Illustration for Social & community marketing skills
Social & community skill · v0.2.0

Short-form video skill

Ideas, hooks, scripts and an edit plan for Reels, TikTok and Shorts from what the business already knows.

Free · MIT licence · Copy needs a free sign-in

Category
Social & community
Works with
Claude, Codex, Cursor, any agent
Format
SKILL.md · 1,852 words
Version
v0.2.0
Price
Free · MIT

The Short-form video skill file

cmo-short-form-video/SKILL.md1,852 words · MIT
---
name: cmo-short-form-video
description: Ideas, hooks, scripts and an edit plan for Reels, TikTok and Shorts from what the business already knows.
---

Turns what a business is already doing into short vertical videos people watch to the end. It interviews for real work and proof, generates ideas across several lanes, writes a hook that can be repaid, gives the speaker three talking prompts instead of a stiff script, and hands an editor a clear brief. Scores rank what to record first; they are not view forecasts.

When to use

  • "What should we film", "short video ideas", "write a Reel/TikTok/Short", "better hooks".
  • A founder or expert has knowledge but no format for video.
  • Turning articles, webinars or podcasts into clips.
  • Not for: posting a finished video to YouTube or TikTok through CMO.so (use cmo-youtube or cmo-tiktok), long YouTube videos (use cmo-youtube-strategy), filming and editing technique (use cmo-video-production), cutting existing long videos (use cmo-video-repurposing), a full Instagram/TikTok/Facebook plan beyond video (use cmo-organic-social).
Sign in to see, copy and download the whole skillIt's free. Copying also upvotes and saves it, so you'll find it again under Saved.
Preview: the workflow, output, example, quality bar and guardrails unlock when you sign in.

Adapts open work by ericosiu/ai-marketing-skills (MIT), ericosiu/ai-marketing-skills (MIT), bradautomates/head-of-content (MIT), social-media-skills/skills (MIT), Upload-Post/upload-post-skill (no license).

Everyday usage

How people use Short-form video day to day

Ask in plain words. The agent picks this skill, asks for anything it needs and hands back the result. Words in a highlight are yours to change.

Most common · also on the Social & community page

Script short videos

Ideas, hooks, scripts and an edit plan for Reels, TikTok and Shorts.

Ask your agentGive me 10 Reel ideas with hooks for a dental clinic.
  • A ranked idea table with a 3-second hook, three talking prompts and the proof for each
  • Scripts with timing, on-screen text and a shot list
  • An edit brief and a test plan for openings

More things to ask

  • Give me short video ideas
  • Write a Reel
  • What hook should this video open with?
  • Turn this into a 30-second video
  • We never know what to film
  • Plan our short-form videos for the month
How it works

From input to output

  1. 1You give it
    • What the business is doing this week: builds, results, customer questions, opinions
    • Owned proof: numbers, screens, before/after, artifacts that can be shown
    • The viewer, the call to action and its destination
    • Recording constraints: who is on camera, what screens or products can be filmed
  2. 2It works through the method
    • Asks what's missing, one question at a time
    • Follows the workflow step by step
    • Checks the result against its quality bar and guardrails
  3. 3You get
    • A ranked idea table with a 3-second hook, three talking prompts and the proof for each
    • Scripts with timing, on-screen text and a shot list
    • An edit brief and a test plan for openings
Why a skill

The skill against the alternatives

Do it yourselfHire helpShort-form video skill
CostYour own timeAgency or freelancer feesFree, MIT licence
Time to a first resultHours, every timeDays to weeks, plus revisionsMinutes, in your agent
ConsistencyDepends on remembering every stepAs long as the retainer lastsSame steps and checks every run
The methodIn your headTheir process, often hiddenWritten down: read it, change it
Who does the workYou, from scratchSomeone learning your businessYour agent, following the skill
FAQ

Questions about the Short-form video skill

What it does, what it needs and how to use it with your agent.

Still not sure?Try it free on your own website and see the first posts before you decide.
Start free
What is the Short-form video skill?

Ideas, hooks, scripts and an edit plan for Reels, TikTok and Shorts from what the business already knows.

It's one of cmo.so's open Social & community skills: a SKILL.md file that tells an AI agent when to use it, what to ask you first, the steps to follow, the checks to pass and what to hand back, so the job is done the same careful way every time.

When should I use it?

Reach for it when you'd otherwise say something like “Give me short video ideas”, “Write a Reel / TikTok script”, “What hook should this video open with?”. Your agent reads the skill's description and picks it for requests like these, so you don't need to name it.

If a request is close but not quite right, the skill says so and points to the related skill that fits better, instead of forcing a poor answer.

What do I need to give it?

It works best with what the business is doing this week: builds, results, customer questions, opinions; owned proof: numbers, screens, before/after, artifacts that can be shown; the viewer, the call to action and its destination; and recording constraints: who is on camera, what screens or products can be filmed.

You don't have to prepare everything up front. The skill asks for missing pieces one at a time and says plainly when it's working from an assumption instead of your data.

What do I get back?

You get a ranked idea table with a 3-second hook, three talking prompts and the proof for each; scripts with timing, on-screen text and a shot list; and an edit brief and a test plan for openings.

Every result comes from a written method with a quality bar, so numbers name their source, claims are checked and the output is ready to use or share rather than a rough draft.

Is it free?

Yes. The skill is open source under the MIT licence, so you can use it, change it and share it, including for client work.

Seeing, copying and downloading the whole file on cmo.so needs a free sign-in. Copying also upvotes and saves it, so you can find it again under Saved on the skills page.

Which AI agents can use it?

Claude Code installs it from the cmo.so marketplace. Any agent that reads SKILL.md folders, such as Codex or Cursor, can use it once the folder is in its skills directory.

You can also paste the copied skill into ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant at the start of a conversation and ask it to follow the skill.

How do I install it?

In Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add AI-Marketing-OS-LTD/cmo-so-skills, then /plugin install cmo-so-social@cmo-so. That installs this skill together with the rest of the Social & community group.

For other agents, sign in, press Copy or Download above and put the file in your agent's skills folder as SKILL.md inside a folder named after the skill.

Do I need a cmo.so account to use it?

No. The skill works on its own with whatever your agent can already see and do: your files, the pages you share and the data you paste in.

A free cmo.so account only matters if you also want Maggie to plan, write and publish your marketing every day.

Which skills work well with it?

It pairs well with Video production; Content repurposing; YouTube queue; and YouTube Short writing. The agent can hand over from one to the next in the same conversation, for example research first, then the plan, then the writing.

Each of them has its own page with what it needs and what it returns, linked below.

Can I change it to fit my business?

Yes. It's a plain Markdown file, so you can edit the steps, add your own checks and examples, and keep your version in your own repo. The MIT licence allows it.

If your change would help others too, suggest it on the skills page or open a pull request on GitHub, and it may be folded into the library for everyone.

Where does the method come from?

It's written by cmo.so and adapts open work by others, credited on this page: ericosiu/ai-marketing-skills (MIT); ericosiu/ai-marketing-skills (MIT); and bradautomates/head-of-content (MIT).

Only permissively licensed work is adapted; copyleft repos are used for ideas only and repos without a licence aren't used at all.

Is my data sent to cmo.so when the agent uses it?

No. The skill only guides your own agent; your files, documents and data stay wherever your agent and its tools keep them.

cmo.so only sees what you connect to cmo.so. Your votes and saves on this page are stored against your cmo.so sign-in.

Ready when you are!

Rather have Maggie do it for you?

Enter your website. Maggie uses the same playbooks to plan, write and publish your marketing every day.

  • Free plan, no card needed
  • You decide what goes out
  • Cancel any time

Start with your website

Free to start. No card needed.

Welcome back.

Sign in to cmo.so.

or
At least 8 characters.
New to cmo.so? Have an account? Prefer a password?

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.