Stuck for what to post? Need some quick short video ideas to shake up your content?
You're in the right place! In this post I share 3 quick short video ideas that you can create in no time at all for more engagement.
These tips are super simple and use existing content to save you time when creating visuals.
Are you a little freaked out by all the recommendations to “create video” and “create live video”? If so, then you are in the right place.
Even if you are not freaked out by it, and you are ready to jump in and create more short video, you are still in the right place!
The 3 quick short video ideas I am sharing in this post will help you to dip your toe in the water and create some short video.
But these tools allow you to do it without all the tech and time it requires to do longer-form video.
You can work up to longer form video for sure, but these ideas will have you creating quick short video in no time at all.
3 Quick Short Video Ideas
1 Create a Facebook Slideshow using existing content.
I wrote about how easy it is to use Facebook SlideShow here.
It's a feature that sits right under your nose on your Facebook Page. Yet, many people are not using it.
Facebook Slideshow basically allows you to drag and drop still images into the tool, add some music, choose your duration of slide transition and boom…. instant short video.
The best way to use Facebook SlideShow is to grab some existing content and repurpose it into a video. I'm talking about photos and still images.
In this recent post I shared a Facebook Slideshow Success Story from Amanda Smyth from Cooker and a Looker.
After the success of the first slideshow, she created another one using some awesome visuals from a previous blog post featuring a recipe for Aussie Pavlova. She used images and tips from this post and this post, edited as necessary, added a little extra text, then popped the images into the Facebook SlideShow tool.
Boom … a new Short Video made with ease and sending fresh traffic to an evergreen blog post that is one of her most popular. Now she can easily take advantage of Facebook Traffic to find new people to check out her dessert and visit her blog post.
All using existing content and a handy tool that sits right on her Facebook Page!
If you have existing Facebook or Instagram sized images it's a great way to repurpose that content and give it new life.
What content can you repurpose into a Facebook Slideshow short video?
2 Create an Eye Catching GIF for Instagram
GIFs are animated visuals that cycle in a video loop. They are fast becoming part of our cultural language online.
We use them in emails, messages, blog posts and social media. They:
- catch attention quickly with subtle movement or fast moving graphics.
- they can be used to tell a story once you have the attention of your audience
One clever way I have seen them used, is to create a GIF with subtle motion that draws in the eye.
The key to this strategy is to then follow up the “attention-grabbing image” with some useful content – either on the image itself or in this next example, in the description:
I created this animated Graphic to promote my blog post about GIFs. It made sense to include a “GIF” animation on the promotional image.
The idea was for this to “catch the eye” and draw people in to then read the description. When you create a looping video of more than 3 seconds it will play automatically on Instagram.
I included further information in the description (people like to stay on Instagram so give them value).
Then I made it super simple for them to check out the full blog post by adding an easy LINK IN BIO link.
The click throughs on this post were about 4 x higher than usual and we had a lot of great engagement and comments on Instagram about the blog post.
Why does it work? Not many people are doing looping GIF-like videos on Instagram. When you see them in your newsfeed they make you stop.
Just make sure you have value in the description to back it up and explain what the post is about!
Here's another example from Sue B Zimmerman for a recent blog post. This post caught my eye in the newsfeed!
The tools I use to create GIFs are Giphy and Easil.
Read this awesome post about Easil's GIF Maker and how to use it – to create stunning GIFs.
3 Add an Eye Catching Animation effect to Your Image
The 3rd in this series of Quick Short Video Ideas is one of my favourites. It involves a tool called Lumyer which is SO easy to use.
Lumyer is an app that you can download to use on your iOS or Android Device (available on the Apple Store and Google Play).
Basically it allows you to animate certain elements of your image. You can use it to animate all sorts of objects and create effects from moving hair to weather, rain, and even smashed windows.
In this example, “smashing glass” was a great effect to highlight my point about creating content so good that people will “break glass” for it.
Check it out:
Here's another example… the rain and smoke? All Lumyer….
As you can see, there is a lot of possibility with this app. You just need to think a little laterally.
Just remember that if you are going to do a looping video for Instagram it needs to be at least 3 seconds long to loop.
And if you are stuck, scroll through the effects to see what you like. Sometimes the effects you find on the app help to shape the content you create, so stay open!
That's It!
This post has done what I intended it to do … help you to discover more quick short video tools.
Have fun using them to create short video that grabs attention and drives engagement!
Let me know in the comments below if you've discovered a new tool to try!
Donna Moritz
