How long should your YouTube video be? When you’re thinking about the length of your videos, you have a lot of factors to consider. Is it a live video or edited content? Are you a beginner or a veteran video blogger? Who’s your audience? Because of all these factors, the answer will be different for each person. That’s why this post is dedicated for entrepreneurs and vloggers who are just getting started on YouTube.
How long should your YouTube video be?
What does your audience want?
The number one thing to consider is your audience. Why is your audience watching you on YouTube? This may depend on your content, but if you don’t have an audience, you have to think about who you want to watch your videos.
You don’t want to build a list of random subscribers because that would be useless to you. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re basically on YouTube to market and make money, so you should keep who your target audience is in mind. Everyone else who subscribes is a bonus or a future client because you never know.
Let’s say your target audience is entrepreneurs who are moms. They have busy lives because they’re balancing their business, their family, and their personal lives. If they’re going on YouTube, they’re searching for the shortest video that can help them. I’m the same. If I go on YouTube to search for something, I always choose the shortest video.
If you’re a beginner creating content, basically you should be asking ‘Does my target audience have time for this?’ If you don’t know, then research other YouTube videos (competitors in your niche, because every genre is different) and see what they’re doing. While you’re researching, check how many subscribers they have. If it’s a big number, check how many videos they’ve created and then look through their middle videos because we all know the first videos we create are not great and with their newer videos, they can get away with creating longer content if they have a huge following of loyal fans.
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What type of content are you creating?
Are you helping them by teaching them how to do things or are you just entertaining them? These are the main 2 reasons people go on YouTube and there is a big difference between these categories. If you’re creating videos that are educational then your audience is looking for the fastest way to learn something in the shortest amount of time. With entertaining videos, you can get away with creating longer content because it’s more engaging.
No matter what content you’re creating, if you have 0 subscribers, I would focus on creating the shortest videos possible. You want to create content that is easily digestible. As I mentioned earlier, you have to think about creating the shortest video possible while still giving information that is useful to your audience.
Why less is always more
What’s the shortest amount possible? I would go for 5 to 7 minutes. If you can do it in less, do it! Why less? Because you want to tell me everything in LESS time than your competitor. Just think about it. If I was searching for ‘How do I figure out my target audience?’, there’ll probably be a million videos in the searches. If all the videos and thumbnails look the same, I look at the timestamp. I just want to learn the quickest way to figure out my target audience, I don’t want a long lecture on it. I want to learn about it and then go about my way to find them.
Another reason shorter videos are better is you stick to the main point. If the video is longer, there’s a high chance of rambling and getting off topic. We’ve all been on YouTube long enough to know that if you don’t get to the point at the beginning of the video, it’s time to close it and go on to the next video that can help. That’s why you have to get right into the topic. If you want to learn how to create a script for YouTube, check it out here.
If your audience found your video helpful, then they’ll start exploring your other videos to see if you can help them with other things or to get to know you better. Once they like your other content, then you’ve got a new subscriber. As you grow your subscribers, you can break the rules and do whatever you want or whatever you think will align with the audience you create.
More videos on the same content
When you’re creating short videos, you have to get straight to the main points. This means that you had to get specific and that you may know more about the topic. That means that if you know a lot about your topic, you can create lots of videos on the same topic. It’s kind of like cheating, but it makes it easier to create video content.
If you’re creating video content on the same topics, then you start to be known for those topics. Now, you’re an authority on those topics. If you’re creating videos on branding and all your videos are helping people to create and stay on brand, then you’ll become an authority on branding. Becoming an authority should be the goal of any entrepreneur creating videos on YouTube.
I don’t have time for this…
Here’s the summary for those of you who don’t have time to read this. If you’re just getting started on YouTube, you have to consider your audience and your content. The best bet is to create the shortest video possible that can still give the audience what they want to know.
Are you a fan of long or short content on YouTube? I prefer short videos, but if I’m a fan, I’ll stick around for the longer ones.
-Paigon
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