Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Shorts and Reels appear to be quite popular now.
I strongly suggest uploading short form video content to ride the trend.
Boost exposure, be seen and share value through:
- YouTube Shorts
- TikTok videos
- Facebook Reels
- Twitter videos
I upload a series of short videos daily to a wide range of sites. This post is not intended to write off short form video content in any way.
But have you ever thought deeply about the traffic who visits Shorts, Reels and all manner of 5-10 or 20 second, brief, sound-byte type videos?
I currently have about 500 plus subscribers to my YouTube Channel. Most recent subs found me through Shorts.
Various Shorts on YouTube generate 1000, 2000 or 8000 views for my YT Channel. I appreciate the exposure but question the traffic source.
Who watches short videos? People who have a few moments to watch videos.
Who follows blogs closely? People who want detailed information to patiently apply to their lives for their benefit.
I will offer you a practical example.
Short Videos and Traffic Quality
YouTube pushes some of my Shorts.
I know this because 500 subscribers ain’t generating 4,000 Short views for a single video in 3 hours.
Few people visit my blog through my short videos published to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok.
Generally speaking, people who want short form content do not want long form content, thorough courses and rich, detailed eBooks. Short video fans want quick sound bytes digested in a few seconds, not long-form blog content to read, understand and digest over 5, 10 or 15 minutes. Nor do short form content seekers generally desire 3 hour long blogging courses or an 83 page, detailed, eBook guide.
By all means, keep the short form content coming. Use all channels possible to leverage your presence because being seen and heard by capitalizing on trends is smart blogging.
But do not depend much at all on short form video fans to become loyal blog readers who set aside decent chunks of time to:
- read long form blog posts
- comment genuinely in response to long form blog posts
- return to your blog frequently to enjoy thorough content
People who want 10 seconds of content usually don’t click through to spend minutes reading blog posts to learn more about your blog, brand and business.
Beware Being Entranced by Big Numbers
I typically received a few views on my YouTube videos as of a few years ago.
After uploading a few Shorts pushed by YouTube, 3 views per long form video skyrocketed to 100’s of views per some Shorts. Other shorts generated 1000’s of views.
Seeing one Short register 8000 views entranced me; I chased the “Short views dragon” for a while.
Bigger numbers means bigger blog traffic, right?
Wrong.
My YouTube Shorts register an increasing volume of views but the big numbers do not translate into increased blog traffic because viewers who quickly scroll through short blogging tips and travel videos do not appear to want long-form blogging tips and travel-themed blog posts.
Short-form videos and long-form blog posts do not match.
TikTok Crowd
Imagine the TikTok crowd.
Rabid users watch super short videos before swiping to the next brief piece of content.
What motivates a loyal TikTok fan to leave the site for a long-form piece of blog content?
To date, I have no idea.
I publish short videos for general exposure but not to drive loyal readers to Blogging From Paradise because I am clear enough to know that most blogging tips hungry bloggers follow:
- blogs
- long-form videos
- podcasts
to access blogging guidance.
Short videos nab a few blogging tips hungry bloggers here and there; this is why it makes sense to maintain an active presence on these sites.
But don’t spend too much time and energy trying to drive short video content fans to read long-form posts on your blog. Each crowd wants vastly different types of content.
Target Your Readers
Target your readers.
What do your readers want?
Target customers.
What do your customers want?
Target clients.
What do your clients want?
Blogging From Paradise readers generally want:
- long form content
- detailed blogging courses
- detailed blogging eBooks
BFP reader feedback proves that you want each element of my blogging campaign. I know this because you emailed this feedback to me, dropped this feedback via blog comments and let me know on social media.
Receiving this specific reader feedback guides me to write long form blog posts, to promote my detailed blogging courses and to promote my detailed blogging eBooks.
Most of what I do online appeals to bloggers who want detailed blogging tips.
A little bit of what I do online appeals to the short video crowd to:
- spend a few seconds daily riding a trend
- spend a few seconds daily gaining exposure in front of travelers and bloggers
- spend a few seconds daily possibly attracting a short form video fan who decides to take the plunge into long form blog posts, blogging courses and blogging eBooks
Keep Your Perfect Reader in Mind
Tailor what you do online for your perfect reader with the rare exception of riding a trend to gain greater exposure.
Target your ideal reader through your blog posts, products and services. Pinpoint where your perfect reader congregates online. Help people and chat with people in these spots. Give most blogging attention and energy to these tasks to build your blogging business.
Spend a little bit of time and energy gaining exposure through shorts recorded and uploaded to TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Maybe a few short-obsessed fans migrate to your blog here and there. Or maybe none make the seeming leap. Either way, keep your business humming along with highly targeted blog traffic by dialing in on your perfect reader.
Conclusion
In rare cases, viewers who enjoy short videos might have a hankering for long-form, detailed content.
But don’t bet on this morphing of Kafka-esque proportions.
Target your ideal blog reader with most of what you do online to drive quality traffic and to grow your blogging business.
Besides….the world needs fewer popularity seekers and more people of substance.
Let’s influence more humans to do less mindless scrolling and more mind-activating, thoughtful reading.
