• Over 2 billion users interact with Reels monthly. 

• Reels are reshared 4.5 billion times each day. 

• Reels receive 22% more engagement than standard posts. 

• 200 billion reels are played across Facebook and Instagram each day. 

• 91% of Instagram users watch video content on Instagram each week. 

 

For businesses – whether you’re looking to create ads or just post onto the platform – Reels should be a key part of your strategy if Instagram is the platform your audience frequent most, and is the one your business has set out to build on. 

 

Reels, whilst often spoken about in the same vein as Instagram, are also popular over on Facebook too – with both being Meta platforms, cross-promoting your Reels on both platforms can be highly beneficial to your marketing output. 

YouTube is the leading platform for long-form video content – and back when sites like Vine were hugely popular, compilations of these short-form platforms were being turned into longer content and posted to YouTube. Now the tables have turned – and YouTube have decided to catch up with short-form content with YouTube Shorts – and here are some stats you need to know: 

 

• Shorts receive over 200 billion daily views. 

• Gen Z & Millennials are the biggest users of Shorts (21.5% of 25-34 year olds) 

 

YouTube Shorts only came into focus in 2020/2021, but YouTube have been working hard to improve the platform to make things more streamlined for users. They’re also great for repurposing parts of long-form video content – helping to advertise your content, and give your audience a short overview of a piece of one of your videos that you can link directly to. 

The main power of short-form content, TikTok, despite it’s recent issues in the USA, remains as the platform to beat. Making waves during the pandemic, TikTok has since accumulated over 1.59 billion monthly active users, with users spending around 53.8 minutes a day on the platform – a long retention, and one you must be able to stand out amongst if your business is advertising or posting content on the platform. 1 in 4 TikTok users are under 25 – and TikTok is on par with Instagram as one of the biggest social platforms for Gen Z users.  

 

TikTok could be classed as a contributor to shortening attention spans – so making sure your content is what really hits the mark for your target audience and stops them in their tracks from endless scrolling could make all the difference for your business’ TikTok marketing efforts. 

Whilst you may not use all platforms, those businesses that do may find their content can be repurposed across platforms – making things easier for different audiences. If you know your audience is a fan of short form content, but one section is more reliant on TikTok and another on Reels or Shorts, using the same or similar videos can be helpful for attracting a larger audience than if you were to solely focus on one place. As mentioned, Reels can work on Facebook too – helping with covering more than one platform at a time. 

 

Short-Form Video content is a key part of social media in the 2020s and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon – so, making it a key part of your marketing should be something you begin to consider moving forwards. Whether its TikTok, Reels or Shorts, take a look into which platform is best for your business and create content that resonates with your audience.