5 strategies to make more engaging reels, shorts or tiktoks

In case you’re not convinced that creating short clips is worth your time, here are the stats:

• Reels on Instagram get the most reach out of any type of content posted there at +33%.

• Demand for YouTube Shorts is growing at ~33% YoY but shorts published only rose ~10%.

• TikTok still leads in short-form video views at 23 hours and 28 min per month (but YouTube is just a few minutes behind)

Bet you want some of those eyeballs on your lovely clips, that’s why we’re writing this guide. You’ll get 5 ways to make more engaging short videos — no matter if you’re making clips out of longer shows or starting from scratch.

Disclaimer: this is not a technical video editing guide, it’s more about ideas, finding your passion and that stuff. 

What’s the difference between reels, shorts and tiktok videos?

They’re all mobile-focused vertical video formats and they’re all short — Reels stand out for the 90 second limit vs 60s for Shorts and Tiktoks. And obviously they all live on their respective social media platforms. 

But there are some notable differences in the way the algorithm can push your content to more viewers. Here are the highlights:

• YouTube Shorts live in a separate world from regular YouTube videos and the algorithm is not the same. 

• But the Instagram Reels algorithm is integrated into the whole Instagram algorithm and considers factors like user interests, engagement, and relationships (who you follow).

• Both TikTok and YouTube use a test-then-amplify algorithm to make content go viral or not depending on the initial audience engagement.

• TikTok is well known for making this happen much faster — while Shorts on YouTube can languish at zero views for hours before the initial push into viewer’s feeds.

Let’s move on to the content.

1. Publish fast and stay trendy

People love to watch videos about trending topics or events, that’s been true forever and will probably stay that way. But there are more benefits than just an algorithmic boost here — especially if you’re new to creating short clips.

Every video is a practice rep. You’ll learn how to make short videos faster, learn how to use the features in each platform more effectively and simply get more feedback on what styles resonate as you go. 

There’s little worse than spending ages perfecting a 50 second video and having it fall flat with viewers. It’s demoralizing and can put you off shipping more videos. 

The only situation where I’d say it’s more important to refine your Reels is if you have a huge Instagram following and are experimenting with new topics on that audience. But even then, short videos are raw, authentic and your followers will probably not unsub en masse.

2. Start them hot

The first few seconds are what keeps folks watching, so focus your content and editing efforts on refining that. Not that the rest isn’t important — all the algorithms take video watch duration into account. 

But the start has to sizzle. Do anything to make watchers curious enough to find out what’s going to happen in the rest of the clip.

That can be a bold statement or compelling question paired with your best confused or emotional face (we’re hard-wired to focus on facial cues).

You can experiment with camera angles or other out of the ordinary visuals. Zooms in or out, close-up & distant split screens, elements that don’t normally appear together — all these tricks make us want to see more.

If you need help creating engaging shorts, let's talk!

3. Tell your viewers what to do

This is something I’ve always struggled with, but people want direct directions. Click here, do this, watch what happens next, leave a comment with … — somehow we love to get told what to do.

As a clip creator, you're the boss in this situation. Okay, maybe 70-90% of your viewers will ignore the directions.

But if 10-30% engage in some way after you’ve told them to, that’s 10-30% more than if you didn’t give those directions!

Hot tip: Use captions to tell folks what to do if you don't want to be bossy.

4. Show the whole story 

You know how those corporate-funded Day-in-the-life-of videos go viral because everyone just talks about how cringy they are? Okay, maybe they get a ton of views but the folks in them get absolutely fried for being fake AF and not actually working.

That’s because few people can identify with this overly polished “everyday life” that the clip shows. If you’re in charge of making those types of videos for your company, I’m not sure how to help you but just make it a little more realistic.

For everyone else, people love normal existence captured in abnormal ways. Behind the scenes reels, realistic daily routines, how I do X — you’re the expert on your life, so let folks in!

Use snappy transitions and imported elements (gifs, memes, music snippets) to transform the everyday to something captivating. 

5. Follow your own path

Look, maybe you started off with weird foot-fetish reels, gained thousands of followers and now feel stuck in a metaphysical shoe box. Then one day you wake up with no more passion for those toes. Don’t force yourself to stay in this niche.

If you’ve followed tips 1 and 4, your audience will appreciate a shift in subject matter — you’ll probably gain more as you share the journey of learning something new or chasing a new goal. Just let them know how they can help you (see tip 3).

You’ll be amazed at how helpful and resourceful an engaged audience can be, even if you pivot away from the reason they found you in the first place. 

I hope these tips give you confidence to publish more Reels, Shorts and Tiktoks right this minute!

If you have something to add, tag us on X and let us know what’s missing from this list!