#028 Recorded Video Length Guidelines

Yes, it's true. Length does matter. I'm talking about video, people. Get your heads out of the gutter. Video length does matter. My name is Sheryl Plouffe and you're watching Personal Brand Breakthrough. Today we're going to talk about video length for specific platforms, specific social platforms, and I'm gonna give you my thoughts around how how long your videos should be. So here's the thing, I just got back from grocery shopping, so I've got groceries all over the place, and I'm actually standing next to the stove for a specific reason because I'm actually going to set a timer on my stove that's going to help illustrate a point today. And I want to talk about length of videos. I've actually— I was just in North Carolina for a couple of days. This topic came up. I did a meetup yesterday. This topic came up. This topic comes up a lot, and I think it's because we as entrepreneurs, as business owners, when we're creating content, we want to have boundaries, right? It's important for us to feel like we have some boundaries around this, and I think that's why we hang our hat on numbers like this. Now here's the thing I'm going to say about video length. It depends on the content. I'm gonna give you some idea of boundaries that you can set for yourself for a variety of platforms today, but I do want you to always be keeping in mind that it depends on the video. So let me give you an example. If you are doing a video and it's a story, 'cause you know I'm all about context, I'm all about adding value to your videos, and a lot of times how we do that is through story. But let's just say as an example, you are illustrating a point and you're telling a story to go along with that, but the story is really, it's deep. It's a really emotional story that is tugging on heartstrings. You're finding it difficult to tell the story, but it's really poignant and it's important for that, that video to make a point, as an example. Well, that's gonna take longer to tell than if it was just a more you know, was a story that was easier for you to tell. Now that doesn't mean that people are necessarily going to drop off and not be as interested in the more emotional story. If anything, one could argue they'd be more interested in an emotional story than otherwise. So I wanna give you that example. So it doesn't mean that the numbers will necessarily tail off in terms of video length, you know, when people drop off on viewing your video if it's something really that's compelling to them. And that varies from video to video. That's just an example. So what I want to do is, is talk about why it's important to consider video length, and that's because people do drop off. They're interested and then they're busy. They're going grocery shopping, they're doing things with their lives, right? And so we need to keep their attention and then it drops off afterwards. So let me show you what some of the guidelines are, and I'm just going to set my timer because what I want to do is I want to go through the content of this video and as a demonstration in 2 minutes or less. Okay? So, the totality of this video, because I had to set it up and give you the premise, is going to be a bit longer. So, let me just set this up. And I'm going to hit start. So, I'm on the clock now for 2 minutes. So, let me give you the premise of what some time constraints could be for specific platforms. For example, on Facebook, your videos, you want to aim for something between 1 and 2 minutes long. Again, it can be a little bit longer depending on the topic, you know, and how you're explaining that or adding context to it. But that's a general guideline. Anything over 2 minutes and it starts to fall off a little bit. The thing is with Facebook, there are 8 billion videos being watched on Facebook every day. So it's a platform you want to be on trying to stay within that 1 to 2 minute time frame. On Twitter, the indication is that 45 seconds is a really good length of time for a Twitter video. And I don't use video on Twitter all that much, but that's what the consensus is. Now on YouTube, we would like to go for 2 minutes. A 2-minute video on YouTube is ideal. The thing is, is that if it's something technical, if it's something demonstrative, it's something that you are doing a tutorial, you may need to go a little longer. If you go over 2 minutes, it's okay on YouTube in, in certain situations, especially especially in those aforementioned ones. But there's some indication that it does tail off after, after 2 minutes, but then there's a bit of a— how do you say it— like a— it goes the same between, say, 6 and 12 minutes, that there's not that much of a drop-off. After 12 minutes, then there's a drop-off on YouTube. So just think to yourself, okay, if I could stay in that one to, you know, that 2-minute range on YouTube, but if it's something really meaty and something really interesting, I could go a little bit longer, but knowing that 12 minutes into it, it's going to tail off. And the last one is— whoops, take that off— and the last one is Instagram. You can do a 60-second video on Instagram, but indication is that after 30 seconds, people really start to tail off and start to lose interest. I did it! Okay, so there you go. Right? I just delivered all of that content in the 2-minute span. And you can too. But the thing is that you have to keep strategy in mind. It depends on what platforms you're going to be on. It depends on what the topic is for your video. And there are so many— it's different for everyone. It depends what niche you're in. It depends on so many other things. So, what I would recommend to you is if you want to know more about how to implement these time constraints in your case and you want to talk to me, you can just find me at CherylPlouffe.com. There's a contact button there where you can get in touch with me. It's not hard to get in touch with me. Let's be real. It's not hard to get in touch with me. Just send me a message. Just send me a DM. Okay? So DM me or send me an email, what have you. Reach out to me. I'd be happy to give you some guidance on how you can start implementing these these boundaries to your videos in your specific situation, and that's really the key. The thing to keep in mind overall before I end the video for today is trying to keep it short. No matter what platform you're on, the challenge is always going to be keeping it short. There you go. I'll keep it short. Have a great rest of your day. I hope you have a good one. If you have any questions, please leave them below. I always check all of the comments and questions here on Facebook or later in the day on YouTube. And I hope that you have a great day. Go out there and make some videos, would you? Okay? Okay, bye.