There’s no denying that in today’s world, being a business owner means you are, in some way or another, also required to be a ‘content creator’. The pressure to constantly churn out new content to nurture your audience and find new leads can quickly leave us feeling burnt out.
With social media platforms vying for our attention and trying to keep us constantly engaging with their apps, the last decade has changed the way we think about business. Many now believe that selling on social media is the way to connect with potential clients and that things like blogs, guides, and websites are soo 2010.
If you’re a part of my Color Your Dreams community, you know that I’ve actually spent the last year refocusing my energy on long-form content and shifting away from being so dependent on social media (you can check out this podcast episode on it).. I want to share with you today why that is, and also help you understand the benefits of short form and long form content. But most importantly, I want to help you understand what will work best for you, your business, and your client journey.
First, if you’re sitting here reading this thinking, “I didn’t even know short and long form content was a thing,” don’t worry. Let’s just quickly define what I mean by using these two terms.
What is Short Form Content?
Short form content is what most of us will recognize from social media. Short form content is typically less than 1,000 words (think an Instagram caption) and generally doesn’t take much time or critical thinking to consume.
Instagram posts and reels and Tik Tok videos, are examples of this type of content.
What is Long Form Content?
Long form content typically has a word count over 2,000 words. It creates a more compelling read that might teach your readers something new, answer a question, or be insightful.
Blog posts, emails, and website pages are all examples of long form content.
Let’s take a look at the benefits and downsides of long form vs. short form content.
Pro and Cons of Short Form Content
Pros:
- Easy for your audience to digest and great for short attention spans
- Can be quick to create
- Easy to read and usually mobile-friendly
Cons:
- Short lifespan compared to longer content–your audience may see this content if they are at the right place at the right time, but it generally doesn’t resurface on their pages.
- Can lead to content creation burnout since you have to create a lot of it to stay relevant
- Social media platforms are designed to keep people in the apps for as long as possible, which means your conversion rate from this content will be low.
Pro and Cons of Long Form Content
Pros:
- Allows you to deeply explore a topic and provide answers to your audience’s questions; great for educating and informing
- Higher ranked through search engines due to more keywords, allowing potential clients to find you easily
- Evergreen content: your clicks and views don’t diminish over time
- Positions you as a thought-leader in your industry and allows people to get to know your experience, insight, products or services more deeply
- High conversion rates because viewers are getting their questions answered before ever getting on a sales call with you
Cons:
- These pieces of content require you to spend more time creating them, it’s not quick and easy
- Harder to hold people’s attention unless they are already very interested in the topic
What form of content is best?
If you know me at all, you know that I am not about cookie-cutter strategy and always encourage my clients to find what works best for them and their audience. There’s no one answer.
The first step to knowing which type of content you should focus on is knowing your client journey (I go over how to scale your business without copying everyone else and understanding your client journey in this podcast episode). You need to understand who your ideal client is, what they are looking for, and where your clients are finding you. If you don’t have an understanding of this, creating a content marketing strategy will be frustrating and fruitless.
For example, in my own business, I focus on long form content over short form because my clients are established entrepreneurs and coaches. They know what they need and often find me through Google–they know what they are looking for, so it’s strategic for me to focus more on SEO and keywords over attention-catching Instagram reels.
You need to understand who your ideal client is and where they are searching for information. Here are some ideas of what type of platforms to focus on depending on your ideal client:
- Tik Tok – Gen Z
- LinkedIn – Professionals
- Instagram – Young people in their 20s
- Facebook – Baby Boomers
As I mentioned before, content creation and constantly creating can quickly lead to burnout. Choose one or two platforms that are popular with your ideal client and strategically create only on those platforms. You only have 24 hours a day!
If you would like further support in your career, business, or leadership, my team and I would love to support you in creating a sustainable life! You can schedule a 30-minute legacy business or career review call with me to see if it’s a good fit to work together, and you’ll receive 3 action-items from me.
To get weekly business and legacy tips mailed to your inbox every Monday, join our Color Your Dreams by entering your first name and email address here.
