The Marketing Video Myth of The Short Attention Span
Did you know one of the most viral videos of all time was 30 minutes long?
When the video Kony 2012 came out, it commanded the attention of viewers all over America and beyond with its message about the violence against children in Uganda at the hands of Lords Resistance Army leader, Joseph Kony.
The video was so famous in fact that the co-founder of the non-profit that made it had a legit mental breakdown in public that was highly publicized because he was so overwhelmed by the unexpected attention from the video.
As of today its racked up 103 Million views. And yes, 2012 by digital media standards is ages ago, but a half-hour video is long no matter where you place it in the marketing context of the last 20 years.
I facilitate a lot of messaging workshops for businesses and non-profits and when we get to the "target length" part of the discussion, 9 times out of 10 someone will say "people's attention spans these days are almost zero. This video has to be short."
Is that true?
When you sit down to binge the next episode of Yellowstone, do you get 15 seconds in and go "eh, what else is on?"
In fact, you probably spend TOO much time being glued to that show.
I remember the first time I saw a short film called Removed while perusing the internet. I had no intention of spending 15 minutes watching one piece of content, but I got sucked in.
The film is a window into the life of a young girl, bouncing from foster home to foster home, and the trauma that occurs (along with the associated behaviors) when your birth parents are deemed unfit to care for you and your siblings. It's a gripping story.
Would I have been as gripped by it if my wife and I weren't at that time going through classes to become licensed foster parents? Maybe. But definitely less likely.
I can point to that film as one of the major moments in my life that fueled our fostering journey. I remember it vividly because it left me sobbing at my desk where I worked at the time, and right when I was in peak ugly man-cry mode my coworker walked in the door and I hurried up and did my best to pretend like my eyes weren't all red and soggy.
The truth as I see it is, the short attention span argument is often a way to excuse three things:
Poor messaging
Poor distribution strategy
Wrong content & context fit
Poor messaging:
If you think starting a video with 10 seconds of your logo followed by 15 seconds of your CEO introducing himself is a great way to get people's attention, you'll probably blame your lack of views on people's attention spans. After all, who could resist the authority and appeal of the distinguished CEO?
You need to understand what makes a message compelling, and if you don't, you need to hire people that do. You're better off hiring a kid with an iPhone if he/she understands how to get your message to resonate with people, over the 10-person crew with fancy cameras that care more about making the video look like art for their portfolio than making it effective.
Poor distribution strategy:
The days of racking up tons of views from half-hearted organic efforts are gone. Solely relying on posting a video to your company's social media pages is like peeing into the ocean. You need to have a strategy that goes beyond what I call "post and pray." The question you need to ask yourself is "how can I get the most targeted eyeballs on this video from people who have the problems that my product/service addresses?" You can't just post something haphazardly to the vast and ever-expanding internet and expect sales reps' phones to be lighting up.
Two solutions among many: paid digital campaigns (Google Adwords, Youtube ads, Facebook ads, etc.) that allow you to hand-select the type of people that see your video, and hand-picking respected leaders who publish content in your industry who might push your video out to their audiences.
Wrong content & context fit:
If I have a leaking pipe in my basement, and I go searching online for a plumber who can act quickly, I'm going to be annoyed if I land on your plumbing company's site and am greeted with a story about how your grandfather started the company. At some other moment in life, I might care about that story, but in that specific moment I give zero craps.
In the same way, you have to understand what platforms your audience uses and WHY they go on those platforms in the first place. Younger generations (primarily) go on Tik Tok to entertain and to be entertained. If you start posting Tik Toks that start with "hey guys it's me again, back with another real estate tip..." you're missing the point in more ways than one. That's a video much better suited for Youtube where the general public often goes to learn new skills.
You need to speak the language of the platform with the intent of enticing people off of the platform onto your site or somewhere where they can take the next step in making a purchasing decision.
Are people's attention spans short? Absolutely.
Are they short no matter the context? Absolutely not.
Deliver the right message to the right person in the right context and you've got a winning combination, and only then can you make the message as long as it needs to be to be persuasive. Selling yourself short because of your assumptions about what people will tolerate is just another way of saying "I'm taking shots in the dark here, so I better at least make it short."
