Navigating the Algorithm: Tips for Creators on Shortform Content
In the digital age, where attention spans are short and scrolling is endless, short-form content has become king. Whether it's TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, or YouTube Shorts, creators are constantly striving to capture their audience's attention in mere seconds.
However, with social media algorithms constantly evolving, navigating this landscape can be daunting. To succeed in the realm of short-form content creation, creators must understand these algorithms and tailor their content accordingly. Here are some tips to help you navigate the algorithm and maximise your impact:
Understanding the Algorithm
Before diving into creating short-form content, it's crucial to understand how algorithms work on different platforms. While each platform has its own unique algorithm, they all share a common goal: to keep users engaged and on the platform for as long as possible. For the purpose of this, we will be concentrating on TikTok, Instagram Reel and YouTube Shorts as our main focus for shortform content channels.
Engagement Metrics: Most algorithms prioritise content based on engagement metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and saves. The more engagement your content receives, the more likely it is to be shown to a wider audience.
Relevancy: Algorithms aim to show users content that is relevant to their interests. They analyse users' behaviour, such as past interactions and search history, to determine what content to display on their feeds.
Consistency: Consistency is key to staying relevant on social media platforms. Algorithms favour accounts that consistently post high-quality content. Regularly posting ensures that your content remains visible to your audience. This doesn’t have to be 2 videos a day, every day of the week! At the start of your content journey, aiming to deliver between 3-5 high-quality videos per week is a perfect starting point.
Tailoring Your Content
Now that you understand the basics of algorithms, it's time to tailor your content to maximise its reach and engagement:
Create a Hook: With short-form content, you have a limited amount of time to capture your audience's attention. Start your video with a strong hook to grab attention within the first few seconds. This could be a visually striking image, an intriguing question, or a catchy phrase.
Keep It Short and Sweet: Short-form content is what it says, ‘short’. Keep your videos concise and to the point. Aim for content that can be consumed in under a minute. Each platform will have slightly different requirements, YouTube Shorts must be under 60 seconds, Instagram Reels must be under 90 seconds and TikTok videos can now be up to 10 minutes. Attention spans are short on social media, so make every second count.
Use Captions: Many users watch videos with the sound off, so it's important to include captions to ensure your message gets across. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram offer built-in caption tools, making it easy to add text to your videos. Captions can also provide a key tool for viewer retention, they allow you to constantly have a visual stimulus on screen with text popping up, giving you something to hold your viewers attention through a video.
Optimise for Mobile: The majority of social media users access platforms through mobile devices, so it's essential to optimise your content for mobile viewing. Ensure that text and graphics are clear and legible on small screens and that your videos on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are in 9x16 format. You can basically create one video (under 60 seconds) and use it across all three platforms!
Tap into Trends: Pay attention to trending topics and hashtags on social media and incorporate them into your content when relevant. Creating content around trending topics increases the likelihood of your content being discovered by a wider audience. This is especially important on TikTok with trending sounds. We’ve all scrolled through TikTok and seen the same sound appear in a video 7 times out of 10, so make note of that and try to incorporate it into your content.
Experiment with Formats: Don't be afraid to experiment with different formats and styles of content. Try out different editing techniques, use music and sound effects creatively, and explore new ways to engage your audience. Content is all about finding your niche. You might try countless different formats of videos that just don’t catch with your audience, but as soon as you find that one format that performs well, continue to create videos on a consistent basis in a similar way.
Building Your Community
In addition to creating engaging content, building a loyal community of followers is essential for long-term success:
Engage with Your Audience: Respond to comments, messages, and tags from your followers. Building a rapport with your audience fosters a sense of community and encourages them to continue engaging with your content. You don’t need to sit and spend all day replying to comments but if you can set aside half an hour, especially straight after you’ve posted a video, to go through and reply to comments you will see your engagement soar. As mentioned earlier, engagement metrics are a key part of the algorithm, so if you can create more engagement by replying to comments and asking questions in the initial time after posting a video it will only help your videos performance.
Cross-Promote Your Content: Share your short-form content across multiple platforms to reach a wider audience. For example, if you create a TikTok video, share it on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts as well. Just be sure to tailor your content to fit each platform's unique audience and format. You can use the same video (as long as it’s under 60 seconds) to save you time editing 3 separate videos, but be sure to change how you post on each platform. For example, the title is vital on YouTube Shorts, you need to include as many keywords as possible to help your videos discoverability in search. Whereas with TikTok, the hashtags are just as important to ensure you can reach a relevant audience.
Collaborate with Other Creators: Collaborating with other creators is a great way to reach new audiences and grow your following. Look for opportunities to collaborate with creators who share a similar audience or niche. This doesn’t have to be setting aside 3 hours to record a video with other creators, a lot of this can happen naturally during streams and gaming sessions.
Analysing and Improving
Finally, to continuously improve your content and performance on social media, it's important to analyse your data and tweak your content with that in mind:
Monitor Your Analytics: Most social media platforms offer analytics tools that provide valuable insights into your audience demographics, engagement metrics, and content performance. Pay attention to these metrics to identify what content resonates most with your audience. There are some great tools here to help you with the logistics of posting videos. TikTok for example will show you a chart of times throughout the day where your followers are online. If you can see that the biggest spike in the chart is at 8pm, then this is a great guide to ensure you start posting videos at 8pm to maximise viewership.
Testing: Sometimes the best thing you can do is just experiment. A lot of content creation is purely down to trial and error. Very rarely will you find a format that works for you instantly, the majority of time it will be a long learning process to figure out what works best for you. You can experiment with different types of content, posting times, and captions to see what resonates for your audience.
Stay Updated: Social media algorithms are constantly evolving, so it's important to stay updated on changes and trends in the industry. Follow industry news, attend webinars, and participate in online communities to stay ahead of the curve.
Creator Takeaways
In the world of short-form content creation, understanding and navigating algorithms is essential for success. Here are the five key takeaways we would recommend concentrating on:
Ensure you understand the algorithm initially. Knowing the key engagement metrics is a vital starting point.
Consistency is key. The algorithms will favour channels that post high-quality content on a regular basis.
Viewer retention is the underlying factor to shortform success. Creating a video with a good hook and attempting to retain a viewers interest throughout will maximise performance.
Building a community is the end goal. Engaging with your audience will ensure you create a base of loyal followers.
Analyse and improve. Standing still in the fast paced world of content is going backwards. You always need to be reviewing analytics and looking for ways to improve your content.