With increasingly short attention spans, is there still a place for long-form content? In this insight Mobas’ Adam Tuckwell argues that quality will always trump quantity when it comes to using content for inbound marketing.
One of my clearest memories from my childhood is bolting towards the newsagents, coins clinking in my pocket. Every week I was on a mission to nab the latest Match! magazine before they disappeared from the shelves, a Bounty bar and a can of Coke in tow. Now, before you’re taken aback, it’s not the Bounty that’s the twist in the tale.
Match! magazine was clearly the hero of the trio. Each page of Match! was a lesson in football, depth and the art of captivating a young fan’s attention. It wasn’t about the number of articles but their quality.
Now, the modern digital diner seems to have ordered an all-you-can-eat buffet of bite-sized content. Every tick-tock (not to be confused with TikTok, though that too) brings with it an unending wave of tweets, posts and videos. But here’s some food for thought: according to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising.
But hang on. If more isn’t always merrier, and if a flood of bite-sized content isn’t the answer, what is? It’s about the layers, depth and richness, not dissimilar to the Bounty bar.
Remember that time when you read ten articles in quick succession? Me neither. But that one deeply insightful article from last month? Now that’s much more likely.
Quality content has the power to take a foothold in our readers’ minds: to challenge them, to make them question and, better still, to share it with their peers. At Mobas, we take pride in crafting content that stands out, not just stands by. It’s akin to the difference between a firework and a lighthouse: while it’s good to get your content noticed, it’s better for it to be remembered. That’s not just our view: Google, who know a thing or two about user behaviour, also highly value long content. Good long-form content tends to be more useful and comprehensive than short content, as you’d expect, and the more useful and comprehensive it is, the more value it provides. Google understands that users don’t want to search for bits and pieces of information, gleaning tidbits of knowledge from numerous pages – they want it all in one place. This might not appeal to the general reader but, if we target our content at our particular audience, they’ll have the patience to appreciate the value of a deep and compelling piece of content.
If you want help crafting such copy, or a better understanding of what your audience is really looking for, do get in touch and learn more about how we can unlock the power of content marketing.
