Short-Form Video Styles that Drive Growth for SaaS Companies
Short-form video styles that every social media marketer and strategist needs to build brands and get leads.
TLDR: Awareness-based videos that are funny and relatable are great for engagement, shares, and views. Consideration-based videos such as educational content, authentic storytelling, and events and partnerships get views, followers, engagement, and leads. Lastly, decision-based content such as case studies, updates, and testimonials are great for gaining followers and generating leads.
Social media is a space where you can build connections with your target audience and nurture relationships with your customers.
Attention and retention are the names of the game, and if you want to keep your prospects interested - you need to create content that stands out.
You need to create valuable content that speaks their language. You need content that will make them care.
According to AbstraktMg, it takes 6-8 touchpoints to convert a prospect to a lead. On social media, that means your target audience needs to see your content 6-8 times before they turn into a lead.
And the best way to grab their attention? Videos.
Short-form social media video delivers the highest ROI among marketing trends in 2025, according to HubSpot.
And with over 100 million videos and photos uploaded per day on social media, social media SaaS videos need to be adaptable and strategic.
Understanding a social media video’s structure, especially for SaaS companies, can help you make the right strategic choices to meet your marketing goals.
Top-of-the-Funnel Awareness-Based Content
Scroll-stopping top-of-the-funnel social media videos made for brand awareness and engagement.
Funny and relatable content is one of the best ways to grab your target audience's attention. Using memes and inside jokes keeps your audience entertained and serves as a soft introduction to your product or service.
In a Forbes article, the creator of the Memois claimed that funny and relatable content is 10 times better than other regular marketing visuals.
They also found that meme content has a 60% higher rate of organic interaction. It’s not exactly what people would expect as short-form content for SaaS companies.
But those were the old days. Today is about being competitive and disruptive. You need to stand out, and you need to ride the right trends to get the most out of the content you’re making. Funny and relatable content is a great style to adopt because it generates views and engagement.
But its success depends on your industry, who you want to reach, and the social media channel you use. That's why it’s important to do the research first, instead of jumping into whatever is trending.
Hopping on the right trends shows that you know the inside jokes and the right memes. It builds brand awareness, and it’s the foot in the door for your prospective buyers.
And it also builds trust between your target audience and your company.
But most of all, its shows your audience that you know how to have fun. And that’s pretty cool. A great example of a SaaS company that does funny and relatable content is Semrush. Semrush has been producing funny and relatable content that their audience loves for a while now.
Funny and relatable content can be quite simple to create and edit. Sometimes all it needs is some text and good background music. And most of the time, that's all you need to make a joke or meme land.
Despite its simplicity, funny and relatable content generates views and engagement—but it doesn’t always generate leads. And that's not a bad thing. It’s a good and gentle introduction to who and what your company is. It’s the first step your target audience takes to learning about your company.
At the end of the day, it really depends on your marketing strategy as well as your goals. Funny and relatable content is sharable, easy to consume, relatable, and funny. It’s a great touchpoint for you and your target audience.
A smirk or a laugh can be the difference between a new customer or your audience scrolling past your video.
Funny and Relatable Content
Middle-of-the-Funnel Consideration-Based Content
Middle-of-the-funnel social media content builds relationships between you and your target audience.
Educational Content
Educational content teaches your prospects how your product or service can solve a problem. It gets in deep to what your product or service can do for them.
It’s a great piece of social media content that can generate results. And you should consider implementing it into your content strategy. According to Vidico, 87% of marketers saw more leads just by using education videos.
Educational content, if done well, can increase social media metrics such as leads, views, engagement, and shares. You need to intimately know your audience's pain points, and you need to know how to solve them.
On top of that, the videos you make need to be interesting and engaging. If your target audience loses interest - you’re losing leads. And as simple as the core concept sounds, it can be quite challenging to execute.
A great example of educational content that’s done right would be from Monday.com.
Their video demonstrates the product by showing a problem and positions the product or service as the solution. Their series, Dear Monday, revolves around Jasmine (the host) answering questions from Monday.com’s customers. Simple, right?
But look at how Monday.com creates their videos. They use different visuals and transitions, and they ensure that the videos' tone is light, relatable, and friendly.
The production value of the video might be high—but the results speak for themselves.Its views and positive comments are indications that the video is doing well.
It maintains their target audience’s attention.
And because it’s positioned as a series, followers and even prospects can anticipate and expect a similar video from Monday.com.
At its core, educational content is an answer to a question, the end of a problem, and the solution to a headache. It’s one of the best ways to show authority on social media.
Educational content can hook your prospects and increase engagement, shares, followers, and leads.
These types of videos are very successful in other niches and industries such as fitness, health, and finance. And if done well, it can also be a successful format within the SaaS industry.
Authentic Storytelling
Storytelling-based content is one of the biggest ways smaller creators hijack Instagram and TikTok’s algorithm. It’s one of the fastest formats and styles a startup uses to grow on social media.
Storytelling content is the story and soul of your company. It’s the highs, the lows, and the behind-the-scenes perspective of what it’s like working for a SaaS company.
It is one of the most authentic pieces of content a company can make.
And thats exactly what everyone looks for—authenticity.
To find and create a great story out of your experiences, you need to have the introduction, conflict, and resolution. The introduction, which is your hook, introduces the premise of the story. This is where the goal and objective of the characters are set.
The conflict in your story is about getting past the challenges that come with achieving those goals. And resolution is how things end. Did you achieve your goals? Or did you fail?
Regardless of the outcome, there should be a lesson that you can give to your target audience. It's one of the best forms of content for gaining followers because it builds empathy and makes your company relatable. Human experiences, real struggles, and real wins.
Take Sizzle, for example. Its founder, Alexa, discusses the why, how, and what behind her company.
This type of storytelling content is called "the founder's journey."
The video itself is really engaging. It uses sound effects, background music, visual effects, b-rolls, text effects with different fonts, and even camera effects that give the video a lo-fi feel.
The storytelling format, whether that be a founder journey, behind-the-scenes, or episodic series, invites interest and engagement.
These are the types of experiences people love and find inspiration from.
And you know what’s the best part about storytelling content is? You never run out of problems, and that means you never run out of stories to tell.
It’s perpetual. And you can theoretically keep going as long as your audience's interest in the content stays high.
It's best to turn storytelling content into a series of its own. This allows your target audience to follow the story, and it builds anticipation for the next episode.
Storytelling content builds trust, relatability, and authority. It has the lasting effect of making your company memorable and impressionable in the minds of your target audience.
And if done well, you’ll see an increase in your likes, engagements, followers, shares, and leads.
Events and Partnerships
Events and partnerships content is great for highlighting partnerships and giving behind-the-scenes access to company events.
Oftentimes these videos are fast cuts and highlights of the event, with a soundbite of an important speech playing as the video goes on. The video's structure includes the introduction, the main event itself, and lastly the conclusion of the event.
Events and partnership videos often includes shots of smiling faces, handshakes, conversations, activities, and group photos. Its goal is to show success, productivity, and excitement.
Events and partnerships are important short-form content for SaaS companies because they help build the brand, awareness, and authority within your niche or industry.
Zendesk event and highlight social media video is a great example.
The video includes key figures and key people and sound bites of important speeches. They also added visual effects, subtitles, and light background music to keep the video engaging.
These highlights show the successes of the company and this project's authority within their industry. The video helps build trust with their existing customers as well as with their target audience.
Events and partnerships project strength.
It shows that your company is successful and is blazing the trail. And that can give enough of a reason for your target audience to try your product or service.
In terms of its metrics and goals, events and partnership videos don’t always generate the most leads or views. But it has the ability to generate followers and engagement. And those followers down the line can turn into leads.
Bottom-of-the-Funnel Decision-Based Content
Bottom-funnel decision-based content designed to turn your prospects into leads.
Testiomonials
Testimonials have always been a great way to turn your target audience into customers.
Testimonials are your customers' honest and direct experiences with your product or service. They talk about how your product or service helped them in a positive light.
More positive reviews directly increase your audience's confidence in your company.
You’ll often see written testimonials on websites and even reviews on Google. But as a style or form of social media content, it can be an excellent touchpoint for your target audience and your customers.
As much as possible, it shouldn’t feel forced. Testimonials need to be organic.
Doing so helps your customers believe that the testimonial was real and authentic. That builds confidence, and that builds trust towards your brand.
Take Dropbox, for example. During an event, they interviewed key influencers and decision makers and asked them how their product has helped shape their workflow and business.
Testimonial videos themselves are pretty simple. Oftentimes it uses simple cuts, background music, and graphics. But sometimes other brands use complex animations to enhance their videos. This largely depends on what you want to achieve.
If you want it to feel organic, keep your videos simple.
But if you’re trying to project authority and expertise, animations and additional effects can give your videos that extra polish. Metrics-wise, testimonials don’t always perform well—especially if they come from your brand. But its still a solid piece of content because it build trust and credibility.
The best tactic for testimonial content is to get influencers and your customers to review your product or service.
Target influencers that already like your product or service, because their reactions and their review will be genuine. Without testimonials or reviews, it will be very difficult to convince your target audience that your product or service works.
And if that's the case, no one can tell if it's good or not. That can be the difference between gaining leads or losing them.
Updates
If you work in SaaS you’re bound to get updates for your service or product.
Updates are a great way of engaging with your followers and customers. It builds brand awareness and can revive interest in your product or service.
Updates are great as short-form content for SaaS companies because they show that your product or service continues to innovate and develop.
Update videos themselves are either demonstrations or talking head videos.
Adding elements such as subtitles, motion graphics, and b-roll can make them more engaging and can help with viewer retention. Being casual and being fun can also make your videos more engaging.
Take Figma’s update video, for example.
It’s easy to understand and easy to follow and doesn’t do too much in terms of effects. It sets the tone with music and makes it visually engaging by adding captions. And lastly, Figma keeps it simple by showing their target audience what the update is.
Sometimes less is more.
And based on the comments, you can see their interest towards the product. With some people even willing to abandon previous products they’ve already used.
Metrics-wise, update videos can increase views, shares, followers, and engagement.
But this largely depends on how you’ll be marketing the update and how significant these changes will be for your customers. And if it hits the right audience, it has the potential to turn leads into customers and turn customers into followers.
Case Studies
The case study by Hootsuite is a talking head that uses transitions, cuts, and b-roll to keep the video engaging.Case studies are an opportunity to show proof of work and can turn your prospects into leads.
A great and well-made case study video can also increase views and engagement. Case studies are great at convincing your prospect because they’re real-life proof that your product or service works.
They can be the final, single piece of proof a prospect needs to convert.
According to an article by Techstiks, a statistic made by the Demand Report claimed that 47% of B2B buyers say that they rely on case studies to evaluate the credibility of a solution. This emphasizes how important case studies are when it comes to building trust and credibility for your brand.
Case studies are step-by-step breakdowns that analyze the success or failures of a particular event or entity.
Company-owned case studies are opportunities to highlight wins. It's a chance to prove your product or service solves your customer problems effectively. It educates your audience and gives them valuable insights.
That’s why they’re a valuable piece of content that’s great for getting leads. In the same article by Techstiks, the Content Marketing Institute observed that companies that have case studies can see a 73% increase in their conversion rates.
Case study videos themselves, for the most part, are talking heads.
To keep case study videos engaging, use sound effects, graphics, background music, subtitles, and transitions. This helps keep your target audience's interest throughout the video.
A good example is Hootsuite’s NBA case study video.
Social media video structures for the SaaS industry differ depending on the content you’re making and the goals you’re setting.
You need different short-form video styles that drive growth for each stage of the buyer's journey. An awareness video grabs interest, a consideration video gives solutions, and a decision video is the final push your target customer needs.
All of these videos build trust, authority, and your brand's image.
It’s all about how you make those videos and how well they speak to your target customers. And sometimes that also means experimenting with different styles and formats.
Spins on different styles and formats help you stand out. Whether it’s by combining them or trying something entirely new, new styles keep your videos fresh and interesting. Doing that can help catch your target audience's attention and maintain their interest.
No matter the style, there are different techniques and strategies editors use to help ensure their short-form videos get results.
For example, getting and retaining your target audience's attention towards your video is absolutely essential if you want more leads, conversions, or click-throughs.
That's exactly where video editing elements come in.
Video editing elements are designed to retain your target audience's attention on social media. By retaining their attention and interest, your target audience will be more receptive to your brand, and what you're offering.
Cut through the noise, and start creating valuable, engaging content your target audience loves.