Telling a Brand Story in Bite-Sized Videos: How to Connect with Audiences through Short Videos
When everyone spent more time at home during the pandemic, short-form videos became an incredibly popular way of consuming content – usually on social media. it turned out to be more than a flash-in-the-pan trend, however.
Even as the world returned to normal, online users still preferred short-from video, leading to the meteoric rise of TikTok and similar features on other platforms, including Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Why are bite-sized videos so popular? They’re able to tell a condensed story in under a minute. On the creator end, however, that’s easier said than done. Here’s everything you need to know to tell your brand story in short-form content and make an impact.
Why We Love Stories
Visual content, such as video, captures attention more than text can. People gravitate toward videos, images, and graphics more than long-form articles, and part of that is the story that the visuals tell.
It’s not enough to have an attractive video. You have to say something worthwhile. This is where the story comes in, bringing the sentiment and the visuals together to offer depth, share a message, and humanize your brand.
Another benefit of telling a story is that it’s not purely promotional. It brings a human element that nurtures trust and builds credibility, helping your brand in the short- and long term more than a salesy ad could.
Here are some benefits to storytelling in the short form:
Capturing Attention
Getting the attention of someone scrolling a social media newsfeed isn’t easy. There’s tons of content floating around, and you have to have a hook that gets a user to stop scrolling long enough to hear your message. Videos with alluring visuals and a caption hook have an edge in getting a user curious enough to stop scrolling and indulge their curiosity.
Retaining Information
Stories have the ability to move an audience, inspire them to action, explain a complex concept, drive awareness about a brand or product, and much more. In addition, people are more likely to remember what they learn in a video than the written word, which is why movies are often better known than the book they’re based on.
Humanizing a Brand
One of the biggest consumer shifts in recent years is the desire to purchase from a brand because of more than just a lower price. Consumers are seeking brands that align with their values to know they’re supporting a real person – just like them. Storytelling can help you develop this connection and showcase the authentic person and message, differentiating your brand from your competitors.
Tips to Use Storytelling in Short Form Effectively
Creating an effective video takes a little forethought. Here are some tips for success with your short-form videos:
Rely on the 4 Ps of Storytelling
The 4 Ps of storytelling are a framework to focus your narrative and message:
“Plot” is the story you’re telling
“Purpose” is the intention of the story and what you hope to inspire in the audience
“People” are the characters and the traits that make them relatable to the audience
“Place” is the location of the story and how it features in the message
Prepare a Concise Message
Messaging should always be concise and direct with marketing, and that’s true of short-form video storytelling. You should only focus on one message at a time, especially when you have to tell it in under a minute. Trying to say too many things will leave you with a purposeless story.
Think about the core message you’re trying to convey with your story. That should be tailored to your audience, which requires knowing what pain points, goals, aspirations, and challenges they have. Then, you can focus the message into how your products or services support them.
Plan the Story Arc
All stories have a beginning, middle, and end, no matter the format or genre. Short-form videos are no different – they just complete that arc in a much shorter timeframe. This requires some thought to make sure every syllable counts.
The three main story arcs are:
Three-act: These stories have a beginning that introduces the characters and setting, followed by the conflict that they have to overcome. In the case of your brand, this is the pain point or problem that your brand solves with products or services.
Two-act: These stories complete the arc much faster by introducing the problem and its solution. This is a direct way to tell your story and communicate with customers by highlighting their problem and how your product can solve it, such as with a product demonstration or explainer video.
Hero’s journey: This is a classic story structure that’s been used in famous stories in Hollywood across many genres. The hero of the story has a conflict and undergoes a transformation in their journey. For your brand, this could be a relatable character and the challenge they have to overcome.
Use Emotional Hooks
Emotions drive decision making along with logic. However, emotions can be more powerful than pure evidence, especially when it comes to remembering the content of the story. Emotions can be joy or happiness, but anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, or nostalgia are also effective.
For example, this recruitment video for Toys for Bob highlights the passion the team members have for their work, their team, the franchises they work with, and most importantly, the children they do the work for.
Tell Micro-Stories
Some stories don’t fit well into one-minute formats. If that’s the case for yours, you can break it up into a series of micro-stories, or short, digestible videos that work as part of a series and complete the story arc over several episodes.
For example, your brand story and history could be part of an “About Us” micro-stories series with videos that showcase your products and customer success stories.
Tell Your Brand Story in Short Form
Bite-sized videos are the new popular form of content marketing to capture the attention of an online user and build trust, all in under a minute. These tips should help you craft a story that’s fit to be told in short-form video and inspires the audience.
Torrey Tayenaka
Torrey Tayenaka is the co-founder and CEO at Sparkhouse, an Orange County based commercial video production company. He is often asked to contribute expertise in publications like Entrepreneur, Single Grain and Forbes. Sparkhouse is known for transforming video marketing and advertising into real conversations. Rather than hitting the consumer over the head with blatant ads, Sparkhouse creates interesting, entertaining and useful videos that enrich the lives of his clients’ customers. In addition to Sparkhouse, Torrey has also founded the companies Eva Smart Shower, Litehouse & Forge54.