Short Form Video Content Ideas for Social Media this 2024

If you want to help your clients dominate social media, creating short-form video content is a must.

Social media users are likely to engage with shorter videos than long-form content. 

Data backs this, showing that videos shorter than 90 seconds keep 50% of viewers watching.  

The challenge is that constantly coming up with fresh short-form video content ideas can take a lot of time and effort, especially when handling multiple clients and social media profiles. 

The good news? This guide has you covered. 

We’ll explore the top short-form video content ideas to elevate your clients’ social media game. 

This guide includes tips, tricks, and the best tool to supercharge video content creation and distribution. 

What you will learn  

• What is a short form video? 
• Why should you create short form video content?
• What are the top short form video content ideas for social media?
• What are the best practices when creating short form video content for social media?
• How to use Vista Social to manage and publish short form video content
• What are the short form video content ideas to avoid?
• Ready to weave short form video content into your social media strategy?

What is a short form video? 

Generally, a short-form video is under 60 seconds and longer than five seconds (with the optimal length between 31 to 59 seconds). 

However, short-form videos can vary depending on the social media platform, with some channels considering 90-second to three-minute videos short-form. 

Short-form social media videos, such as Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, and YouTube Shorts, aim to quickly capture the viewers’ attention with digestible and engaging content.

Must read: Instagram Reels Templates: Everything You Need to Know (2024)

Effective short-form videos usually pack a punch through catchy visuals, concise storytelling, and a clear Call-to-Action (CTA). 

Why should you create short form video content?

It’s simple: People online want instant gratification, hence the demand for short-form content. 

Creating short-form videos offers the following perks. 

Increased visibility and reach

Short-form videos often get the highest engagement, making them the social media platform algorithms’ favorites. 

Must read: TikTok Algorithm 2024 Explained: How It Works + Tips to Go Viral

The more the algorithms favor your clients’ videos, the higher their chances of appearing in more people’s feeds and For You Pages (FYPs), expanding your clients’ visibility and reach. 

Short-form videos are also highly shareable, encouraging more users to share them with their networks. 

Boosts engagement rates

Short-form videos address the needs of today’s attention-limited and fast-scrolling audience, leading to higher engagement. 

Quick, bite-sized TikTok and Instagram videos can entertain and offer value within seconds, encouraging your clients’ audiences to watch, comment, share, and like the content.

Must read: Most Viewed Instagram Videos that SMM Agencies Can Learn From

And with higher engagement comes higher visibility, reach, and conversion opportunities. 

Higher returns

Short-form content often requires less time, energy, and resources and has a higher return potential than full-length videos.

Short videos also go viral faster, helping your clients reach wider audiences quickly. This gives your clients more opportunities to raise brand awareness and drive clicks and conversions. 

Plus, social media algorithms favor short-form videos, which helps your clients gain organic reach without spending too much on ads. 

Small investments in short-form videos can result in huge payoffs. 

Must read: Instagram Following List Order Algorithm Explained [2024]

Raises brand awareness

Short-form videos help your clients reach more people, amplifying their efforts to raise brand awareness. 

Bite-sized videos are easily shareable, boosting the chances of your clients’ content spreading to more viewers’ feeds, including non-followers. 

Plus, you can leverage short-form videos to showcase your clients’ brand personalities, making them memorable to audiences. 

The more your clients’ brands appear in front of target audiences, the more familiar and recognizable they become. 

What are the top short form video content ideas for social media?

Get inspiration from the short-form video content ideas below. 

1. Irrelevant yet catchy video openings

Sometimes, the best way to get audiences to watch is to open your clients’ short-form videos with unrelated content. 

For instance, the Instagram Reel promoting a supermarket below opens with an unrelated stunt.

Image source: instagram.com

Why does this work? It hooks the viewer and reels them with something unexpected and fresh. 

It’s also fun and short, which keeps viewers watching until the end. 

Short-form videos like this “disrupt” viewers, stopping them in their tracks and enticing them to engage with the content. 

2. Gen Z takeovers

Every generation has its preferred content type, style, and humor. 

So why not create content that crosses generations to help your clients reach wider audiences? 

Jump into popular short-form video trends such as the Gen Z takeover. 

The TikTok video below from Northumberland Zoo, where they let Gen Z staff write their marketing script, is a classic example. 

Must read: How to Go Viral on TikTok: Actionable & Easy-to-Follow Tips

Image source: tiktok.com

The video shows older staff using Gen Z slang and terms to describe the zoo’s animals. 

What makes it even more hilarious is that the people in the video don’t seem to understand what they’re saying and are simply reading off a script—but the content works. 

It’s very demure, very cutesy, very mindful. 😉

Don’t forget to include relevant and popular hashtags to boost your video’s discoverability and visibility on social media platforms. 

Leverage Vista Social. 

The social media management and optimization platform lets you save hashtags used in your clients’ scheduled and published posts. 

The platform also offers an AI-powered hashtag generator to help you find relevant and trending hashtags quickly. 

3. Insights from experts

Short-form videos can position your clients as industry experts in the eyes of social media audiences. 

For example, you can post Instagram Reels or TikTok videos that showcase insider knowledge or expertise on lesser-known facts about your clients’ industries. 

Must read: TikTok Organic Growth: The Ultimate How-To Guide [2024]

You can create short-form videos such as the following:

• Q&A videos to answer frequently asked questions or discuss popular industry topics to showcase your clients’ knowledge and expertise
• Industry topic breakdowns summarizing complex news or information via engaging short video clips 

Get inspiration from social media thought leader Mari Smith and her insights on Meta’s AI features. 

Must read: AI Video Tools to Boost Your Social Media Efforts This 2024

Image source: instagram.com

The Instagram Reel shows Mari Smith’s hot take on the new Meta AI features and what this means for content creators and user interactions.

The video is an example of an industry expert sharing their opinions or thoughts on topics that will shape and shift the future of specific industries. 

Additional tip: Hot takes often get tons of reactions from followers, so don’t miss out on responding to comments to boost interactions and engagement. 

Manage and reply to all your clients’ comments, mentions, messages, and reviews through Vista Social’s Social Inbox, the platform’s centralized social media engagement feature. 

4. Quick interview videos

People connect better with content featuring other people. 

Make the most of this by creating short-form videos that show interactions with other people in your clients’ companies.

You can interview employees for their two cents on an interesting topic or trending issue. 

For example, the YouTube Shorts video below shows a snippet of entrepreneur and marketing guru Neil Patel’s interview. 

Must read: 9 Epic YouTube Shorts Ideas to Go Viral This 2024

Image source: youtube.com

In the video, Neil Patel shares his honest opinion about AI and its usefulness. 

Creating short interview videos can be an excellent way to better understand a company or brand through its employees, founders, and executives. 

Throw in fun transitions, graphics, text overlays, and background music to make the short-form videos more eye-catching and engaging. 

5. Relatable work moments 

Another content idea that helps humanize your clients’ brands is a relatable work moment short video. 

Share skits or quick video memes showcasing common workplace interactions and shenanigans among your clients’ employees. 

Your content can be anything—from awkward breakroom interactions between co-workers to the types of employees during Monday morning meetings. 

Here’s a TikTok video that shows how people usually feel when walking into a Monday morning meeting. 

Must read: TikTok Carousels: What Is It and How to Create One

Image source: tiktok.com

The TikTok video conveys the content’s relatable message within seconds, encouraging views and shares. 

You can also cast real-life employees in the short-form videos to make them more realistic and relatable to viewers. 

6. POV videos

Relatable videos are always crowd-pleasers because viewers often identify with the featured person or situation. 

Take your clients’ relatable content up a notch by creating short-form Point-of-View (POV) videos. 

For example, like the YouTube Shorts video below, you can create a short video sharing the POV of a small business owner who just made their first online sale.

Image source: youtube.com

The content gives your clients’ a first-person view of their activities, interactions, and achievements. 

It can make audiences and potential customers feel more connected to your clients’ brands, fostering trust and loyalty. 

Other POV short-form videos you can create for your clients include the following:

• A Day in the Life videos
• Product experience POVs
• Conference or event walkthroughs
• First look or unboxing videos
• Hands-on how-to or tutorial videos

Get more video interview ideas by learning what your clients’ social media audiences are interested in. 

Use Vista Social’s social media listening tool to set up listeners that track and pull conversations around your specified keywords or topics. 

The tool makes it easy to find out what audiences are buzzing about within your clients’ social media profiles, including mentions of their brands. 

7. Street interviews

Share short videos highlighting public opinion on specific topics or ideas through street interviews. 

The content can be as simple as stopping people on the street and asking them about their dream vacation or which came first, the chicken or the egg. 

Deel’s street interview asks people about their opinions on workplace red flags.

Image source: instagram.com

You can make your clients’ short-form videos more meaningful by doing street interviews on topics related to your clients’ brands, products, or industries. 

You can also do short street interview videos on the following:

• Industry trend reactions or opinions
• Common industry myths 
• Biggest challenges of working in specific industries
• The best advice you’ve ever heard
• Guess the place, name, location, person, etc.

8. Product launch or upcoming event teasers

Through short-form video teasers, you can stir excitement and anticipation for your clients’ product launches, new features, or upcoming events. 

The quick videos can be excellent tactics to hype up your clients’ new offers and keep audiences coming back until the product drops or the event happens. 

One example is global business strategist and serial entrepreneur Jay Baer’s webinar announcement on YouTube Shorts.

Image source: youtube.com

The video starts with a pain point as a hook and presents Jay Baer’s webinar as a solution to the problem. It is a great tactic for drawing in viewers and encouraging signups.

Follow the quick tips below to create effective and engaging short teaser videos.

• Communicate the value of your clients’ products or events within the first few seconds to reel in viewers and keep them watching
• Include the common pain points to show audiences that your clients’ offers can address their needs
• Add a Call-to-Action (CTA) in the caption or at the end of the video to direct viewers to the next steps, such as clicking a link to register or learn more

Using Vista Social’s AI Assistant, you can generate engaging post descriptions and taglines with one click. 

The AI tool can also refine your written captions based on your client’s brand voice and tone. 

Remember, show enough in the short video to spark audience interest, but don’t reveal everything. 

Leave a few things to the imagination to encourage viewers to come back and stay tuned. 

9. Quick tips and tutorial videos

Tutorial and how-to videos don’t always have to be long and in-depth. 

With the right pacing and some creativity, you can create 60- to 90-second videos that quickly walk your clients’ viewers through a simple tutorial or even an ultimate tip video.

A classic example is entrepreneur and internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk’s Instagram Reel, which discusses building a brand on social media.

Image source: instagram.com

The video focuses on building a brand by expanding your reach organically through creative content. 

It highlights a key takeaway that modern creators and brand owners should learn if they want to monetize their content. 

You can also learn from these quick tips to create engaging short-form tutorial videos.

• Break down larger processes or sections into bite-sized, single-step parts to keep everything simple
• Add short, easy-to-read text overlays or video captions so viewers can follow along 
• Use quick cuts and speed up repetitive or long actions while highlighting crucial moments
• Make each step easy to follow with well-lit, close-up shots 
• Include an engaging CTA to encourage viewers to engage with the video or act on your clients’ conversion actions, such as buying a product

10. Trends or challenge videos

Help your clients ride the popularity wave by creating short videos on trends and popular challenges. 

These can be trends in general or challenges related to your clients’ industries. 

The “When you accidentally trip and buy…” trend is popular for businesses.

The trend can be a funny yet effective way to draw attention to your clients’ brands while showcasing their businesses and products. 

What are the best practices when creating short form video content for social media?

Nail your clients’ short-form videos for social media with the tried and tested tips below. 

Stick to the optimal video length

Find the optimal short video length for your clients’ audiences, whether under 60 or 90 seconds, and make each second count. 

Must read: Best Instagram Reels Length to Get More Views and Shares

The quicker your clients’ videos present value, the more likely viewers will engage with the content, boosting their conversion and sales opportunities. 

Cut to the chase and focus on something your clients’ target audiences can instantly enjoy, remember, and act on. 

Hook audiences within the first few seconds

If you want your clients’ videos to draw attention and make viewers stick, create their short-form videos to make an impression within the first three to five seconds. 

Open the video with an eye-catching visual that stops viewers from scrolling. 

You can also lead with a surprising statement or thought-provoking question to spark the viewers’ curiosity. 

Use something that can evoke a strong emotion or leave a memorable image in your audience’s minds. 

If you don’t reel in your clients’ viewers within the video’s first few seconds, they’ll likely scroll past and move on.

Encourage engagement with compelling CTAs

You could create the most stunning short video for your clients, but your efforts can fall flat without a CTA. 

Make the most of the momentum. 

After catching your viewers’ attention, lead them to the next steps, whether sharing, commenting, liking the video, or following your clients’ accounts. 

A compelling CTA can drive interaction, turning your clients’ passive audiences into active, loyal followers and paying customers. 

Use creative yet clear and engaging CTAs that your clients’ viewers can’t help but act on. 

Include captions

Many social media users watch short and long-form videos on mute, whether by preference or necessity. 

Including on-video captions ensures your clients’ messages are conveyed even without sound, and they don’t miss opportunities to engage wider audiences. 

On-screen texts also highlight critical elements, CTAs, or points, making the purpose of your clients’ videos clear from the get-go until the end. 

The takeaway: Make your clients’ short-form videos accessible to everyone, especially without audio, to reach broader audiences and boost engagement. 

Leverage storytelling

A storytelling format and video elements are crucial to engaging your clients’ viewers.

Help your clients connect emotionally with their viewers by weaving storytelling into short social media videos. 

You can offer a solution, set up a problem, or take your clients’ viewers on a short yet meaningful journey using a storytelling format. 

Begin the video with a relatable hook, spark curiosity or build suspense in the middle, and end with a satisfying resolution. 

You can tell a memorable story with creative editing and storytelling within seconds. 

Use various video angles

Don’t just stick to static shots. 

Experiment with camera angles to make your clients’ short-form videos more interesting and captivating for viewers.

You can use wide shots to give a scene more context, close-ups for detailed shots, and overhead angles to showcase hands-on actions or activities. 

Include moving shots when appropriate to give your clients’ videos more dynamic vibes, such as subtle zoom-ins and angle switches between scenes.

Keep your clients’ short-form videos fresh and interesting with various angles to capture and hold the viewers’ attention.  

Add sound effects and music

Sound effects, audio clips, and background music can enhance the impact and vibe of your clients’ short-form videos. 

Sound effects can emphasize certain actions or scenes, while music can set your entire video’s tone. 

Choose sound clips and music that enhance your video’s content while resonating with your clients’ brands and audiences. 

You can also include trending sounds to get on the social media platform algorithm’s good side.

Must read: How the YouTube Shorts Algorithm Works [2024]: w/ Tips & FAQs

Use audio that complements your clients’ short videos and does not overpower or muddle key aspects of the content. 

Test and optimize the videos

Not all your clients’ short-form videos will go viral or even be a hit with target audiences. 

That’s just how it is, but it’s always good to test various styles, formats, and content to determine what works best for your clients’ audiences. 

Monitor the performances of your clients’ YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reel, and TikTok videos. 

Leverage Vista Social’s social media analytics feature to track content performance metrics such as likes, comments, shares, and views. 

The feature helps you monitor and measure key metrics to determine whether your clients’ short-form videos drive your expected results. 

It even comes with new options, such as a grid view of all selected profiles’ performances based on specific metrics and direct report sharing via links. 

The data can give you actionable insights to adjust and optimize your clients’ short-form videos and content strategies. 

You’ll know what’s working and what needs improvement to keep your clients’ videos relevant and effectively driving engagement and conversions. 

How to use Vista Social to manage and publish short form video content 

Planning, creating, publishing, and managing all your clients’ short-form videos and other social media content can be a nightmare, especially with hundreds of other tasks. 

The good news is that Vista Social can simplify and streamline everything. 

With the platform’s social media publishing feature, you can create, customize, and schedule your clients’ videos to auto-publish across their profiles.

Add captions (using the AI Assistant), hashtags, emojis, links, mentions, and more. 

Fun fact: The Publisher lets you save mentions, hashtags, and captions for future use. 

You can also enable location tagging, publish the video as a Reel, and set other options. 

Must read: How to Make a Reel with Photos on Instagram [2024]

If you need to tweak your video before publishing, use the platform’s Canva integration for quick and easy editing.

The platform’s trending audio library makes it easy to find and add audio and sound clips to your clients’ short-form videos.

After creating and customizing your post, set an auto-posting schedule. 

Vista Social offers suggested posting times based on optimization algorithms and your clients’ engagement data on the platform. 

Must read: Social Media Algorithm Guide for Agencies [2024]

The platform lets you boost your clients’ scheduled, not scheduled, and previously published posts to help them reach wider audiences.

You’ll see all your scheduled, previously published, and drafted posts in your content calendar.

You can also view and access your recent and scheduled posts, content calendar, alerts, and activities from your main dashboard.

Streamline your content review and approval by creating automated workflows. 

Vista Social lets you set single or multi-stage workflows to automatically send your scheduled posts to users, such as your clients, who will approve them. 

If your client aims to generate leads from social media, use the platform’s link in the bio tool. 

The tool comes with a customizable landing page called Vista Page.

You can include your clients’ other relevant links, lead-capture elements, and conversion tools, such as embedded short YouTube videos, in their Vista Pages.  

Must read: How to Share a YouTube Video on Instagram Story

After creating your client’s Vista Page (or pages), you can publish it, copy the generated link, and add it to your clients’ social media bios.

With Vista Social’s all-in-one platform, everything from post scheduling to engagement management and social media analytics can be efficient and hassle-free. 

What are the short form video content ideas to avoid?

Not every short-form video idea can work for your clients and their social media audiences.

Ensure your clients’ short-form videos don’t fall flat by avoiding the following.

Overly complex tutorials or walkthroughs

With short-form videos, you only have a few seconds to convey your message and value. 

Stuffing complex ideas or too many steps in short videos can confuse and overwhelm your clients’ audiences, causing them to swipe away.

Keep short video tutorials direct and simple. 

Focus on quick, actionable steps or tips so viewers can easily follow. 

You can also break down complex or large processes into bite-sized formats or turn them into multiple short-form videos. 

Too salesy content

Constantly pushing your clients’ services or products in their short social media videos can make their content feel spammy. 

Nothing makes viewers swipe away more quickly than spam content. 

Balancing product and brand-focused content with educational, inspirational, or entertaining short videos is key. 

You can also naturally incorporate products or services into your clients’ short-form videos or highlight how they can solve the audience’s problems. 

Give your clients’ viewers enough reason to care or keep watching before pushing for a sale. 

Vague messaging

Your clients’ short-form videos have no room for unclear messaging or content. 

After all, viewer interest will disappear in a snap if your clients’ videos lack a clear focus. 

Make every second count. 

Plan the flow and storyline of your clients’ short-form videos and make it extra clear what you want them to do or take away.  

Ensure that your videos’ main message is clear, focused, and easy for viewers to understand. 

Overly scripted videos

Writing a script for your clients’ short-form videos is crucial and even necessary. 

Must read: How to Write a YouTube Script: Step-by-Step Guide [2024]

However, ensure your videos don’t appear overly rehearsed or scripted that they feel robotic to viewers. 

Keep your videos authentic without coming off as too stiff and emotionless. 

Inject some fun and humor into your short videos without deviating from the main message and purpose of the content. 

Overly scripted videos can make your clients’ viewers feel disconnected, losing that relatability that drives views, likes, shares, comments, and follows. 

Must read: Help! Why My TikTok Videos Are Not Getting Views

What are the short form video FAQs?

Why do people prefer short form videos?

People, especially social media users, want instant gratification, which means they want content that is easy to digest and engage with. 

Short-form videos capture and retain viewer interest better than long-form content because most viewers have short attention spans. 

Must read: How to Post Longer Videos on Instagram [2024]: Reels, Feed, Stories

The shorter the video, the quicker viewers can digest and enjoy them. 

Can you monetize short form videos on social media?

Yes, you can monetize short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube (via YT Shorts). 

Your clients can monetize their short-form videos through:

• Creator fund on TikTok and YouTube
• Subscription models
• Brand sponsorship and partnerships
• Affiliate marketing

Must read: TikTok Creator Fund: FAQs, Step-By-Step Guide, Tips

Do short form videos get more views?

The short answer (pun intended 😉) is yes. 

According to the Consumer Trends Report survey by HubSpot, out of the 700 surveyed consumers, 37% preferred discovering products via short-form videos such as IG Reels or TikTok content. 

17% favored video live streams, and eight percent chose long-form videos. 

Must read: Instagram Reels vs Story: What’s The Difference

Ready to weave short form video content into your social media strategy?

Short-form videos can be effective engagement and conversion boosters. 

Get inspiration from awesome short-form video content ideas and leverage the best tool to bring those ideas to life. 

Harness the power of Vista Social’s robust social media management features for seamless workflows.

Create your Vista Social account now.