Should you be using more short form content?

All facets of short form content have proven to generate more traffic, content view completion and increase sale conversions. However, does this mean you should be using more short-form content? Let’s find out.

What is Short Form content?

As mentioned before, short form content can take many shapes and utilised differently. Short form content is used with, but not limited to:

• Videos
• Blogs
• Articles
• Posts/Tweets/Stories
• Advertisements
• Infographics

What is the greatest example of this? TikTok.

TikTok took short form content to a whole new level, ultimately prompting Instagram and Facebook to respond with addition of their ‘reels’ feature. Short form content is like watching and reading with little-to-no effort, yet still receiving all the necessary information. It’s a lazy person’s dream!

Pros Vs. Cons

This may initially sound great, but if you going to be utilising short form content, its vital you understand all aspects of this form of marketing to know if it is suitable for you.

Pros-

1. Increase user engagement

 The interrelationship between short form content and success is a result of appealing to psychological elements. Short form caters to the short attention spans of today’s generation.

Studies have proven that the average person has an attention span ranging from 8-10 seconds. If a marketer is unable to grab an audience and call them to action within those intervals, then you’ve most likely lost the user. It doesn’t demand nearly the same amount of time or attentiveness as longer forms of content would, making it a great way to fulfil viewer needs.

2. Effective targeting

Over 54.4% of the global website traffic was attributed by mobile phones and is projected to incline (Statista, 2021). Short form content is optimised solely around mobile phone usage, making it specific and more engaging for users.  Not only is short form content fuelling success, but it is also a great way to reach a larger audience by making it easily accessible and distributable.

3. Production efficiency

Short form content is time efficient not just in the regard of the consumer, but for the marketer/brand. The consumer can grasp an understanding of the message being conveyed, enticed to further engage with a quick call-to-action.

You, the brand, the marketer, the whoever- are also saving a great deal of time and difficult with this form of content. Production and distribution tranforms into a simplistic process, making it more favourable and affordable long-term.

Cons-

1. SEO ineffectiveness

Long form content is advantageous with SEO versus short form. Google’s algorithm simply places high quality, long written articles targeting relevant keywords on top of the rankings.

SEMrush stated that long form content generates 4x more traffic those articles with than 1000 words. Visibility and awareness are major points of emphasis for most brands and marketers; therefore, this should be heavily considered when looking to employ different forms of content.

2. Quantity > Quality

It could be argued that less is more... well sometimes more is, well, more. Longer articles, blogs or video length allows you to convey and explore different topics of discussion into great depths. The more content you have is also more opportunity to connection with the viewer on a deeper level. That extra amount of information, data, imagery etc may be what hooks them in.

3. Building Brand Authority

How many times do you recall as a potential consumer, looking through a site for a product, and there is just minimal content? No product information, testimonials/reviews, backlinks to similar products. Almost always, yourself and other consumers were deterred because of this.

Lack of content can be detrimental to sale conversions, which encourages brands to publish as much relevant information they possibly can to influence the consumer into purchase. Consumers want shopping experiences to be easily accessible, informative, and simplistic, nothing more, nothing less…

The Ultimatum

So now here you are, more confused than ever, and you know what? That’s okay! Marketing is confusing, everything is evolving around us- the digital space, social media, the world entirely.

I cannot emphasise how important it is to have a complete understanding of your current audience and what entices them. Sometimes when looking for new and bigger markets, you tend to lose the foundations you currently have, losing your pre-existing consumers in the process. Remaining adaptive and consistent is needed to be successful long-term.

Diversified audiences also entail diversified content. Appealing to different consumers means you are going to have to find a balance and blend between short form and long form content. You can’t just simply put all your eggs in the one basket- your marketing strategy should be an integration of both content forms.

So should you be using more short form content? ABSOLUTELY! It allows you generate more leads/traffic, increase brand awareness with time and cost-efficient strategies. We’ve seen how TikTok utilised short form videos, and it inevitably blew up because they are simply more engaging and entertaining.

However, I am not saying to neglect or throw out your plans for producing long form content. Offering both short and long form content allows the consumer to explore different things to lengths of their choosing. If they want to further search a product/service, provide the necessary links to do so and if they don’t? Then offer short, spontaneous content that will appeal to them, creating a concise experience.