Meet Sonya: a content marketer who’s into all the latest fads, like quick tweets and seven-second TikTok videos.
With all this 7-second content consumption, it’s no wonder Sonya is hesitant to start cranking out 2,000-word blog posts. She thinks to herself, “Is long-form content dead?”
Then he comes to this article you’re reading right now and, like you, he’s curious.
From my perspective, long, fluffy, boring content is dead, yes.
But valuable long-form content that works, that really resists our shrinking attention spans, is about creating engagement, not length.
So how can you create content that engages your audience like a 10-hour Netflix marathon?
Let’s take a deeper look now.
What is long content?
What comes to mind when you think “longform content?”
Is it a never-ending blog post? What about a book?
In fact, long content is also:
40 minute podcast episodes. (Am I the only one who took marketing episodes to push my day?!) 20 minute YouTube tutorials. 60-minute webinars. Longer carousel posts on Instagram or LinkedIn.
The more you think about it, the more you realize that we actually consume a ton of long-form content every day.
Long content vs. Short-form content
Let’s face the topic “Is long-form content dead?” debate once and for all.
To give you some context on what we’re working on, Microsoft reported that 20 years ago, the The average attention span was 12 seconds.
Today we are at 8.25 seconds.
On the other hand, we do a vigilance multiple 60-minute episodes of TV shows in one session (me included).
So, when you’re faced with the dilemma of how long to create long-form content, consider these factors:
It’s more about the good engagement of your audience and the value you provide instead of making long content.
The channel you’re creating content for has a big influence on length (for example, a blog article might ideally be 1,500 words long because that’s how much space you need to cover the topic, while a book might need 250 pages). After analyzing 11.8 million Google search results, Backlinko discovered that the average first page result contains 1,447 words. Considering this Google’s goal is to provide the most useful results that users preferthis shows that users enjoy longer content.
For short content:
Again, the channel influences the length. For example, especially with email marketing, the message needs to get across immediately, or you’ll decrease your chances of getting attention. With social media channels like Twitter or TikTok that have been made with brevity in mind, character limits forcing you to keep your message short and sweet. Not all landing pages need to be short, it’s about being short convey the important information your audience needs.
According to Peep Laja of CXL:
“Worried about your copy being too long? Don’t be. If someone is ready to buy after a short read (they’ll have read 20% of the copy), they can just skip ahead and click ‘Buy.’ No problem.
But if someone reads all the text on your site and still has questions and doubts, then you have a problem. That’s why long copy works well for sales pages.”
So while there are times and places where short-form content is a must, long-form content is still alive and well.
How to write long content
Remember Sonya from before?
We’ve included Sonya because she’s likely a lot like you: a content marketer struggling to figure out how to incorporate long-form content into her marketing strategy.
She creates the story within this article so it is relatable. As a content marketer, I’m constantly debating how long to create content, so I completely understand your dilemma.
So when it comes to your own content, how do you create a story that brings the whole piece to life?
And how do you successfully incorporate long-form content into your marketing strategy?
Now let’s dig deeper into this.
Step 1: Find the purpose of your content
There’s something I need to make very clear: no matter the length, don’t create content just for the sake of creating content.
Each piece of content needs a specific intent for a specific audience.
So, think about these questions before you create content:
What problem does this content help my audience solve? What kind of person would read this article? How does this content align with the rest of my marketing strategy? On which channel am I promoting this content?
Once you have clarity there, what you need within the content becomes much clearer.
Step 2: Create a story that drives engagement
Unfortunately, long-form content has a reputation for being boring, but when it entertains people, they’ll want more.
When in doubt, always remember: If Netflix can create a story like Squid Games, where subscribers have watched 2.1 billion hours since it launched, you can also create long-form content that keeps your audience glued to the screen.
You can do this by creating relevant content that engages people with a story to appeal to their emotions and connect with their deepest challenges.
The same goes for B2B because at the end of the day, you’re still selling to people.
In fact, the hook (what grabs attention) is one of the most important parts of the content; so when you can weave a story throughout, you’ll keep your audience scrolling to the end.
Step 3: Write just enough to get your message across
The goal with long content should never be “keyword stuff” or write just to meet a word count.
The intention should always be to add value, insert new ideas, clarify challenging concepts and ultimately make people’s lives easier.
For example, think about your favorite marketing podcast: even if it’s 60 minutes long, chances are you’ll want to keep listening and won’t stop until the end (even if it takes a couple of days).
If the content is important to your readers, they’ll stick with it until it’s finished.
Step 4: Break up the text with visuals and a well-designed page
Readers will lose interest almost immediately if you don’t visually appeal to their needs.
Humans like things broken up by bullets, italics, short sentences, and visual images.
Just like when you were in 1st grade learning to read, a whole page of text with no pictures seemed daunting.
The same concept applies today. People often like to scroll through an entire blog article to see the main points before consuming the whole thing.
So, by keeping it snappy and well-designed, you’ll increase your chances of them reading the entire blog.
Here is an example:
Eddie, the owner of Very good copydoes an exceptional job of keeping your content short, sweet and to the point:
Screenshot by VeryGoodCopy, October 2022
By adding images, large dialogs and short sentences, he has built his subscriber list to over 48,000 sellers.
Last but not least, don’t skimp on the mobile display optimization.
More than likely, your readers will be tuning into their phones and if it’s awkward, they’ll leave immediately.
Step 5: Promote and reuse
Now comes the fun part: promotion and reuse.
The main purpose of creating content is to get people to read it. So shout it from the rooftops and make sure you promote it multiple times through multiple channels.
A good way to do this is to break your article topics into micro-contents.
For example, you could create:
A carousel post summarizing the points raised in this blog article. A Twitter thread. A short video on LinkedIn.
3 examples of high quality long content
Most learn by example, so here are some of my favorites for long, highly engaging content.
Example 1: Improve Labs podcasts
Screenshot from Revenue Vitals podcast, Refine Labs, October 2022
Why it’s so great:
Very attractive episodesup to an hour or more.
Includes live commentary from CEO Chris Walker and questions from the audiencethat builds a strong community.
Not focused on sellingbut rather informing the audience to actually improve how marketing works
Heavily reused on LinkedIn.
Educate your audience on methods to really improve your marketing strategiesregardless of whether or not they ever work with Refine Labs.
Example 2: Orbit Media 2022 blog stats
Screenshot from Orbit Media, October 2022
Why it’s so great:
Collect real data from surveys rather than summarizing other people’s research.
Surveys are from real people who work on blog articlesso the data is reliable.
It is updated annually, so the information is always up to date.
Useful visuals with infographics are summarized the most important information in an easy to read way.
The expert commentary in the field adds credibility.
Is perfect for generating natural backlinks.
Example 3: Patagonia’s documentary about the “wolf pack”
Wolfpack, Patagonia, September 2018
Why it’s so great:
Use a strong focus on emotionbuilt directly through real people.
Build a story relevant to the brand and typical audience, but it doesn’t sell. He remains loyal to Patagonia brand mission to help the environment.
With the right strategy, long-form content can win
After reading this article, Sonya is convinced to check out a juicy 1,500 article, so where does that leave you?
If you decide to create long-form content, just remember:
Make sure you’ve solidified a specific purpose for your content. Gather enough information to get your message across clearly. Make it valuable and worth your readers’ time. Weave in a story.
And don’t forget to promote and reuse it!
More resources:
Featured Image: Inside Creative House/Shutterstock
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