The growth of short-form video in influencer marketing has exploded over the last few years as people and platforms have raced to create more engaging content to retain their audiences. Gaming and technology brands are in a unique position to attract new audiences for their products, with their customers being inherently tech-savvy social users.
That doesn’t mean capturing the attention of your target audience is easy. So, let’s talk about how you can succeed with the format.
Why Your Brand Should Care
There are many reasons you should be experimenting with short-form video in your influencer marketing campaigns. It’s cheaper. The content is more engaging. You can repurpose the videos made by influencers in the campaign into your own content. Short-form videos are great for brand awareness, with the average TikTok user watching 46 minutes of TikTok videos a day. In short, this is where gaming and technology consumers are likely to spend their time.
Sponsored short-form video content has rapidly risen in the last few years as companies become more comfortable partnering with creators in places like YouTube Shorts and TikTok. Short-form branded content can boost people’s trust in a brand and encourages them to spread the word organically. Audiences prefer bite-sized info they can digest quickly.
You should consider several crucial points when planning your influencer marketing campaigns using short-form videos:
Don’t Overcomplicate Your Ad Copy
- Do not overcomplicate your influencer marketing campaign with ad copy. Be brief and to the point. It’s common to include talking points for long-form video campaigns – but you will not find success with this approach translating over to short-form video. You want your sponsored content to grab the audience’s attention within the first couple seconds because it is simple to just swipe your content away. It’s better to show, not tell. Gaming and technology consumers are also (not surprisingly) very tech-savvy and can spot heavy-handed ad copy from a mile away.
Give The Influencer Space for Creativity
- Allow the content creator to show their personality. If you’ve partnered with an influencer, it’s likely because you like their content and think it will be a great fit with your brand. This is the part of the campaign where you need to trust the creator to know their audience and your product – and trust they will merge the two in an authentic and organic way. An ad read from an influencer can still be a viable ad read, but don’t be afraid to give more control to the content creator making the short-form video. This will enable them to highlight your product or title in a new way that you couldn’t do organically with your own marketing.
Experiment with Formats
- Experiment with different approaches and try different formats. Initially, the lower costs with short-form video means you might have the opportunity to activate more influencers or more deliverables. We typically see a lot of campaigns for long-term videos or livestreams on YouTube or Twitch follow a set structure. With short-form video, you can try a lot of different and unique things; either with influencers in the campaign, or the types of content they make, like this featured article on a collaboration we did with Claw Quest. This way, you can tackle a wide range of different genres and audiences while keeping your return on investment high. With the lower cost of these activations, you can experiment with influencers on how to promote the product, explore new avenues of presentation and truly aim to hit the core audience.
Understand Your Metrics & Objectives
- Understand the metrics and your objectives. For short-form, engagement like click-throughs, watch-time, comments and likes can be important because it means your sponsored content resonates with people. Metrics like these are still not as important as getting eyes on your product or title. The major benefit of short-form content is the number of individual videos an average user watches – with the average TikTok user watching 46 minutes of videos a day, one single user could be watching through 46 pieces of short-form content. You have a higher chance of being seen, higher chance of being fully watched through, and a higher return on your investment.
Use Paid Media to Leverage Content
- Use paid media to leverage the organic authentic content and push it to very targeted audiences. Don’t be afraid to spend a little more and/or factor paid media into your campaign. This allows you to repurpose user-generated content and integrate it into your regular marketing channels in a more organic way. Social media algorithms are constantly shifting around how they show sponsored content. Implementing a paid media campaign after the influencer campaign allows you to double-dip on marketing content. You’ll get a first wave of attention from the creators’ content, and then you can get a second wave from targeting the exact audiences you want with paid media. Having authentic activations with the right targeting through paid media can enhance the messaging, because it comes from people the viewer’s trust.
Plan Your Campaign with Purpose
Be upfront about what your objective is. Short-form video content is great for awareness and growing your brand presence in general compared to conversion. Don’t just use a platform because it’s the trendy thing to do.
Short-form video has revolutionized the way gaming and technology brands can engage with their target audiences. The appeal of short-form videos lies in their cost-effectiveness, higher engagement rates, and potential for wider brand awareness. Embracing short-form video in influencer marketing campaigns allows brands to tap into the vast tech-savvy social user base and reach potential customers where they spend a significant amount of their time.
As short-form video continues to thrive, gaming and technology brands have a unique opportunity to leverage this trend to their advantage. By embracing the potential of short-form video in influencer marketing campaigns and following these essential strategies, brands can build a strong presence, cultivate trust, and effectively connect with their audience.
Executing successful influencer marketing campaigns with short-form video and other formats can be a massive challenge. Heaven Media’s expert influencer marketing team helps you navigate the obstacles and boost your ROI with integrated marketing support. Reach out to us for more help: https://heavenmedia.com/contact.
