The Allure of Short Videos: Understanding the Psychology Behind Snackable Content

The Psychology Behind Humans Loving Short-Videos

As marketers, specifically social media marketers, there's one major issue that some of us, including myself, face every so often... consuming too much social media.

I often find myself endlessly scrolling TikTok, Instagram, or any other platform, just as a large portion of Americans do. I'll decide to delete the apps from my phone for a few days (or hours) to take a break, but because I work in this field, that can only last so long.

This leads us to an important question regarding our ever-changing human psychology: Why do we love short-form content so much?

Now, I don't only use social media for work, as I love bite-sized videos just as much as everyone else. In fact, 73% of consumers favor short videos to learn about products or services, and 56% of marketers have identified short-form video as their top investment trend for 2024.

Today, All Marketing Group is going to get into the depths of the psychology of short videos and why they can be so addictive, plus what you should consider for your business marketing needs.

What is Considered "Short-Form" Content

It may seem obvious to some people, but short-form content does seem to take a wide range of meanings depending on what platform or who you are talking to. With TikTok starting as the short-form king, they've now evolved into including 10 minute videos!

Originally, I would have said anything 60-seconds and under is short form content. However, in today's world, many will argue that 3-minutes or less is a short-form video. For the sake of simplicity and ease of understanding, we are going to stick with the 60-second rule of thumb.

In other words, short-form content is a video that offers information in an easily-digestible format so viewers can watch once (or multiple times) quickly and carry-on about their scrolling.

Why Marketers Love Short-Form Videos

1. Cost Effectiveness & Ease of Creation
   

In reality, creating short-form content is a massive relief for businesses. Instead of going to the most expensive agency and shelling out mass amounts of money and resources to produce a lengthy commercial, owners can rejoice with short videos. Although we definitely do not suggest taking matters into your own hands (if you want to grow on social media), creating short videos is as easy as hitting record.

It's important to mention that in order to truly see success on social platforms and with video, the consumer is still looking for quality. Yes, a quick 30 second video could do you wonders, but if everyone who sees it swipes off immediately, you won't see any traction. Thus, All Marketing Group has a free social media content plan, as well as a free jump-starter option that can get you some high-quality Instagram Reels to try out.

2. Reach & Return on Investment (ROI)

Gone are the days of trying to get attention for your business via the newspaper or mailers (although these are not horrible options depending on your business). If you want to get eyes on your company, social media and videos are really the best option. All Marketing Group has helped businesses gain over 100,000 views and impressions within the first week of working together. What other medium could achieve such high numbers at such a low cost? None. The highest possible ROI is right here with short-form video content, specifically made for social media.

There's many common sayings revolving around brand recognition, but I like to some it up in one way: we all want customers, and we all want our business to be a household name. The key to staying at the top of mind of consumers is video content. After all, 91% of consumers want to see more video from brands.

Why Consumers Love Bite-Sized Videos

1. Can Watch Any Time, or Anywhere

No matter where you are, as long as you have some kind of internet connection, you can open up your phone and unlock unlimited content. Bored on the commute to work? Check out Instagram Reels. Waiting between classes or appointments? Open TikTok or YouTube Shorts on your phone.

Regardless of how much time someone has, it seems that they always have at least a few minutes to hit the scroll. With very little effort or time, people are consuming more content, specifically short content, than ever before. This is only predicted to increase as well, with more and more creators and businesses hopping on the short-form content wave.

2. Valuable Information in a Short Time

Viewers of social media are constantly being bombarded with information. With each new video, more information, potentially valuable information, is being flooded into their brains. Oddly enough, TikTok has become a major source for searching for information. According to a recent Adobe Express survey, two out of five Americans use TikTok as a search engine, and almost 10% of Gen Z prefer TikTok over Google for searching. Trust me, I've used TikTok and Instagram to find more recipes for home-cooking than any search engine.

This can be tricky for businesses to understand sometimes, but you only have 60 seconds or less to provide a potential customer with the information they need. Actually, you really only have the first 3-7 seconds to hook a viewer before they swipe away forever. Although this sounds intimidating, you can greatly benefit from this. Other than the low cost, there are countless strategies to hook a viewer. If you feel like you need help getting potential leads to watch your videos, reach out to us at AMG today!

3. Attention Spans Are Shrinking

Research shows that our growing preference for short-form videos is linked to declining attention spans. Dr. Gloria Mark, a psychologist, shared insights from her extensive research on the "Speaking of Psychology" podcast. Her study, which tracked participants' attention using stopwatches, revealed that attention spans have significantly shrunk over the past two decades. By 2004, people’s average attention span on screens was around two and a half minutes, but this dropped to 75 seconds by 2012 and further declined to about 47 seconds in recent years.

This reduction in attention span is reshaping how we engage with content across various platforms. Dr. Mark highlighted that TV and film have also adapted to this trend, with average shot lengths now around four seconds and music videos often even shorter. Whether our decreasing attention span is influencing these content changes or the other way around remains unclear. Nonetheless, we are increasingly drawn to brief content formats. Studies indicate that most viewers will only watch videos under 60 seconds long.

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Whether you find the idea that our attention spans are shrinking as unfortunate or just evolution at work, short-form videos appear to be a marketing teams goldmine. The trends for social media also do not seem to be going anywhere, so it's never too late to jump on board. Thank you for reading and subscribe to our newsletter for early access to future blogs!