Video Production Hacks: 3 Quick and Easy Ways to Create More Content with Less Effort

Social media platforms like Instagram and others constantly demand new content, especially in the form of video. But creating a large volume of video content can be overwhelming and lead to burnout. If you want to keep up and avoid getting left behind, you need to level up your video process and find ways to create more content with less effort. That being said, here are three quick-and-easy ideas to help you do just that.

1. BATCHING: Filming one video at a time is inefficient. My advice:  record in bulk! -- it’ll help you stay in the flow of content creation, ultimately leading to higher-quality videos. Some creators prep scripts and read the teleprompter whereas others simply tap record and riff to various topics. It all gets cleaned up in post-production. So whatever’s your MO, get in the zone and let the process guide you.

2. CHOPPING: Don’t let your long-form videos go to waste. Repurpose podcast and/or webinar content, for instance, into bite-sized, vertical clips and post ‘em as Reels, TikToks, and Youtube Shorts. Use the “chops” to drive top-of-funnel viewership to your full episodes. Lots of creators hire freelance editors to (low-cost) slice-and-dice all-the-day long. You’ve probably got A LOT more content than you think!

3. SAMPLING: Coming up with new ideas for content can be draining. But it’s like Picasso said:  “Good artists borrow…” That being said -- consider making use of green-screen background effects in your vertical videos (i.e., Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts) to “REACT” to relevant news articles or even remix/duet other creators’ videos. Take existing content and add your own unique spin! (Obviously, go about this collaboratively—as intended by the platforms—not unethically.)

To get the biggest return from your social media and content marketing efforts, it’s important to streamline your video creation process—that is, to make more videos in less time without sacrificing quality. Batching allows you to get into a flow state and produce higher-quality videos by recording multiple videos at once. Chopping enables you to repurpose your long-form content into bite-sized clips, which can drive traffic to your full episodes. Reacting lets you take existing content and add your own unique spin to it, creating something new and engaging.

How to Use Video Marketing to Influence Prospective Real Estate Clients

You know I’m a major proponent of video marketing. However, it's crucial not to let it distract you from your core business objectives:  i.e., listing and selling homes. That’s the work!

Nevertheless, as social media and other digital platforms continue to evolve rapidly, you may feel overwhelmed and pressured to keep up—and, as a result of that—possibly lose sight of the big picture and get stuck in the details.

At the end of the day, video is a tool in your marketing toolbox, not the whole shed — and, when used properly, it’s a real game-changer. Video is a powerful way to begin influencing prospective clients (before they’re even clients!), so that when you make a call or conduct an appointment, the hard work of "earning the business" is already done.

Real estate is a know, like, and trust type of business. And, IMO, video marketing is the ultimate medium to help elicit those types of feelings. It's like a Trojan horse that sneaks into the social feeds of your prospective customers and begins to build your brand and influence them so that when you’re face-to-face or over-the-phone, they’re already a “YES.” Simply put:  your video marketing is about getting you more yeses!

Real Estate Marketing on YouTube: How Skippable In-Stream Ads Can Help You Stand Out and Generate Leads

In the real estate space, you know that building relationships is flat-out essential to your business. What’s more, you wanna be top-of-mind for potential clients and have them view you as the definitive trusted local expert. That's where YouTube’s Skippable In-Stream ads—i.e., the commercials that play before, during, or after YouTube videos—come in as an insanely powerful tool to scale-up your brand. Lemme explain…

Create Top-of-Mind Awareness:

Skippable In-Stream ads allow you to showcase your brand (i.e., Y-O-U!) to your target audience. In terms of targeting an audience, Google Ads has powerful audience segmentation functionality whereby you can target, for instance, homeowners in your town, in-market buyers, folks planning a move, etc. It’s mind-boggling!

By using these ads, you can get “stage time” in front of potential buyers and sellers on repeat! When they're ready to make a move, they'll be more likely to think of you because they've seen your ads repeatedly and feel like they know you. That’s the power of video!

Drive Frequency of Views:

Frequency of views is another significant benefit of Skippable In-Stream ads. As potential clients keep seeing your ads repeatedly, they'll begin to feel more familiar with your brand, and your name will start to stick. In human psychology, that’s known as the Mere-Exposure Effect, a phenomenon whereby customers begin to favor the familiar, so to speak.

Real estate is a know/like/trust, relationship business. The more they see you, the more they'll like you and trust you as an expert in the field. It's an effective way to keep your name in front of potential clients and position yourself as a knowledgeable professional.

Showcase Your Knowledge/Competence:

End of day, customers are ultimately hiring you for your knowledge and skills. Skippable In-Stream ads provide an opportunity to showcase your expertise and build trust with potential clients. So, for instance, create insightful market update videos and then run them as In-Stream ads targeting local homeowners. It’s a way to generate listing appointments over time. Video content like that helps to position you as a knowledgeable professional and thus, creates consideration for your agent-brand.

Monthly market updates, neighborhood tours, and/or advice on buying and selling a home are just a few ideas to get started. When clients see that you know what you're talking about, they'll be more likely to trust you with their real estate needs. Showcase your expertise, stay top-of-mind, and grow your business.

How YouTube's Algorithm Works: Understanding Click-Through Rate, Watch Time, and Retention

As a content creator on YouTube, it's essential to understand how the platform's algorithm works. YouTube's algorithm takes into account several factors to determine which videos to recommend to users or rank in its search results. The three big factors that the algorithm evaluates: click-through rate, watch time, and retention.

Click-Through Rate

The first factor that YouTube's algorithm evaluates is click-through rate (CTR), which is the percentage of viewers who click on your video after seeing somewhere on the platform:  recommendations, a feed, the search results, or elsewhere. A higher CTR simply means that more people are interested in your video and are willing to watch it—thus, YouTube is more inclined to rank and recommend it.

To improve your CTR, you should focus on creating compelling titles, “clickable” thumbnails, and video descriptions that accurately represent your video's content. It's essential to grab the viewer's attention quickly and give ‘em a good reason to watch.

Watch-Time

Watch-time is the second factor that YouTube's algorithm considers. It is what it sounds like:  watch-time simply refers to how long viewers watch your video. The longer a viewer watches your video, the better your video is gonna perform.

If a viewer clicks to watch your video and “bounces” within mere seconds, for instance, YouTube’s able to figure that the content must not have lived up to the expectation. However, if the viewer watches for an extended duration, then it’s evidently what they wanted.

To evaluate whether there are any problematic exit-points where viewers tend to click off your video, head over to your YouTube Studio. Simply go to studio.youtube.com, and you can review your video's analytics.

Retention

Retention is the third variable that YouTube's algorithm evaluates. In a nutshell, Retention measures the total amount of time viewers spend on ALL of your videos cumulatively. So the more videos on your channel, the better—so long as they aren’t all-over-the-place topic-wise. It’s important to publish content that’s intended for your designated target audience.

Retention on YouTube is like a seniority clause, whereby established YouTubers tend to outperform new channels due to the collective viewership earned over time. Unlike other video channels like Reels or TikTok, YouTube doesn't let new channels outrank established ones easily.

Retention provides a quasi-permanent benefit to your channel since it measures the total amount of time viewers spend on all your videos combined. So… By consistently producing high-quality content and retaining viewers, your channel becomes more valuable to YouTube, helping reinforce your ranking across the board. Heck yeah! This means that the more you invest in building up your channel's Retention, the more it'll pay off over time, as you'll continue to earn more viewers and grow your channel's reputation on the platform.

Understanding how YouTube's algorithm works is critical for any content creator looking to grow their channel. By focusing on improving your click-through rate, watch-time, and retention, you’ll improve your videos' ranking and reach more viewers. Keep creating high-quality and engaging videos consistently, and you'll be on your way to success on YouTube.

P.S. If you wanna watch Jason’s FULL YouTube training video, head over to Tom Ferry’s site:  https://www.tomferry.com/marketing/ep-54-6-tips-for-youtube-views/

From Expertise to Exposure: How Video Amplifies Your Real Estate Brand

Have you ever wondered why buyers and sellers choose to hire you? Ultimately, it boils down to the trust they have in you -- but WHY do they trust you? It’s a simple answer, really—It’s because your COMPETENCE cultivates CONFIDENCE.

End of day, your expertise is the reason people elect to hire you. So, from a marketing standpoint, where and how do you go about demonstrating your expertise?—i.e., your “worthiness” for hire. Ummm… VIDEO—it’s the microphone of your message, so to speak.

In the relationship-based business of real estate, the know, like, and trust trifecta is paramount. So when it comes to establishing and promoting your agent-brand, video stands head and shoulders above all other marketing mediums in its ability to convey the essential elements of know, like, and trust.

What’s more, your content is your contribution—it’s what sets you apart from your competitors!

You know better than anyone how competitive the industry can be. With so many agents vying for the attention and business of buyers and sellers, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd. That's where video comes in. By showcasing your expertise and personality in video over-and-again, you’ll work to distinguish yourself as the “agent-of-choice.”

YouTube for Real Estate: Unleashing the power of YouTube to reach high-intent customers

YouTube is more than just a social media platform; it's a search engine that can help businesses reach high-intent customers.

Unlike social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram, where users browse feeds somewhat aimlessly, YouTube users are purpose-driven. Generally speaking, folks go to YouTube with a specific search query in mind—which means they are actively seeking solutions to their problems. 

By creating informative and engaging video content that aligns with what potential buyers and sellers are actively searching for on YouTube, you have the opportunity to capture the attention of those who are already in a high-intent state, and thus, primed to take action.

To make the most of YouTube for your business, consider the following tips:

1. Create engaging video content that adds value to your target audience—that addresses their problems, goals, and so on. Make sure that your videos are informative, relevant, and visually appealing.

2. Optimize your video content for search engines. Use relevant keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and tags to ensure that your content is discoverable by your target audience.

3. Consistency is key. Post videos regularly to keep your audience engaged and interested in your business’s content.

If you’re ready to (massively) level-up your YouTube strategies in 2023, make sure to watch the full video here:  https://www.tomferry.com/marketing/ep-54-6-tips-for-youtube-views/

The full training goes in-depth about YouTube’s algorithm, breaks down a couple case-studies of real estate agents and teams crushing-it on YouTube, and shares 6 optimization secrets to dial-in your videos to rank higher in YouTube search.

YouTube’s got a lot to offer in the way of marketing your business… so don’t miss out on the opportunity.

Don't Get Distracted by Vanity Metrics: How to Build a Strong Agent-Brand in Real Estate

When it comes to social media, it's easy to get caught up in numbers:

• How many followers do you have?

• How many views on your latest video? 

But don't let a lack of followers or video-views discourage your social-media video efforts. Building a reputable agent-brand and making an impact with your clients matters way, way more!

After all, the chances are strong that your database contacts—i.e., your past clients and sphere-of-influence—are likely the folks following you anyway. So even if your follower count isn't as high as you'd like, you're still reaching the people who matter most to your business.

Now, I’m not saying that metrics like reach and engagement don’t matter. They do… they signal whether your content is or isn’t performing optimally. But they’re by no means the “be all, end all.”

Here are a few reasons why:

• Building your brand: By consistently posting high-quality content that aligns with your brand, you'll attract clients who are a good fit for you. They'll be more likely to work with you and refer you to others.

• Making an impact with your clients: By providing valuable information and insights, you'll be able to build trust with your clients. They'll see you as an expert in your field and be more likely to work with you.

• It's a know-you, like-you, trust-you type of business: In real estate, relationships are key. By building your brand and making an impact with your clients, you'll be able to deepen those valuable relationships.

Social media is a phenomenal medium to spread your brand’s message. Especially by way of video because it allows you to showcase your personality and expertise in a way that image or text formats simply can't. So long as your content marketing efforts align with your brand, you're on the right track.

For all intents and purposes, your brand is:

• Your voice 🗣️

• Your mind 🧠

• Your heart ❤️

• Your face 😇

Nobody does you better than you -- and no marketing medium in existence showcases YOU quite like video!

Maximizing Email Marketing Performance: How Incorporating Videos Can Boost CTR by 65%

Incorporating videos into your email marketing campaigns can significantly boost your click-through performance. In fact, studies have shown that the increase can be as much as 65%.

As video continues to dominate our feeds as the people’s “preferred media format,” it's important to ensure that you're taking advantage of this trend in your email marketing.

What’s more—given that nonverbal communication plays such a significant role in ALL human interaction—it is not surprising that videos can be so effective at increasing click-through rate (CTR) performance. Nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions (like in the thumbnail of the video) and body language, for instance, can convey a great deal of meaning and emotion, thus giving the viewer more reason to click.

By including a video in an email, you are able to take advantage of the power of nonverbal communication to grab the attention of your audience and convey your message more effectively.

Why Use Videos in Email Marketing:

• Videos can increase click-through rate (CTR) by up to 65%.

• Nonverbal cues in video-thumbnails (like facial expressions) can convey meaning and emotion to engage the viewer.

JUST DON’T EMBED THE VIDEO

That said, though—it's important to note that directly embedding a video file (like an mp4) in your email may trigger mailbox providers like Gmail or Outlook to flag your message as SPAM, thus impeding its deliverability. Your mass emails shouldn’t include attachments, flash, or other types of “rich media”—video included. To avoid this, include a clickable thumbnail image instead that links to a web page where the viewer can watch your video.

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Looking to massively improve your email strategy this year? Make sure to check out my new course, INBOX HERO: Tapping into the marketing G.O.A.T.

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Click-through rate, the way I see it, is arguably the most crucial metric in email marketing because it tells of the effectiveness of your campaigns in terms of getting recipients to take a desired action. Open rates, while still important, may not be as reliable—especially with the release of programs like Apple's Mail Privacy Protection, which can pre-load emails and report false opens. A click, on the other hand, indicates that the recipient wants more—thus, they clicked!

How to Include Videos in Emails:

• Do not directly embed video files, as it may trigger spam filters.

• Use a clickable thumbnail image that links to a web page where the video can be watched.

So, my advice:  take a moment to go over all of your email campaigns: newsletters, drips, automations, and more. Ask yourself, “How can I incorporate more video content into my emails?” And then do what you say to yourself and include more videos!

The Importance of Building Credibility with Video on Social Media: Don't Just Chase Followers

Are you a real estate agent who’s considering giving up on social media video marketing because you're not seeing the followers or views you desire? If so, you may be mis-measuring whether or not what you’re doing is working.

It's important to remember that social media success isn't just about gaining followers or becoming “social-media famous.” To the contrary, it's more about building a reputable brand and making an impact with your clients. Granted, it’s reasonable to expect hearts, likes, comments, views, and so on—after all, those are algorithmic signals that your content is resonating with users.

Notwithstanding, if you've ever had a client mention one of your published videos during an appointment, for instance, then your video marketing efforts are already working.

Real estate is a know-you, like-you, trust-you form of business. If your videos are consistent with your brand and help to establish you as a credible and reliable source of information, then you are on the right track.

So don't be discouraged if you're not seeing the vanity metrics. They matter to a certain degree, of course—but only because the algorithms care.

Instead, focus on creating high-quality, informative videos that align with your brand and help to establish you as a trusted source in the real estate industry. Your efforts will pay off in the long run as you build a strong and reputable agent-brand.

Beat Social Media Algorithms by Establishing a Content Cadence 🔂

It’s never just ONE video — it’s a video show! Lemme explain…

The typical Instagram user follows between 150 and 200 accounts and spends, on average, 53 minutes a day in the app. Moreover, they divide their attention between multiple feeds:  Home, Explore, Reels, Stories, DMs, etc.

What’s more, the conventional Instagrammer posts four times per week (per Shopify research). Bearing all that in mind plus accounting for paid promotions and AI-suggested content, for instance, it all adds up to A LOT of competition for eyeballs and attention.

The fact is, your next post will only be seen by a fraction of your followers.

And so, consequently, it’s imprudent to put all your eggs🥚in the basket 🧺 of a single video or post. Why? Simple… because not everyone’s gonna see it. In reality, every video posted is merely a cog in the ⚙️ wheel, so to speak. You’re building-up a body of work.

That means you’ve gotta get super clear on the overall mission of your content. What’s your overarching/underlying objective? Odds are, it’s to generate business—i.e., buyers and sellers. Notwithstanding, you obviously can’t just say “list with me” or “buy with me” all the time. That’d get old real quick!

My advice:  produce content that treats followers like clients. Share advice endlessly and nobody’s gonna call you salesy; they’ll just call you. 📲

A one-off video is, for all intents and purposes, invisible. On the other hand, VIDEOS—all working together—will build your brand.

Instagram Reels to Generate Repeat & Referral Business (for REALTORS®)

Pop-quiz:  What do you sell!?

You might respond that you sell “yourself.” Honestly though – what does that even mean? Alternatively, you may reason that you sell houses. Hmm… kind-of, sort-of. Technically speaking, you provide brokerage services to people who are doing the buying and/or selling. There’s a difference.

Fundamentally, the reason folks hire you boils down to your expertise (and how you impart it). That’s what you sell‼️And, bear in mind, EXPERTISE is a distinctive term. It’s not one-size-fits all. Like I’ve said before:  “Nobody does YOU better than Y-O-U.”

Real estate is a know-you, like-you, trust-you business—that’s the winning combination with consumers. Question is, when prospective clients look you up on social, for instance, does your page adequately showcase your expertise?

Take Jeffrey Sabel, for instance. Just over a year ago he started posting Reels almost every day in which he deftly demonstrated his competence. No surprise, his page started to gain new followers quickly. Why? Because folks follow accounts that confer value.

What’s more, his Instagram efforts kindled a frenzy of REPEAT and REFERRAL business from his sphere-of-influence contacts—most of whom were already following him. That’s the secret sauce, right there!

Lots of conflicting messages about the state (and future state) of the marketplace are competing to win consumers’ confidence. If headlines say X and you say Y, for instance, who are buyers and sellers in your market gonna trust?

That, my friends, depends on the strength of your agent-brand.

3 "Easy to Produce" Vertical Videos (for Real Estate Agents)

VIDEO is VERTICAL – that’s the trend to embrace:  Instagram + Facebook Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts.

Trouble is, making and sharing videos is a significant undertaking. Top social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, for instance, have practically insatiable appetites for more and more content—video content, in particular.

You’ve gotta work smarter 🤨 when it comes to video-marketing nowadays.

Bearing that in mind… here’s a list and instructions for three “easy to produce” video shows to step-up your vertical ↕️ video game now and into next year:

3 (Easy-to-Make) Vertical Video for Realtors

1. Talking Heads 🗣 - (Not the band 🤣) Close-up, camera-facing videos in which you provide real estate market commentary, share tips and advice, or explain nuances/intricacies about real estate.

I’d recommend batch-filming to record videos in bulk. You may opt to shoot in the field or at a set location, with your smartphone🤳 or perhaps a DSLR/mirrorless camera 🎥. That bit’s up to you.

Be sure to prep your points in advance, maybe bring a few changes of clothes, and I’d definitely advise outsourcing the editing.

• Here’s an example: Sarah Roy - Farr Group NW

2. Gimbal Tours🏡 - We all know people like watching home-tours. (Ever heard of HGTV⁉️) Nonetheless, some myths that might be holding you back from making more of these videos:

MYTH 1:  The subject property has to be your listing.

That’s not the case so long as you obtain proper consent. In fact, the properties don’t even have to be, quote-unquote, “for sale,” just as long as you don’t misrepresent/mislead otherwise.

MYTH 2:  You can only produce polished videos or it’ll present the home improperly.

Before I get into this, let me be clear: I have no qualms with pro-quality listing videos. (Far from it, actually.) However, because social algorithms are burning through content so rapidly, the odds of ALL the right people seeing any one post is mathematically improbable.

If you’re bottlenecking your output of content because each video, for instance, is overly time- and labor-intensive, a pivot to your approach may be in order.

TRY THIS:  get a gimbal (i.e., a handheld mechanical stabilizer to help you shoot smoother video) for your iPhone (e.g. DJI Osmo) and shoot a selfie-styled video that begins with you introducing the property. For example:

“Wanna see what $500,000 can get you in South Nashville…”

Then, with your gimbal, rotate the camera to forward-facing and begin touring the property. Step to the corner of each room and pan from left to right to give viewers a full view of its interior spaces. Film in 4K, 60 frames-per-second (fps), and at the 0.5 magnification setting to get that wide-angle lens look.

When you’re done, load your video into an editing app like Splice. Pop-in a few transitions, speed-up or slow-down the footage to your liking (that’s called “speed ramping”), and edit your video in like two minutes flat—done and dusted!

• Here’s an example: Ray Ellen - Pixel Properties

3. Selfie Spotlights🤳 - Using similar filming techniques as the selfie-gimbal video aforementioned, hit the town to document its hotspots and amenities. Try using the voiceover (VO) functionality that’s built into Reels, for instance. That way, you can just film to your phone’s camera roll while you’re out-and-about the town and then add your footage into a Reel/TikTok/Short after-the-fact.

• Here’s an example: The One Team

If you plan to conduct interviews with locals, for instance—and wanna record quality-sounding audio—consider investing in a LAV or condenser/cardioid microphone.

• RODE Wireless GO ii

• Deity Pocket Wireless Mobile Kit

• Deity V-Mic D4 Duo Microphone

• Rode VideoMic GO Lightweight On-Camera Microphone

The simple fact is, social algorithms are greedy — they want more content than ever (especially, vertical videos). If your videos are overly difficult to produce in bulk, then you oughta explore new methods/concepts to streamline your process.

Instagram Story Videos Now Up-to 60 Seconds Long and Useable as Instagram Reels

Instagram Stories update:  you might’ve heard the news that IG Story videos under 60-second runtimes will no longer be auto-divided into 15-second segments, as has been the case.

The significance is that Instagram is—step-by-step—merging its various video formats into, effectively, one configuration:  VERTICAL ↕️

What’s more, Instagram has been prompting its users recently to “make a Reel” when posting a string of Stories. Instagram launched Templates for Reels a while back, and so it’s programmed to detect which of your Story-sequences match-up with an available Template. If you follow the prompt to “make a Reel,” for instance, it’ll even load your Stories into the designated Template frames automatically. 🤯

The point is… all video is vertical and it seems as if IG is working toward a convergence of some form… whereby all videos—Story-posts or Feed-posts—populate in its main feed. Just making some predictions here. :D

The Toughest Video to Make…

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million! (And then a video playlist is worth a billion, I suppose!)

Fact is, there’s just no marketing medium quite like VIDEO. In a know-you, like-you, and trust-you business such as real estate, for instance—there’s simply nothing else like it.

So, candidly... If you’re not publishing video, then—I know this sounds sort of harsh—but why even bother with social media at all? Hear me out… Every social algorithm out there is disproportionately prioritizing video media formats. So, if you wanna get optimal results from your social media efforts, then video is non-negotiable.

Having said all that, producing video is—goodness knows—an undertaking. Remember, though: the more you commit, the better you get. 🔂

Instagram Reels Boosting: the Do’s and Don’ts

Instagram released functionality over the summer enabling its users you to boost Instagram Reels. So, if you haven’t tried it—maybe give it a go. (Obviously, boosting anything on IG is restricted to professional accounts (e.g. Business or Creator profiles), not personal accounts.) Here are the eligibility limitations:

• The Reel cannot be “shared on Facebook”

• The Reel cannot exceed 60-seconds (even though IG allows up to 90 seconds, organically)

• The Reel cannot contain third-party intellectual property (e.g. copyrighted music, GIFs, etc.)

With so many constraints, though… you may be wondering what you CAN actually boost. My advice… boost your “knowledge broker” styled vertical videos—i.e. the content that builds your agent-brand best and positions you as a trusted advisor.

To be successful on social, it requires a commitment to making content (lots of it) consistently. The downside, however, is that some of that content may or may not perform to your expectation. So… why not try boosting from time-to-time?

YouTube Shorts are now Ranking in YouTube Search Results

Youtube Shorts has a leg-up on vertical-video rivals like Instagram/Facebook Reels and TikTok videos. What is it? In a word: SEARCH.

Now, I’m not saying Reels and TikToks shouldn’t remain a focal-point 🎯of your video and content strategy. I’m just saying… YouTube Shorts has something worth looking at more closely.

In its truest sense, YouTube is more of a search engine than a social network. The primary mechanism for consuming content on a social network, for instance, occurs by way of scrolling through feeds.

However, on YouTube, content is mostly discovered through search – which explains why long-form videos have historically performed so well on YouTube. It’s because if a viewer goes searching for a specific video to watch versus it just magically shows up in a feed… then, presumably, there’s a greater willingness to watch that video for longer.

Another perk of search-based video discovery is that your videos can keep on ranking in the search results for a long, long time – versus with social networks, they distribute through the feeds and then after that, they’re no more than an afterthought 💭.

Well guess what… YouTube Shorts—on desktop and mobile—are now ranking in search results pages‼️

In fact, when I look at my own channel’s performance insights, YouTube Shorts have become my most-viewed videos (without diminishing the performance of my long-form videos). What’s more, the bulk of the viewership is discovering my videos via YouTube Search—not from the Shorts feed (as would’ve been expected).

And, here’s the cherry on top 🍒:  my top-performing Shorts were posted over a year ago‼️ Search is like a fine wine 🍷 that gets better with age!

So… here’s my advice:  start making search-optimized YouTube Shorts and customers are gonna find your business.

Free PDF Download:

15 “search-ready” video titles for Youtube Shorts ⤵️

Do YouTube Shorts Hurt Long-Form YouTube Videos?

Can YouTube Shorts hurt the performance of your long-form YouTube videos?

From the get-go, lots of established YouTubers suggested having separate, “Shorts-only” channels as a safety measure to insulate against any possible algorithmic side-effects of Shorts. That advice was, in my opinion, highly prudent — after all, Shorts were brand new.

Notwithstanding, Search Engine Journal recently published a Q&A with a YouTube representative that offered some new guidance. Here are a few highlights I noted:

1. YouTube maintains entirely separate viewer watch histories of Shorts versus traditional, long-form videos. So, in other words, the Shorts you watch don’t have any algorithmic influence on what long-form videos YouTube may or may not recommend to you — and vice versa.

2. The rate of growth for channels producing both long-form and short-form videos outpaces channels only producing long-form videos. So, mix it up, basically.

3. The primary reason to start a separate YouTube channel isn’t to sequester Shorts from long-form videos; it’s simply to ensure that a channel’s videos align around a specific interest shared by its intended audience.

If you wanna give the full article a read, just type the LINK into your web browser:  https://bit.ly/Shorts-Algorithm.

The Top 22 Vertical ↕️ Videos of 2022

During last week’s Tom Ferry Success Summit in Dallas, TX, we published (in my opinion) a super-useful video resource: The Top 22 Vertical Videos of 2022.

No doubt, vertical video is THE trend to follow: Reels on Instagram and Facebook, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and so on. So… if you’re looking for some ideas and inspiration to level-up your video marketing, be sure to check out this resource. Just click HERE.

YouTube Shorts are Ranking (and Getting “Evergreen” Views) in YouTube’s Search Results

Vertical Video📱is most definitely on trend:  TikTok videos, Reels on Instagram and Facebook, YouTube Shorts, etc.

One of their perks is a relatively high coefficient for going viral—sometimes tens-of-thousands, hundreds-of-thousands, or even millions of views!

However, that’s not necessarily enough by itself.

Instagram and TikTok, for instance, are working to improve their respective search 🔦tools to give users additional means to discover new videos and content. Otherwise, it’s all up to the feeds.

But YouTube’s already been there and done that 😏.

Lately, in fact, my most viewed videos on YouTube have been Shorts. What’s more, the way in which viewers discovered them was predominantly via YouTube Search. Videos that only get views in a feed, for instance, run their course in about a day-or-two and then essentially vanish without trace. Videos that rank in search results, on the other hand, well—they could last indefinitely. Case in point… my top-viewed Shorts were published over a year ago! 

All that to say: over-index on YouTube Shorts!

Instagram Video is Vertical: IG Videos Now Shared as Reels

I expect you’ve noticed how Instagram Videos (IG Video) has transfigured into Instagram Reels, right? Lemme explain:

• Instagram recently terminated/obliterated/decimated IG Video (formerly dubbed, IGTV). Now ALL videos on Insta are vertical ↕️—i.e., either Stories, Reels, or Livestreams.

• Any IG Videos less than 15-minutes were relabeled as Reels—so now your Reels Grid probably looks gross with disproportioned cover images and freeze frames 😡. I feel ya!

• So how long can Reels be then? Welp, in order for your Reels to be distributed in the official “Reels Feed,” they cannot exceed 90 seconds. What’s more, that’s STILL the limit if you’re recording the Reel in Instagram’s built-in editor. That said, if you publish a prerecorded video that’s longer (the same way you used to publish an IG Video), it’ll still end up as a Reel—it just won’t distribute in the Reels Feed. Makes total sense 🙄.

Before this change, IG Lives (after a broadcast concluded) could be posted as IG Videos. Now they’re posting as Reels—and I’ve seen more than 20 minute runtimes. So… same as before, I expect video runtime is dependent on the follower-size of the account (e.g. fewer than 10,000 followers and so on)..
So, in a nutshell, what’s actually different? To put it simply: all VIDEO is VERTICAL 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 on Instagram.