Learn why, when and how to use short-form content in your brand’s marketing strategy, plus what to focus on when creating it.
There’s a time and a place for both types.
In general, short-form content is best for when you want to share an opinion, pass along important news or updates, or provide a bite-sized nugget of value.
However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to create short-form content – and a right time and a wrong time to publish it.
Created and published right, it can help supplement your longer content pieces by drawing a wider audience and building brand awareness.
Particularly, platforms like Instagram and Facebook are focused on serving short-form videos to users, so these types of posts get more views and shares.
That means short-form content is a great way to get new audience members and leads introduced to your brand. After that, your long-form content pulls double-duty to nurture and convert them.
So, what are all the possibilities for short-form content? What should you focus on when creating it?
Let’s discuss all the details in this guide to short-form content.
What is short-form content?
Short-form content is any type of content your audience can easily and quickly consume, whether they’re reading, watching, or listening.
- When it’s written, generally, short-form content is under 1,000 words in length.
- Examples: Short blog posts, social media posts, and short emails.
- When it’s visual, as in short videos, this type of content is usually under three minutes long.
- Examples: TikToks, YouTube Shorts, Instagram and Facebook Reels.
Why create short-form content?
Short-form content may serve any of the following purposes in a brand’s content marketing strategy.
Nail search intent and SEO with written short-form content
In certain situations, written SEO short-form content suits the needs of your readers better than long-form content.
For example, not all blog topics require 2,000 words to provide satisfactory information. In many cases, a short post of 1,000 words or less will provide the exact answer your audience is looking for.
And, as you know, giving your audience the exact information they need is a trust-builder.
So, whether or not you create SEO short-form content depends on the context of the topic and the intent of your reader.
If short-form suits the intent of the searcher looking for your topic in Google, that’s exactly what you should create to rank well and draw in traffic and leads.
Build brand awareness with short-form video
When we talk about short-form content like videos, you should create it because it’s a great format to engage your audience and build awareness of your brand through visual storytelling.
People are 2x as likely to share video content than any other content type.
Marketers also report that, compared to other video formats, short videos have the highest ROI in terms of engagement and lead generation.
In conjunction with other content formats, including long-form videos and blogs, short-form content is a worthy addition to any content strategy and sales cycle.
The 3 top types of short-form content and examples
What are the top types of short-form content? Look to short blogs, videos, and social posts.
Short-form blog posts
As you’ll recall, a short-form blog post is under 1,000 words.
Short-form blogs are quick reads, but that doesn’t mean they should skimp on value. In fact, one of the keys to effective short-form blogs is to pack in useful information while staying concise and clear.
You need to get to the point quickly, and then dish out the value in just the right proportion.
This post from Enchanting Marketing does a great job of all of that, using almost exactly 1,000 words to do it.