Strike a balance with your length to build your brand’s strength

Strike a balance with your length to build your brand’s strength. There are many good reasons to use a message that’s short and sweet. That’s what Eric Hess, senior program manager for content marketing at outdoor retailer REI, talked about at Content Marketing World 2016. And, while he was careful to say there are lots of good reasons for using short-form content, too, there are also benefits to using longer messages. Here’s Eric sharing how long-form content can be used to round out your brand’s messages: There were lots of good ideas in there. Let’s take a closer look at a few of them: Let’s not make everything longer, there are many reasons why short-form works Quick little engagements can help with top-of-mind awareness This is especially true in social media, where you’re competing with other messages and people have a limited attention span Also when pushing messages to mobile devices, when people are likely on-the-go And hacks, tips and tricks are best done quickly to let people get what they need and get back to living their lives Short content does have its limits, look for more of a balance in your brand’s messages There’s only so much you can convey in short-form (Eric sees long-form as anything over 1,500 words written, or three minutes of video) It can be hard to create meaningful engagement in less than three minutes (amen to that) Eric believes long-form messages have greater potential to create emotion and meaning with your audience Strike a balance with your messages, he suggests Believe in the benefits of long-form content and invest in it Eric asks us to believe in the potential of long-form content Long-form messages help brands like REI talk about who they are and why they are different, not just the products and services they offer Eric also shared that some of REI’s long-form, how-to messages actually get more readership on mobile than desktop (like when people are fixing a bike) So what’s the bottom line? If you want to learn more about the critical topics all marketers need to know when adding content marketing to the mix, like including long-form content to help build engagement and brand advocacy, learn from the experts like Eric. Come to Content Marketing World 2017, September 5-8 in Cleveland. Code BLOG100 saves $100! Register today!