Platform
Should You Be Investing Time in YouTube Shorts?
YouTube Shorts might still get viewed as the new kid on the block for video content. But it is already showing signs of growing popularity and isn’t going away soon. But with influencers already spending time and money on other platforms, should they also invest time in YouTube Shorts?
Are YouTube Shorts the future of short-form video for influencers?
YouTube Shorts might still get viewed as the new kid on the block for video content.
But it is already showing signs of growing popularity and isn’t going away soon.
YouTube Shorts has already overtaken the total users per month record that TikTok once held.
As you can imagine, YouTube is backing its Shorts program with incentives for influencers. This includes their music licensing marketplace and profit-sharing plans.
Influencers must take YouTube Shorts seriously. Especially if they already have a solid long-form following.
Leveraging the Shorts algorithm is essential for creators to develop their audience growth strategy.
But with influencers already spending time and money on other platforms, should they also invest time in YouTube Shorts? Let’s dive in.
What Are YouTube Shorts?
YouTube Shorts are videos less than 60 seconds, and can be snippets of long-form YouTube videos
YouTube Shorts are portrait videos that are 60 seconds or less and often act as clips of long-form YouTube videos.
YouTube noticed the rise in popularity of TikTok and Instagram reels and wanted a piece of the action.
With billions of hours of video content already on the website, it was a no-brainer for YouTube to invest in a similar program, YouTube Shorts.
Recent changes to the revenue earning aspect of YT Shorts
YouTube recently announced significant changes to their revenue sharing process
Initially, YouTube followed the TikTok process of funding creators when it introduced its $100 creator fun in May 2021. But YouTube recently announced changes to this plan. Changes they feel will help continue to grow its influencer base and offer better opportunities for influencers.
Under this new revenue plan, Youtube creators can gain a portion of YouTube’s revenue from Shorts videos ads. YouTube will offer 45% of the revenue, which will then get split between creators. Creators must have over 1000 subscribers and 10 million views, based on their share of total Shorts views.
This change, which is due to get rolled out in early 2023, is set to have a huge impact on the influencer marketplace. No other platform, including TikTok, offer revenue sharing. Often they opt for a creator fund instead.
The problem with a creator fund is that the more people who achieve the results required to gain access, the less the cut is for other influencers.
How to Capitalize on YouTube Shorts
The YouTube Shorts algorithm does not follow the same rules as long-form video content
Repurpose Videos for Shorts
Creating brand-new content for YouTube Shorts takes plenty of time and effort. Time and effort many influencers might not have available. One easy way to capitalize on YouTube Shorts is to repurpose existing content into Short format.
If influencers are already creating YouTube long-form content, creating snippets from those videos and converting them into shorts does not take too much time. It also offers plenty of opportunities to publish content and grow your following.
YouTube recognizes this and offers creators the tools they need to do this within the platform via their mobile devices.
Use Sampling Tools
Understanding the ins and outs of sampling on Shorts will make it ten times easier to design content on the platform. It will also be easier to take advantage of viral trends.
The quickest and easiest way to sample audio on Shorts is to press the add sound button. This option opens the library of all audio approved for use on Shorts.
You can only use sampled audio for no longer than 15 seconds, but many videos do not need to be longer than that to grab your audience’s attention.
Currently, you can only sample on mobile devices, but that is set to change soon as YouTube continues to develop its Shorts program.
Think About the Algorithm
Unfortunately, the Shorts Algorithm is not an exact science that influencers can follow. Still, understanding better what factors influence the algorithm and how well content ranks will improve influencers’ viewer count.
Influencers have the tools within YouTube to view likes, comments, watches, and shares. They can do this within the Analytics section. Here, they can also establish sources driving their videos’ traffic and audience retention rate.
YouTube has openly stated that this is the most critical factor in improving a video’s visibility, so creating content that retains audiences is essential. The longer an influencer can get a viewer to watch a video, the higher chance they have of their content getting recommended to others.
Hashtags and titles also play a significant factor, with YouTube suggesting influencers use #Shorts in their captions.
However, influencers must be wary that the Shorts algorithm does not match the long-form equivalent. So if an influencer already has an excellent long-form system in place, simply copying that will not result in similar results with Shorts.
Prepare Now for Later Success
When YouTube first released Shorts, many influencers didn’t bat an eyelid. Since then, the platform has boomed, and many view it as a potential driver for major audience growth in the future.
It is even more incentivizing now, as YouTube has monetized Shorts at a better percentage split than TikTok.
As it is still in its infancy, there is plenty of opportunity to set the foundations now for success in the future. Influencers have a chance to start familiarizing themselves with the tools on offer and the unique YouTube policies to establish a future-focused strategy.
By taking the time to plan meticulously now, influencers have the chance to set up for success as Shorts continues to grow in popularity.
Final Thoughts
YouTube shorts are here to stay, and should be at the forefront of your content strategy
Ultimately, influencers should definitely be investing time in YouTube Shorts. For those that already have a following on their long-form YouTube videos, this process should be relatively simple, as YouTube has made it easy for you to cut existing content into the correct format for Shorts.
But even for those that are not big on YouTube, they should try to build up their Shorts platform as an additional form of income, especially if TikTok continues not to budge on how it pays its creators.
Sources
We have gathered data for this article from several sources:
