The Ultimate Guide to Multi-platform Video

Advantages Of Multi-Platform Content Strategy

• Grow a bigger audience - To cultivate a big audience across Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram, you need to cater to different types of people.

• Get better at creating content - TikTokers are bad at long-form content and long-form creators aren’t very good at making shorter videos. This is called a context handicap. You won’t have a context-handicap when you are making content for a wider range of contexts.

• Make more money on social media - As more social media platforms hone their monetization options, multi-platform creators are in a great position to make more money.

• Become bigger than social media - Titles like TikToker or Youtuber can limit creators. However, with a big community across different social media, an internet personality can become bigger than any single platform.

However, even though there are serious and obvious benefits to optimizing video content for different platforms, most people will ignore them. And it makes sense if you consider how exhausting it can be to try to dominate multiple channels at the same time. Just take a look at the drawbacks, and don't worry, we'll go over how to overcome them.

Disadvantages Of Multi-Platform Content Strategy

• It can lead to burnout - Because creating content can be exhausting, over-burdening yourself with optimizing content for different platforms can lead to scatter-brain, stress, and burnout.

• It can be expensive - The biggest creators on any platform have a team behind them. And teams can be expensive to hire and maintain if you don’t already make a lot of money on social media.

• It can be scary - Many creators don’t venture into other platforms simply because they don’t want to start from scratch. They are comfortable where they already have a big audience.

Most drawbacks of multi-platform content strategy can be reduced to manpower problems and financial limitations. The section below covers how you can get rid of those drawbacks.

How To Overcome Those Disadvantages

Crafting a multi-platform content strategy that leverages the power of technology, AI subtitles, and context-cropping can lead to maximum engagement with a small budget and time burden. Below are several ways in which you can overcome the time and money related drawbacks of multi-platform content distribution.

• Create a workflow where each step feeds the next - Instead of starting from scratch when editing videos for different platforms, create a linear workflow where each edit helps you get closer to the next edit. (See the section below)

• Leverage tools that do the work for you - You can use tools like ContentFries to multiply your content while optimizing it for different platforms.

• Focus on one step at a time - Do not overwhelm yourself by trying to focus on multiple steps. Simply execute the next step.

• Expand your footprint one platform at a time - As you broaden your media footprint, get familiar with creating for one new platform. Gradually add another, then another, until you have covered all relevant distribution channels.

With the above practices, you can get all the advantages of multi-platform video distribution without the drawbacks. The rest of this article will help you implement these practices, starting with the creation of a set-and-forget workflow.

Where To Place Long-Form Content?

Ideally, your longform content should be placed earlier in your workflow. But if your primary content style is short, then you can start by filming shorter pieces that can be compiled into long form content later on.

Where To Place Short-Form Content?

Short form content should be at the repurposing stage of your workflow. That way you can make one long form video and get multiple short form snippets out of it.

Write A Hyper-Engaging Script

Many creators view content repurposing as something that happens at the end of their workflow. But repurposing related decisions need to be made as early as step one. You need to write bits within your script that you know can get clipped.

Film In High Quality Or Multiple Modes

Film with a DSLR camera so you can easily crop your footage without losing quality. If that's not possible, then film on two phones—one horizontal and one vertical. However, this step isn't mandatory, so feel free to deprioritize it.

Edit Your Pillar Content

Ideally this should be long form. But it can be short-form as well for creators who are primarily on short-form platforms.

Repurpose The Pillar For One Platform At A Time

This step is critical. Try to repurpose your long form content for one platform at one time. So create 5 TikToks from your long video, then return to your long video and create 5 reels.

If you want to speed things up, you can use ContentFries and optimize your settings for different contexts. That way you can generate hundreds of pieces of content without manually optimizing specifics each time.

Schedule Your Content

Once you have all your content, it is time to post it. But don't flood your page with simultaneous uploads. Schedule the content to give yourself time to make new content without starving your audience.

Get Back To Writing

Once you have scheduled your content for the week, it is time to get back to writing. The quicker you get back to step one, the quicker you'll reach step five.

Leveraging Image Posts

While image posts aren't in this article's area of focus, they should be included in your content repurposing strategy. Use text from your script to create quote cards. Or if you have ContentFries, generate quote cards using the given options.

Leveraging Text Posts

Text posts work well on LinkedIn, X, Threads, and Facebook. So do not ignore their potential when you devise your content repurposing strategy. Again, they're not the focal point of this article but they are important nonetheless.

Retaining A Long-Form Audience’s Attention

When you post your content on a platform meant for long-form consumption, then your audience is in a very different state compared to that of a short form channel.

They are looking for something that is valuable and delivered in an entertaining manner over a long period. While they do not need to be overstimulated, they need to be sold on your video.

Edit the first thirty seconds of your content very carefully. Add subtitles and use a word highlighter to emphasize the words being spoken. This helps in overcoming the friction that people have towards new content.

And once they’re thirty seconds into the video, you can relax with the edits. This will work for Youtube, Facebook Watch, and video podcast distribution.

Retaining A Short-Form Audience’s Attention

Short-form audience is looking for the next bite-sized video. Unlike click-and-view platforms, you don't need to make your content stand out to earn viewers. You just need to make it interesting while making it look like it was made for the platform. People don't want to feel like they're consuming recycled content.

The best way to engage viewers on TikTok, Youtube Shorts, and IG Reels is to caption your content with dynamic subtitles. ContentFries allows you to animate subtitles and add word-highlighters to emphasize whichever word is spoken at any given time.

Before editing videos for any platform, spend some time on it watching what kind of captions and filters are used by other creators. Then, use a similar color scheme and caption your videos to maximize retention.

Leveraging Captions For Audience Retention

The role of subtitles in enhancing video performance is much bigger than most people think. There's a reason why MrBeast uses subtitles even though he is one of the most famous creators on the platform. His face is enough to drive up watch time, but he takes no risks, especially on his short-form content.

Use the following subtitling practices to improve your audience retention:

• Use AI for transcription - Platforms like ContentFries help you caption your content with the power of AI. This saves time and money, letting you add captions to almost any video you make.

• Stop posting content without subtitles - Raising your publishing standards will help you build a reputation for high quality content.

• Go dynamic whenever you can - Dynamic/animated subtitles are a must if you want to get big on social media. They keep viewers engaged without taking their focus away from the message of your video. ContentFries lets you animate your captions with a few clicks.

• Use retention-raising templates - Finally, skip the trial and error stage with engaging templates. ContentFries has a library of templates that you can use to make your videos look exactly like the viral ones you have been watching.

Analytics and viewer retention rates across platforms may vary. The following data can help you set expectations for your videos’ performance.

• Youtube - 50% to 60 %

• Youtube Shorts - 80% to 110%

• TikTok - 30% to 50%

• Instagram Reels - 4 seconds to 10 seconds

It is important to measure the impact of subtitled content on audience growth and engagement across platforms. This data can be used to sell one’s services for content creation and editing.

The Power Of The Creative In 2024

2024 is the year of the creative. In advertising, the “creative” refers to the content. From 2013 to 2018, the internet was in the era of the influencer. The creative did not matter as much as where it was posted.

However, since 2019, algorithmic reach has tilted towards better quality content. So, multi-platform specialists can make money helping creators and brands with big pages make better quality content.

Agencies, freelancers, and virtual assistants can offer subtitle optimization as a key service to clients. And if they use ContentFries, they can auto-generate these captions. As a result, they can service hundreds of clients and make a lot of money in the process.

But before they start looking for clients, they need to develop a portfolio. They must have moderate success on different channels before they can pitch themselves as multi-platform specialists.

ContentFries

ContentFries is a content-multiplication engine that lets you make 30+ pieces of content from one long-form video. You can use ContentFries to streamline subtitle creation and ensure consistency across multiple pieces of content.

The platform even has advanced subtitle features that set your content apart. These include:

• Subtitle translation - Automatically translate your content in multiple languages!

• Customizable animations - Make your content captions float and maximize audience engagement.

• Emoji overlays - Make different emojis pop up when you say specific words.

Notion

Notion can help you organize your content creation schedule. It is a productivity tool with a free membership tier that’s good enough for most creators. Use it if you have trouble organizing your creation process into a streamlined workflow.

Slack

Use Slack to communicate with your team or clients. This platform isn't as useful if you are a solo creator, but if you have even one collaborator, using Slack can be helpful. You can create various channels on Slack to separate media production and distribution processes.

HootSuite

HootSuite is the go-to platform for content scheduling. You can organize your content distribution across multiple platforms with HootSuite. And once you have scheduled videos for publication, you can get back to what matters: making good content.