5 Ways Shorts on YouTube Can Help Your Channel
If you’re in need of a silver bullet to revive your channel, get friendly with Shorts on YouTube. We’ve laid out exactly how they can help!
In 2020, YouTube announced Shorts, the platform’s answer to TikTok and the short form content boom. Since then, creators have been diversifying the content we can find on the site, whilst reinventing their channels. The beauty of creating Shorts on YouTube is that it can have a number of benefits.
Whether you’re a newbie creator, or a longtime vlogging veteran, everyone needs a boost from time to time. If you’ve been looking for a way to engage with your audience, or attract an audience in the first place, these minute-long videos could be the answer!
One brilliant thing about shorter content is that it can be quick and easy to make. Plus, ideas for short videos can be kept simple but still pack a punch.
Still not sure if Shorts are for you? Check out these 5 benefits to sharing Shorts on YouTube, and then get uploading to see your channel transformation!
Increase Views
There are a few reasons you might want to increase views across your channel. You might wish to share your knowledge and insights, or get on your merry way to content creator fame, or maybe you want to be able to earn money from your content.
Getting into Shorts on YouTube can give your view count a serious boost. It can be difficult to capture people’s attention initially with longer videos. Shorter content is a great snack sized entertainment hit, which appeals to speedy scrollers. Once you hook someone with a short video, they’re far more likely to go and check out your VOD content on your channel.
You can use Shorts to introduce a topic or idea to an audience, and then expand on it in a longer video once you’ve piqued their curiosity.
Gain Subscribers
The key to fostering a solid community, and also monetising content, is to gain subscribers.
Because Shorts are much quicker to create, they enable you to connect with your audience in almost real-time. You can engage with them by asking them questions and answering them in videos, and letting them choose topics. This helps your audience to feel more invested in your content, which encourages them to subscribe to your channel, and keep up with your output.
Reach New Audiences
All successful channels have a carefully selected niche that helps inform what kind of content they publish. This usually means you end up with the kind of audience you’re targeting. However, sometimes you only end up reaching fragments of your desired audience.
Because Shorts are being heavily pushed on the platform, sharing shorter videos means your content could reach a wider audience. Lots of channels have seen their subscribers flood in from across the globe, whereas before they may have only been a hit in one or two countries.
Shorts also appeal more widely due to their easy to digest nature. If you’re a vegan baking channel, you might’ve already hooked those heavily invested viewers who are keen to watch longer VODs. But, with Shorts, you can capture the attention of vegan baking fanatics with shorter attention spans, so they don’t miss out on your content again.
Boost Channel Memberships
Channel memberships on YouTube allow viewers to join channels through monthly membership payments. This then unlocks exclusive content and perks, like badges, emotes, and other goodies.
If your aim is to make YouTube your main source of revenue, focussing on channel memberships is a fantastic way of doing this. This particularly works if you are a business that relies in content, for example, a personal trainer.
You can use Shorts to drive traffic towards memberships, where viewers can access more workout content. Give them short teasers, enticing them to try the full length version and get them invested in your output.
Grow External Traffic
Similarly to driving traffic to YouTube memberships, you can use Shorts on YouTube to steer viewers to other platforms. If you run an online shop, be it clothing, homewares or art supplies, short form video content is a perfect way to highlight cool products and the things you can do with them.
Using physical products is advantageous as you can actually visually show off to viewers, and make them want in on the action. By signposting them to your website or similar, they can get their hands on your products. This could lead to real life sales, helping to grow your business.
On top of this, if people enjoy the content and are happy with the products, they’ll be sure to stick around for more great videos. So, it’s a win for your business and your YouTube channel!