Long-Form Content is your trump card now. Here's why?

As a content writer or marketer, have you tried your hand at Long Form Content, like a guide or an ebook? If not, then you are clearly not aware of its marketing potential.

Though such content needs a lot of analysis and a meticulous approach, it’s worth the effort. Just think like a consumer who is looking to launch her business and want to understand the entire Startup gamut. What will you Google? A guidebook, isn’t it?

Now switch back to being a marketer.

If anyone asks you “What’s the best outcome you expect from your content?”, you will probably mention enhanced online visibility, improved perception of you being an industry expert, better engagement with the community, and so on.

The long-form content can handsomely achieve all this for you, and a few other things that we have discussed below:

It gives a lot more space for promotional material

If you don’t have a campaign in mind or enough promotional material, then you can’t put the blame on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, for not skyrocketing your business,

Even if you have enough promotional material, merely posting blogs carrying bits and pieces of that material, isn't a good strategy. Long Form content gives you that much space to experiment with your ads and use a bulk part of your promotional material in one go.

One advice. When using a longer form of content like whitepaper as branding material, remember not to use gated content (making users fill out a form before they can access the content). Your audience should have a seamless experience interacting with your brand, and no online form should come in between.

For example, you can create a guide of 5000 to 10,000 words and promote it on Facebook. You can use custom illustrations to go along with the content, to make the content less monotonous and appealing to people.

It’s more or less like storytelling, where you bring the audience into a specific atmosphere and keep them there using your storytelling skills. Long Form content gives you that much bandwidth to tell your brand’s story.

It prepares the ground to connect with people

Suppose you have created an ebook which explains your business and your philosophy. Wouldn’t it be great to share it with your connections on Linkedin or Facebook, or people you come across in conferences or events?

It’s a very organic way to connect with someone, where you don’t just pitch your idea or market your product, but share something informative and comprehensive with your connections. Your connections also feel valued, when you ask for their feedback and their philosophy.

This is how you keep your professional relationships rejuvenated and leverage your equation with people at influential positions.

At the end of the day, you are promoting your content, but still, a 5000 words ebook is a 5000 words ebook. People will respect your effort.

You can always mention the names of some influencers. This can give you a genuine reason to reach out to their audience as well.

First-page appearance in search results

Through Long Form content, you can explain any solution beautifully or flaunt your expertise to the fullest. Don’t mind the word ‘Flaunt’. People look for expert opinions when they Google. If your content caters to a relevant problem and carries the right set of keywords, it will rank higher in the search results, maybe in the top results.

According to a study done by serpIQ, content carrying more than 2000 words, rank much higher in search results (mostly in the top 10) and are deemed as Top Posts. To simply put, Long Form content is much preferred, even by Google.

Most of the guides or ebooks created will be way more than 2000 words. That’s given. Though if you create one, make sure that each page of your guide or ebook holds unique value or unique set of keywords. This will enhance the possibility of your content ranking higher.

Lesser bounce rate

Long form content is not about length. It’s about how helpful it is in solving a problem. Any write-up which discusses a problem and comes up with a solution invariably becomes lengthy. And if people sense a solution in the content, they are bound to spend more time on your site. In other words, they won’t simply bounce off.

Remember. Trust is directly proportional to the amount of time people spend with your content.

So again, it’s a win-win situation. As a content manager or marketer, what else you want?

You can put up a guide on your site. A guide will give you the option to create multi-dimensional content and discuss a variety of subjects. This way you can improve the chances of keeping a variety of visitors glued to your content.

Some visitors might find a specific page of your guide interesting and relevant and might stay on that page for a long time. This will result in a lower bounce rate.

Better chances of going viral on Social Media

If you observe the kind of content that goes viral on Social Media, you will realize that it’s either short and newsy, or detailed and analytical in nature. There is nothing in between. Though exceptions are always there.

If your content is short, entertaining, and spicy, it works on Social Media, because there is an audience for that. But if your content solves a problem, that too will gather attention, as the perception of Social

Media is changing and there is an audience for that as well.

So it’s better to avoid posting content ranging between 500 to 800 words.

Conclusion

I hope this write-up inspired you enough to start working on Long Form content. Don’t expect instant results once you start promoting your content. "Good things come to those who waits". Don't forget to share your experiences in the comment sections.