“Are Shorts Worth It?”
Last week I went to VidSummit — not VidCon. VidCon is for fans to meet their favorite creators. VidSummit is different. Much more focused on the business of being a creator. With a $1000 ticket price point, it definitely weeds out most of the “fans” and allows for it to be a gathering of peers.
The biggest moment: I was attending a talk by Jenny Hoyos (one of the best short form creators on YouTube) and she was sharing her process for being able to guarantee her own virality.
But as I was standing in the back, a lady came up to me and whispered, “Who is she?”
“That’s Jenny Hoyos,” I replied.
“Oh, did she say if making Shorts was worth it? I heard they don’t make much money…”
There’s nothing that infuriates me more than this mindset.
Of course it’s worth it!
I hear this all the time from top creators and wannabes alike:
“The audiences don’t convert” — No! You just suck at converting your audience…
“My shorts don’t get a lot of views” — Noooo… you just suck at making Shorts that get views.
“Shorts don’t make money” — the fact that they DO make money is incredible
You know what I say? I always respond with this question:
Do you want 1 million people to spend ~30 seconds watching YOU?
A guy’s book became a best seller because of ONE TikTok. I am a firm believer that anyone can have a Short go viral and explode their business.
PRO TIP:
Make a longform video. Do it. Make a horizontal video longer than 5 minutes.
BUT — Track how much time it takes you to film, script, and edit that sucker.
Then spend that EXACT amount of time to make ONE Short.
The ones who win are the ones who just spend more time, effort, and thought into what they are doing.
Hopefully this was actually helpful.
- Dino