Longform Content on Social Media: A Great Way to Capture Attention
I don’t know if it’s a trend (yet), but I’m seeing a lot more of what I’ll call “longform content” across social media platforms. And it seems like a great way to earn attention as someone’s scrolling through a news feed.
Here are some examples from Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Instagram’s 10-image limit is nothing new; we’ve all posted multiple photos at some point. What I’m referring to is more like the example below, where Chris Smith, the co-founder of the digital marketing platform Curaytor, is using the 10-images to offer what amounts to a visual version of an info-packed blog post.
That’s more than your typical multi-image Instagram post. It’s high-quality content presented in a compelling way, and even has all the calls-to-action on the last slide to invite engagement. It’s the kind of post that, if you’re a real estate agent (Chris’ main audience), makes you stop scrolling and pay attention.
That example is similar to posts like this one on LinkedIn from Gary Vaynerchuk. In this case, it’s a 12-page visual listicle and again, IMO, it’s the kind of thing that stops you from scrolling and invites you to scroll/click through each visual.
It’s a shame LinkedIn’s embed code doesn’t put out a better result; that post was much more engaging in the LI feed.
Twitter threads have been around for what seems like forever, but lately I’m seeing more people/accounts using them as an intentional storytelling tool rather than just to share random thoughts that don’t fit in a single tweet.
You’ll have to click the timestamp to see the full thread, but the quick summary is that Redfin created a 7-tweet thread with data and insights from its latest monthly housing market report. The last tweet is the one that promotes the blog post where all the data/insights came from. You could argue that there’s no need to click the link in that last tweet because so much interesting data preceded it; I bet Redfin’s willing to make that trade-off. They’re capturing your attention one way or another — whether you only read the tweet thread or if you also click for the full article.
Over the past year, Sahil Bloom has been posting long, detailed, and often-fascinating Twitter threads that offer background and shed light on things going on in the finance industry. Here’s a recent one, and again you’ll have to click the timestamp to see the full thread on Twitter.
Not New, But Better and More Engaging
Again, I’m not saying any of this is new. The use of 10 images on Instagram, Twitter threads, etc., has been happening for a while.
What I’m saying is this:
- I’m seeing more of this recently across all social media platforms than I’ve noticed before.
- What I’m seeing is higher quality content, as if you’re converting a blog post (like this one) into something that fits better in the social media feed than just a boring link post.
- It seems very intentional, and IMO is really successful. I know I’m engaging more with this content than I do with regular social media posts.
What are your thoughts on these examples? Are you seeing more of this, too?
(Tape measure image by jacqueline macou from Pixabay)
