What is long-form content?
Long-form refers to any content which is of great length. Long-form content could be video, audio, or write-ups. Here we will be talking about write-ups. Any write up with more than 2000 words is considered as long-form content. What makes long-form content can be hard to define. The content of the write up is a mix of factual writing and an empathetic narrative.
There is a vast gap between what long-form content consisted of in earlier days and what it is now. What might be called “long-form content” 5 years ago, would barely qualify for a long blog post today. By and large, however, any content piece longer than 4,000 words in length can be called long-form content. With the increasing demand for long-form content, the content written in this form is forming a huge pool. There’s an ongoing arms race among content marketers to create increasingly more in-depth content.
After knowing about what long-form content writing is, a question arises – What are the benefits of long-form content? Are the results worth it?
The most important reason to create long-form content is to give readers something that they’re looking for. It’s always in a content creator’s best interest to develop content that allows readers to see your content as part of the solution to their problems. You are the brand that can answer their questions. This goes a long way in building your brand authority.
Why use long-form content?
· Brand Authority
· On-Site Engagement
· Conversions
· Informative
· Links
· Can Be Repurposed
· Organic Traffic
What is Short-form content?
Short-form refers to any content which is of a short length. Short-form content could be video, audio, or write-ups. Short-form video content is anything short enough to hold a viewer’s attention span, but long enough to get your point across in an engaging way. Typically, this lands in the 15 seconds to two-minute time frame. A short-form write-up is typically 400-600 words, can be read in as little as two minutes, and doesn’t require much critical thinking.
Social media platforms like Pinterest, infographics, and Vine (it doesn’t exist now but used to consist of six seconds video content) work on the theory- “If big pieces of information cannot pass through the finite limit of our brain cells then maybe little sand grains can pass through. The content on these platforms is simply easy on the eyes and doesn’t take a lot of processing. Short-form content can also be known as ‘snackable’ content for viewers.
Why use short-term content?
· Easy to write
· Quick creation
· Precise content
· Quick consumption
· Less time consuming
Which write-up type should you use and when?
To decide what type of write up do you need to write, you must ask 2 questions- What are the objectives? And- Who is the target audience?
1. Objective
i) The short-form content’s objective is to provide the audience with small consumable content that may or may not present with valuable information. The content provided is either for marketing their brand or to introduce the audience to a topic or a product
ii) The long-form content’s objective is to provide the audience with detailed insight into the product or the service. This content is written for building a brand.
We can understand this by comparing the short-form content with the information written on a packet and the long-form content as the instruction given inside that packet.
2. Target Audience
i) The short-form content targets the audience who are already familiar with the brand and engage them in the small tidbits about some new products, services, or recently launched campaigns.
ii) The long term content targets the audience who are relatively new to the brand. It provides the audience with beautiful insights and all the information about their services to attract the audience toward their services.
It is really important to write your content according to what type of audience you will be catering to. Some audiences prefer snackable content whereas some prefer detailed insights. Hence, it is very important to know which audience you are aiming for and what will benefit your brand.
The main aim of content creation always is to lay out the foundation of your brand. So, a little mix of both the writing styles is recommended. Long-form to give an in-depth description of some select topics and short form to create the popcorn content. Whereas long form gives much-needed details and requires critical thinking, short-form content brings the much needed fresh air into the picture. A perfect combination of both will bring in engagement rates as well as help the audience to connect with your brand.
