Does Short Content Work?
Excuse the pun, but you’re worried about selling yourself short. In your efforts to reach your audience and educate readers, you want to go in depth. You want to put as much information as possible out there. You want to answer all of their questions and work hard to sell them on your goods and services. You wonder if there’s any way to use short content, or if everything needs to be the size of a chapter in your favorite novel. What type of content approach is going to work most effectively and accomplish your goals?
Every situation is different and every business has unique needs. But there is a lot of evidence that short content can and does work.
Wisdom From Forbes
According to an article in Forbes, the point of short content is to hold the reader’s attention. “After 750 words–or sometimes after only half that–you risk losing your readers’ attention,” the site claims.
That doesn’t mean you have to throw out most of your information if you have 3,000 words of content that you know your readers can use. But you may want to simply consider how you present it to them. Are 3,000 words too much? Will most of them click the link and then quickly move on, knowing their busy schedules do not give them time to read what you have, even if they think it sounds interesting? If so, you may do far better with a series of a half dozen 500-word articles. That’s much more digestible. It fits into a busy schedule. They can take a few minutes to read each post as it comes out.
When they finish the series, they get the exact same information you would have given them anyway. You just put it into a format you knew they would actually read. You have to know your audience.
Increased Engagement
Another big advantage is that more posts and more articles means you have more chances for engagement. That’s very important. “Be a part of the conversation,” Forbes adds. “Greater engagement leads to more exposure…Ask your readers questions.”
If you’re promoting your content on social media, for instance, every post is a chance for people to like, share and comment. It’s also a chance for you to respond, engage and provide additional information. If you post one long article, you get one chance. If you break it down, you get six. The formatting may give you vastly more exposure than you would have gotten with the exact same content in another form.
Creating Perfect Content
As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to use both long and short articles, and you have to consider what will work best for your audience and your business model. In the world of smartphones and skimming, does a series of short articles give you an advantage? At Content Customs, we can help you set up a great content plan that positions you for success.