts confer unique advantages:
Massive Built-In Audience
YouTube‘s billions of existing users offer creators unparalleled reach overseas. Shorts gain access to different viewers than your current content likely sees.
Universally Applicable
Every niche can find an audience on YouTube, from music lovers to gamers to shoe collectors and more. Shorts also work for both B2C and B2B brands.
Frictionless Adoption
With creation/editing tools baked into YouTube mobile apps, crafting Shorts carries little friction or equipment demands unlike long-form shooting.
Lasting Discoverability
YouTube Shorts benefit from ongoing potential to be suggested and found via search long after posting. They can resurface to new viewers perpetually.
Put together – bite-sized vertical video represents a low lift, high reward format for creators to expand their sphere of influence. An optimized Shorts strategy complements other social initiatives splendidly.
Staggering Popularity and Early Benchmarks
Still not convinced Shorts deserve your attention? Get a load of early adoption benchmarks from YouTube:
- 15+ billion daily Shorts views globally as of March 2022
- India leads with 6.5 billion daily Shorts views
- 140+ million people create Shorts every month
For context, YouTube launched Shorts just over 18 months ago. The velocity of growth mirrors the early days of long-form YouTube itself.
And this is just the beginning. As online video consumption balloons to over 82% of global internet traffic by 2022, short-form video will keep commanding larger mindshare.
YouTube is also incentivizing creators directly by distributing over $100 million in bonus payouts for most engaging Shorts.
Do you still need more convincing?
Compared to competitors, YouTube Shorts smartly rely on embedding within the world‘s #2 most popular website. Rather than solely nuturing a standalone community, they reap billions in exposure from Google‘s video search and suggestion algorithms.
The long-term outlook remains exceedingly bright. But to fully capitalize, creators must deeply grasp the format.
Step-By-Step Guide to Creating YouTube Shorts
One barrier that holds creators back from exploring Shorts involves uncertainty around actually creating short-form vertical mobile video.
Thankfully, the process proves incredibly intuitive whether you‘re using an iPhone, Android device or tablet:
Step 1: Download the YouTube App
Ensure you have the most up-to-date YouTube app from iOS App Store or Android Play Store installed. This guarantees latest Shorts capabilities.
Step 2: Locate the Shorts Camera Icon
Tap the "+" camera icon at bottom of app, then select "Create Short" option. This opens up Shorts camera.
Step 3: Shoot Vertical Mobile Video
Record 60 seconds or less of footage holding phone vertically. Use built-in filters, timers or drawing tools as desired as you film.
Step 4: Access Editing Tools
Enhance shorts by adding licensed background music, rotating orientation, adjusting speed and more via intuitive editing interface.
Step 5: Finalize Details
Input a compelling title and description before adding relevant hashtags. Mark video age limit if necessary.
Step 6: Publish Your Short!
Review the final video and publish directly to YouTube when ready. Congrats – you just created a real Short!
See how straightforward that process is? Anyone can produce Shorts with just their handy smartphone. The convenience makes regularly creating bite-sized content exceedingly sustainable.
Now the real goal becomes honing captivating short videos audiences actively want to watch, share and engage with. Mastering YouTube Shorts requires its own specialized approach.
Best Practices for Creating Compelling Shorts
Simply uploading random Shorts won‘t grow your viewership – strategic optimization remains imperative. Apply these best practices for improving results:
Hook Viewers Within 3 Seconds
Attention spans are fleeting on mobile. You must grab focus ultra-fast with bold text, effects or intriguing questions – or risk rampant drop-off.
Condense Your Best Idea
Resist overstuffing Shorts. Lead with your most interesting value hook that leaves viewers wanting a follow-up.
Shoot Vertical, Steady and Clear
Optimize footage for mobile screens. Use stable angles, adequate lighting and basic editing to polish videos.
Always Leave Them Wanting More
The best Shorts entice viewers to check out your other social profiles and content by teasing what else you offer.
Have Fun and Experiment!
The beauty of bite-sized content is testing creative ideas without huge production demands. Produce lots of variants to see what pops most.
While mastering YouTube Shorts requires extensive hands-on iteration, keeping core engagement and optimization principles in mind from the outset will pay dividends in amassing dedicated viewers over time.
Lucrative Ways to Monetize Viral Shorts
As you accumulate devoted Shorts viewers, next comes tapping the format for real monetization to materially benefit your creator brand or company.
YouTube itself plans to launch an ad-sharing program for Shorts by 2023. But in the meantime, plenty of current money-making tactics exist:
YouTube Partner Program Enrollment
The standard program allowing creators to earn a cut of YouTube ad revenue based on views can indirectly benefit from Shorts. Use them to drive traffic to money-making long-form videos with ads enabled.
Initiate Brand Sponsorships
Once you establish a loyal Shorts following in the hundreds of thousands or beyond, approach relevant brands about sponsoring specific videos. Insert paid endorsements or product placements to collect big checks.
Redirect Fans to Ecommerce Sites
Entice viewers with money-making calls to action in Shorts descriptions to visit your YouTube main channel, online store or other websites. Increase high-intent traffic.
Offer Merchandise for Sale
YouTube allows creators to sell branded custom apparel, accessories and other goods directly below videos to fans. Promote new merchandise via viral Shorts to boost profits.
Without relying solely on YouTube, creative creators and brands can absolutely tap Shorts as a launchpad to promote external money-makers. Combine multiple strategies to stack income streams from short-form content.
Tracking Performance: Key YouTube Shorts Metrics
Growing an audience and making money on YouTube requires closely monitoring metrics to assess what content resonates most.
Thankfully YouTube Studio provides comprehensive Shorts analytics detailing views, traffic sources, geography, audience retention, demographics and more.
Monitor Total Views Daily
Set goals for regular view growth week over week so you can spot trends over time.
Identify Your Best Traffic Sources
Optimize future shorts based on whether views originate organically, suggested videos, YouTube search or your own channel pages.
Dial in Specific Geos and Demos
Double down on content that over indexes highest in key countries and age groups based on insights.
Improve Audience Retention
If viewers commonly drop off halfway through your shorts, shorten length or enhance hooks to keep them watching longer and liking/commenting more.
Set aside time every week to review latest YouTube Studio analytics across these dimensions and tweak your Shorts game plan accordingly.
Showcase Your Brand Uniquely with Shorts
Thus far we‘ve focused on creators monetizing YouTube Shorts directly. But major brands must also pay attention to the format‘s immense potential for showcasing products, events and services.
Shorts allow companies to convey brand messaging in a bold, engaging mobile video format. Ways to shine include:
Alignment with Wider Social Promotion
Amplify your best Shorts across other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn as well.
Demonstrating Specific Product Value
Produce shorts spotlighting individual product lines or releases you aim to drive awareness and sales for.
Reinforcing Brand Identity and Values
Maintain visual consistency in shorts via logos, colors and messaging aligned to the brand that viewers will recognize.
Leading with Viewer Value Over Pure Promo
While conveying information about services, ensure entertainment or helpfulness leads the way to earn viewer loyalty long-term.
Brands that avoid overly self-promotional Shorts in favor of useful or inspiring viewer-centric content will win big. YouTube‘s algorithm rewards authenticity.
Latest Shorts Updates, Features and Future Outlook
As a still emerging format, YouTube invests heavily to enhance Shorts with more capabilities and consumption opportunities for creators.
Stay updated on the latest feature rollouts:
-
New Creation Tools
From fresh video filters to interactive stickers and text options, Shorts editing functionality keeps improving. -
More Licensed Music
YouTube continues striking deals with major music labels to expand soundtracks available to include in Shorts. -
Live Stream Archiving
Soon Shorts will likely archive live streams automatically for short-form on-demand playback afterwards – extending reach. -
Better Analytics
Insights will sharpen over time with additional metrics around traffic sources, viewer locations/demographics and content performance traits.
While TikTok pioneered short-form video first, YouTube Shorts in parallel will likely continue seeing exponential yearly growth as mobile video engagement skyrockets globally.
Creators shouldn‘t view long-form and short YouTube content in isolation. The two formats can thrive symbiotically based on respective strengths. Within brands, its wise pivoting to a true omni-channel content plan inclusive of both video formats based on audience size and campaign goals.
Stay nimble and keep tabs on the latest Shorts viewer preferences, creator monetization developments and feature updates from YouTube. This space keeps rapidly evolving!
FAQs and Final Takeaways
Let‘s recap some common Shorts questions before wrapping up:
Are YouTube Shorts available worldwide?
Yes! As of March 2022, Shorts has launched across over 100 countries. Expect remaining regions to gain support over 2022.
How do I make money from YouTube Shorts?
Currently Shorts lack direct monetization, but that arrives in 2023. For now, creators can leverage sponsorships, merchandise shelves, website redirects and ad-enabled long videos.
What makes an effective YouTube Short?
The best shorts instantly intrigue viewers, maintain high retention, inspire meaningful engagement, convey a creator‘s personality quickly and leave audiences eager for additional content.
Why should brands care about Shorts?
The potential to reach billions of viewers on YouTube plus low production barriers make Shorts a must-try video format for brands seeking more visibility among youth demographics.
In closing, as mobile consumption accelerates globally, YouTube Shorts represent both an imperative yet immensely opportunistic short-form video format for creators.
The playbook for tapping into Shorts continues maturing, but prioritizing mobile-first vertical content now is crucial to amass engaged audiences and make money.
As creators optimize shorts based on analytics using best practices, participating early promises massive dividends as YouTube invests tremendously in the format‘s success.
I hope this guide illuminated everything from tactical creation steps to monetization methods through a tech professional‘s lens. Please reach out with any other Shorts questions!
