How Short Videos Can Make or Break Your Business. TikTok / Reels / Shorts

It's no secret that nowadays short videos have become a powerful tool for capturing attention and promoting businesses. However, their impact can be both positive and negative. Short videos have the potential to either boost your business and attract new customers or cause irreparable damage to your reputation and undo all the hard work invested in your company.

Short videos for business

The use of short videos has become an integral part of the marketing strategy for many businesses. They offer a unique opportunity to capture the audience's attention and convey information about the company's products or services in a compact and memorable format. Promotion through platforms like TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and others is essentially advertising without a targeted audience. The concept is simple: the more people your video reaches, the more chances you have to generate leads while simultaneously popularizing your brand.

The Popsters team conducted a study on social media audience activity in 2023. One of the study's conclusions is that 2023 is the year of video content. YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels, VK Clips all have dedicated feeds, appear in recommendations on the main feed, are featured in Stories, and have viral potential right from the start, as social media recommend such content even to non-followers. These formats are highly effective engagement tools already, and it's likely that the trend will continue to evolve in the future.

It's worth noting that:

• Short videos are a cost-effective tool with high return on investment. According to research, their ROI can reach up to 30%.
• 72% of users prefer to receive information about new products and services through videos rather than text materials. This confirms the significance of videos in communicating with the audience and capturing their attention.
• 78% of marketers claim that videos have a direct impact on sales growth.

Therefore, it is evident that using short videos for business is not only possible but necessary. However, it should be done smartly and with the right approach.

How short videos can ruin your business

Examples of successes

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz launched the hashtag challenge #MBStarChallenge in the UK and Germany, urging users to reinterpret the iconic company logo and present it in their own unique style. The best works were featured on Mercedes-Benz's official channels. The campaign successfully attracted over 30,000 new followers to the brand's TikTok page, with an impressive Click-Through Rate (CTR) of 17.5%.

According to research, ad recall increased by 66.3%, brand popularity rose by 18.2%, and brand preference over comparable products from other brands increased by 15.7%. These results confirm the effectiveness of the campaign and its positive impact on the perception and renewed interest in the Mercedes-Benz brand.

Sales and promotions

Utilizing short video clips for announcing sales and exclusive promotions is a great strategy. You can even incorporate a special promo code exclusively for viewers of a specific video. For example, IT Cosmetics US and Tarte Cosmetics have successfully employed this approach and received positive engagement from users on the Reels platform. Another effective method of promotion would be to launch a contest through Reels.

Genius marketing in TikTok sauce

Here's an example of Chick O'Rico, a Korean fast food cafe in Moscow, utilizing situational marketing. During the peak popularity of the TV show "Squid Game," the establishment dressed their waitstaff in popular costumes from the series, created a "survival game" with cookies (just like in the show), and started sharing it on their TikTok account. The result? Millions of views, tremendous popularity, and a packed dining area. Take advantage of situational marketing and share such stories through short video clips. It works!

Examples of failures

Famous TikToker Kate Lee, a food reviewer, gave low ratings in her review of Chicken Fire restaurant. The video quickly went viral and amassed over 12 million views in just a week. Although Lee claims she had no malicious intent, viewers started leaving negative comments and reviews on the restaurant's accounts.

A week after the review, the owner of Chicken Fire posted a video reacting to the review and showing support for their employees. The restaurant faced a crisis solely based on a video that didn't even aim to destroy their reputation. This is precisely why short video clips can become a dangerous threat to businesses.

LES Art Resort

LES Art Resort is a countryside club-hotel, but it gained popularity not thanks to its services. A client, a girl, posted an honest review of the club-hotel, labeling it as "How to Ruin Your Vacation." Doing so in a humorous and overly "truthful" manner, the video went viral and garnered over 8 million views. Now, when visiting the club's account, the comments are filled with remarks like "Who came here after the girl's review" and "I will never come to you." A funny fact is that the reviewing girl wasn't even a popular blogger, yet the video went viral, putting the business's reputation in jeopardy.

Conclusion

The use of short video clips in business has tremendous potential for capturing audience attention, increasing sales, and strengthening brand identity. They provide a compact and engaging way to convey information about products or services and can serve as a powerful tool for creating an emotional connection with customers.

However, it is important to remember that successful use of short video clips requires careful planning and a professional approach. The content should be interesting, relevant, and well-executed to capture and retain the audience's attention. Improper use or low-quality videos, on the other hand, can have negative consequences and damage the brand's reputation.

Additionally, managing negative reviews plays an important role in preventing potential harm that customers can cause to a business through short videos. Offer the customer to transition to a private channel of communication, such as email or direct messages, to delve deeper into the issue and resolve it. This will help avoid further negative exposure in public video clips.