Content creator Abhinav Ranjan Jha gives us an overview of what makes YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels different and unique for the creator community.
The more you spend time on something, the more you're able to learn and hone your skills. So it would only make sense for ones dedicating their time and money on social media to know more about it. While it is nothing but a breather for most of us, it’s a different case for creators. As people who make a legit career on these platforms, it becomes important for them to figure how to navigate each platform. We may find every online platform similar in features, but what does it mean for people who make a living out of it? Do these similarities help ease their content creation process? Abhinav Ranjan Jha, a content creator known for his technology and infotainment content talks to us about how the creator community works in the online world.
With multiple platforms having their own short video update, Abhinav understands the difficulty that comes with deciding the right platform to share ideas to connect with the right audience but he has managed to crack the code.
Abhinav knows how creators find it impossible to keep creating videos for every platform, especially since every platform has its short video feature. It’s this factor that has encouraged creators like him to check on other aspects like the target audience, presence of brands, revenue-making, scalability, and the number of users present to decide where they should create content. Talking about his own content, he highlighted how tech videos target the youth, and Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube have a majority of their presence. Apart from these platforms, although Snapchat also has a short-form update and reaches the youth, creating content there is not the same since the videos people consume on that platform are different from their niche and fail to provide creators with sustainable growth.
As audiences, it is easy for us to ignore the USP that makes each platform different from the other. But by managing to stay consistent with their content, creators have also managed to find the things that make each platform unique. Two major platforms that have become every content creator’s go to are YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, and Abhinav helps us decode both!
Also Read: 6 new YouTube Shorts tools that will elevate your content creation journey
Here's what Abhinav had to say!
Can you talk to us about the benefits and drawbacks for content creators on YouTube shorts vs. Reels?
Shorts has a totally different audience and the content you see there is different from Reels. Reels have a mix of audiences from different age groups, while Shorts’ audience is mainly kids or people above 45. If we talk about the benefits, YouTube has always been the OG platform for content creators, and the kind of resources on this platform is way better than on Reels. For instance, the YouTube Creator Studio has many tools for creators, while Reels has a less optimized version called the Meta Business Suite.
While people make revenue on Shorts, there is an option of gifts on Reels that helps creators earn money. However, the Gifts feature feels less practical in India since people don’t use them often, leaving creators totally dependent on brand deals for their income. Another thing that I love about YouTube Shorts is the way creators are rewarded for their milestones. Creators are offered play buttons and awards. But if the same creator hits 100k followers on Instagram, they don’t get any recognition from Instagram. That is why although both platforms are good, their drastic differences in terms of rewards for creators make them prefer one over the other more.
What's the audience demographic like on YouTube Shorts and Reels?
There's a vast difference! If we talk about the audience on Shorts, the maximum number of viewers like 60–70% are kids, and if we compare the same number on Reels, the maximum users are from the 18–24 age group. The main reason behind this is parents give their children's phones freely to watch Shorts because they are easily accessible, you don’t need to install them again, and YouTube regulates its content and is safer for kids as compared to Reels. Also, the number of male and female users on Instagram is kind of equal, but in short, it's uneven. Other than that, the other demographics are the same, according to me.
How can a creator create and tweak content to suit each platform?
We have to make multiple changes, whether in scripting, shooting, or editing, to create content on different platforms. If you see our content on YouTube, its pace, editing, and length will be totally different from Reels. Also, if we create short content, there is a boundary, or you can say a time limit, that we have to give the information in 60 seconds, but the platform also allows 90-second content, but audience members will not engage for that much duration, so we try to keep it short, crisp, and to the point so that the video is nicely presented in front of our audience. For Shorts, we have to change our scripting and content style because the audience is totally different from Reels, and due to that, we have to create the content by keeping their interests in mind.
Does this impact creators producing longer videos?
If we discuss the impact of platform workflows, it has affected every creator who produces long-form content. This is because the introduction of short-form vertical videos has also changed the audience's demand. Now everyone wants content to be delivered in short durations of time, and due to that, every long-form creator is creating long durations of content, but they have also started creating Shorts and Reels. There is one more benefit of creating short-form content for the creators who produce longer videos: they can reach a wide audience with the help of Shorts and Reels with less effort, and some of the short-form content's audience will be converted into the creator’s loyal audience, who will also watch their long videos, and the creators will get a huge boost from there, and the reach of the creator will also increase.
Do Abhinav's inputs help you navigate through these two features on two separate platforms? Let us know in the comments below.
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