YouTube Shorts are designed to be a short way to captivate the audience and gain their attention for one minute at most. Shorts are similar to other short-form online video-sharing platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels. Creators have a lot of room for creativity and are encouraged to incorporate their personality into their Shorts to attract an audience to their YouTube channel.
Visibility
On YouTube, a designated feed allows users to watch YouTube Shorts exclusively. This will enable creators to attract a new audience and potentially new subscribers from the Shorts feed. Creators can also promote their long-form videos with YouTube Shorts, including a trailer or a snippet to entice viewers to watch the full video. Creators can choose the visibility of their Shorts content. Different visibility settings of a YouTube Short include public –where anyone can view the video; unlisted ****–where only people with the link can view the YouTube short; private ****–where only the creator and certain accounts the creator permits are allowed to view the YouTube short.
How to Upload a YouTube Short
Creators can upload YouTube Shorts through the mobile app and the web browser. Anyone with a YouTube account can create YouTube Shorts, regardless of age. Here are the steps to upload YouTube Shorts using the YouTube app from a computer.
How to Upload a YouTube Short from a computer:
- On YouTube Studio, click the ‘Create’ button on the top-right corner. Then select ‘Upload videos.’
- The creator can select a short video file up to 60 seconds long. The video must be in a square or vertical format. Ensure that the aspect ratio is 9:16.
- Add a title, description, and tags, then publish the video, and it will appear as a YouTube Short since the aspect ratio is 9:16
How to Create and Upload a YouTube Short from the YouTube app (mobile)
- Sign in to the YouTube app.
- Tap the 'Create' button, which will appear as a plus sign inside a circle near the bottom of the screen. Select ‘Create a Short’
- Tap on the red button to start recording and then tap again to stop.
- Once the recording is done, creators can add music, apply filters, or apply other effects to enhance the quality of the recording. Users can also save the recording as a draft and return to it later.
- Once satisfied with the YouTube short video, users can tap the ‘Done’ button, and then they will be able to preview the video and add sounds, text-to-speech, or other features.
- Creators can tap ‘Next’ to add the details to their video like a title (maximum 100 characters) and they can change the video privacy settings.
- Finally, tap ‘Upload Short’ to publish the Short.
*Note: The default privacy setting for creators under the age of 18 is set to private. Creators who are 18 or older have the default video privacy setting as public. Everyone is able to change their video privacy settings to make their video either public, private, or unlisted.
Monetization
There are different ways that creators can generate revenue through publishing YouTube Shorts. Some of the more popular ways include:
- YouTube Partner Program (YPP): Creators who are eligible for the YPP can earn money from their content based on the revenue from ads to be shared amongst the creator. For creators to be eligible they need to have at least 1,000 subscribers as well as 10 million valid public Shorts views in the past 90 days.
- YouTube’s Shorts Fund: This program was funded by YouTube to allow creators to get paid for their content regardless of their subscriber count. Creators make money based on the amount of views a YouTube Short receives. There are guidelines and some YouTube Shorts may not be eligible to receive any funds from the program. Any changes to the monetization process and requirements can be found here.
- Sponsored Content: Creators can partner with other brands and promote different products or services through their YouTube Shorts to generate revenue from their content.
Ways to Boost Content
- Consistency: Creators should publish YouTube Shorts on a consistent to remain on the recommended feed page on YouTube
- Descriptive Titles: Clear and descriptive titles should include relevant keywords to allow the video to stand out and be more accessible to find through search.
- Cross-platforms: Creators should share their YouTube Shorts on other social media platforms to encourage the audience to go check their page out on YouTube. Other social media platforms that would generate success are other short-video platforms such as Instagram Reels or TikTok.
- Collaborations: Featuring other creators to grasp the attention of the audience. Collaborations will generate more popularity due to the audience reach becoming wider and reaching more viewers.
- Hashtags: Creators are encouraged to use trending and popular hashtags in the description of the Short to allow the video to be recommended on many feeds.
- Captivate the Audience: Shorts should hook in their audience within the first few seconds to encourage them to keep watching.
- Trends: Create Shorts based on trending topics, challenges, or popular trends to make the Short relevant.
- Captions and Subtitles: As YouTube is a global platform, having subtitles and captions allows the content to be accessible to a broader audience.
- Bonus Tip: Creators are encouraged to include #Shorts in their title or description to help the YouTube system recommend the short videos across YouTube.
