Post by Savannah Marie of seocompanygo.com.
With short character limits and the dominance of image-only platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, digital marketing has been trending toward smaller and shorter content.
Given the fast-paced nature of the world we live in, small content that gets a message across has become a very popular and effective strategy among marketers.
In direct contrast to this trend is the reemergence of long form content.
Organizations and bloggers are beginning to reintroduce longer, more substantial content pieces into their marketing schemes.
In a digital space where 140 characters has become the norm, these pieces of content stand out and serve as valuable resources for the organizations that create them.
Below is a discussion of the value of long-form content and an argument for its inclusion in your brand’s marketing mix.
Search Engine Optimization
Long form content presents itself as an excellent SEO tool as it is exactly what Google and other search engines value when they rank websites.
Long form content tends to be very informative, full of links and media, and encourages back-links from other websites.
These are all factors that lead to a high ranking in Google’s search results. Also, given the length of these pieces, there is ample room for including industry-relevant keywords.
People’s research tendencies also serve as a driving force behind the value of long-form content.
When people need information they might choose to check the social media feeds of known resources, but a majority of the time they will turn to a search engine. Search engines are a playing field where long-form content dominates the competition.
Unlike long-form content, Tweets, Vines and other small pieces of content do not perform well in search engines.
When faced with the decision of putting all of your eggs in one basket or spreading information out across multiple content pieces, long-form content has a distinct advantage in terms of organic search.
Thought Leadership
One of the most important benefits of creating long-form content is branding yourself as an expert in your industry, according to Copyblogger.
When you produce content that is extremely informative and useful, people begin to view your content and organization as valuable resources.
This also plays a role in the aforementioned value that long-form content has in terms of SEO.
When you create content that is comprehensive and packed with information, it encourages other bloggers and organizations to cite your work as a source in their own content.
Not only does this gain your organization respect, it also drives traffic back to your site and improves its search engine ranking.
Detailed lists of information, how-to guides, and posts that incorporate multimedia are all examples of long-form content styles that offer value to potential customers.
If people are already in the habit of seeking out your content when they need information, it isn’t much of a stretch for them to also come to your organization when they need a product or service.
Making Life Easier for Consumers
The Internet is a content-laden space that is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
Conducting a search for a specific piece of information can lead to a time-consuming search through a huge list of results.
This situation stems from the increasingly minuscule nature of the content that is being created. Blog posts keep getting shorter and 30-second YouTube videos have moved aside to make room for six-second Vine clips.
With this trend in mind, long-form content gives people a break from sifting through the Internet’s plethora of small-content pieces.
Content that offers a large amount of information in one place saves people the trouble of needing multiple sources to suit their needs.
In this manner your long-form content can serve as a one-stop shop for busy people who need a lot of information and would prefer to avoid a lengthy search.
Long-form content presents itself as a valuable tool for establishing your brand and its marketing efforts on the web.
These content pieces help to drive traffic to your site and improve your brand image as you become recognized as a thought leader.
When developing the content for your organization’s marketing efforts, consider the aforementioned benefits of long-form content.
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About the Author: Savannah Marie is a blogger, editor and consultant for seocompanygo.com. She is passionate about online marketing, business, social media and public relations.