📏 Measuring your content

Knowing how to communicate your expertise in captivating ways using quality content isn't something you're a pro at right away. It takes time, experimentation, and lots of patience. Should you spend your days making lots of little things or a few big things? What do your readers actually want from you? This week's newsletter is about harnessing the power of short-form content, how to consistently come up with fresh ideas, and why investing in long-form content is still crucial. Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

• The power of short-form content
• Generating content ideas
• Why long-form content is essential

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Keep it short

Knowing how to market your content is one of the many keys to unlocking your target audience. Sometimes, your readers want to sit down with a hot beverage and peruse your content for hours, but other times, busy audiences love a short video clip, a snippet, or a blurb to catch them up quickly. If you can master the art of keeping it short n' sweet, you'll be ahead of the content curve.

Penny Warnock, content marketer at Contentoo, breaks down the ins and outs of short-form content and why it's so important in 2025.

What is it?

• Short-form content is designed to quickly capture attention in a complete and concise way. While videos are the number one short-form content type, podcasts, blog posts, and infographics are also common. Whatever medium you choose, your goal should always be swift and impactful delivery.
• Thanks to the speed of technology, our attention spans aren't what they used to be. Short-form content is the answer to craving the most information in the least amount of time, so we can move on to the next thing. Not everything needs to be long-form, and short-form provides the beauty of choice.

What are the benefits?

• Short-form content is easily consumed on a variety of platforms and devices. This allows your work to be more accessible and easily digestible. Short-form content can also require fewer resources compared to long-form content, which keeps costs down for independent creators and customers.
• TikTok is still the king of social media, and short-form content is easily optimised for it. Shareability and maintaining user interest are how your social media marketing stays bulletproof, so including short-form video platforms like TikTok in your strategy is a no-brainer.

What about marketing?

• If you've already chosen long-form publishing as your content preference, it's easy to fold in short-form styles to boost your marketing strategy. This helps raise brand awareness, encourages deeper audience engagement, and ultimately influences conversions, so your subscriber count soars.
• Short-form content lets you showcase your ideas clearly and effectively, giving you complete ownership of your brand messaging and image. In a sea of unlimited information, the ability to completely curate and create content in your unique voice is more important than ever.

What about my blog posts?

• If your published stories or email newsletter take longer than 7 minutes to read, the eyes of your subscribers might start to drift, but that doesn't mean all of your work needs to be converted to short-form. Analyze which topics need more time to breathe and which can be presented swiftly.
• Consider creating short teasers or simple summaries for any of your broader blog posts, so that your audience knows what they'll be reading if they decide to invest in a longer piece. You can also repurpose popular short-form stories into longer ones if you discover your audience wants more.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

• You can just do things – Creator Economy
• AI is breaking the internet – 404 Media
• This is why newsletters succeed – Growth In Reverse
• Brand building brilliance – HubSpot
• How to unf*ck your life – The Koe Letters

Ding!

Before determining whether short-form or long-form content is best for your business goals, you must have ideas. With long-form content, one publishing project can be stretched for days, weeks, or even months, but when it comes to short-form, brainstorming content ideas is an everyday task. So, how do you develop fresh projects to keep your content factory chugging along?

Let's examine some proven techniques for coming up with content ideas even when you feel like you've run out of steam.

#1 Expand existing blog posts by determining your most clicked and talked about content. If it's a popular long-form project, develop some short-form content around it, like videos and infographics, and share it on your socials.

#2 Take inspiration from others and make it unique to your brand's vibe. There's nothing wrong with repurposing what's already out there, as long as you make it your own. Start by subscribing to other creators within your niche.

#3 Ask your audience for feedback and let ideas come to you. Send out surveys and ask your readers what they want to see more of. This will save you lots of time and energy while increasing community engagement and subscriber trust.

#4 Keep an ideas file you can dip into when you've run out of thinking power. You never know when inspiration will strike, so it's wise to keep a file full of thoughts, questions, opinions, and prompts you can lean on at any time.

#5 Identify trending topics using Google Trends to discover what all the cool kids are talking about. What are people searching for, and how can you stay ahead of the curve? Fresh ideas are usually worthwhile ideas.

#6 Share your story to make things more personal. Audiences are attracted to authenticity, and using your life experiences to create unique content keeps things interesting. Give back to your readers by being vulnerable.

#7 Connect with other creators to add their knowledge to your expertise. Is there a specific someone who inspires you within the industry? Reach out to them for an interview or bring them on as a guest writer.

#8 Brainstorm every day to strengthen your idea muscles. If you're consistent enough, coming up with solid content will become second nature, and you won't even have to think about thinking anymore!

Taking the long way

Long-form content allows you to pace yourself, stretch your wings, and show your subscribers why you're the go-to expert in your chosen niche. The quick fix of short-form is great to capture attention in the moment, but if you want people to stick around for the long term, you've got to invest in hearty long-form content to truly satiate the appetites of your audience.

Diana Alcanzar, content writer at Web.com, explains why you need long-form content just as much as short-form.

‣ Long-form content allows for more in-depth analysis and real-world examples that short-form doesn't have the space for. If you like tackling complex topics, long-form lets you present every angle, detail, nook, and cranny to your readers without skipping a beat or cutting things short.

‣ Blog posts, research papers, e-books, documentaries, podcasts, and interactive media are all popular examples of long-form content you can dive into. If you've been creating and investing in short-form content, consider transforming your most popular pieces into something long-form.

‣ Creating layered long-form content is a great way to boost community engagement, growth, and trust. Think of short-form like snacks or candy, and long-form as the entire food pyramid. We all need a balanced diet, and long-form content feeds our brains best.

‣ Search engines love when your audience is engaged for longer periods, which is why long-form content can be great for SEO. The more details and keywords you use, the better you rank in Google, which helps drive more organic search traffic to your publication. Making long-form content a part of your SEO strategy is a must.

‣ You can still share long-form content on social media by breaking it up into smaller posts or threads. Longer projects tend to have more complicated information, so consider posting easy-to-read infographics to visualize and summarize all the juicy details to connect with a broader audience.

‣ As long as you start with comprehensive research, create structured outlines, and focus on the quality of your writing, your long-form content will make a big impact in no time. No matter how long or short your content ends up being, quality should always be a priority. Satisfying content equals shareable content.

Curator's pick ✍️

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