The rise of short-form content and marketing- is it good or bad?

A catchy Instagram reel, a provocative twitter post, an infectious slam poetry or just a hilarious meme, you know what all these have in common? Yes, you guessed it right, they are all short form content. The rise in short form content in the past few years has been monument. Even players who have traditionally been making traditional long form content are entering this space, a prime example would be YouTube with YouTube Shorts. Love it or hate it, short form content is here and it is here to stay.

Short form content does all those things long form content does and does it much better and much quicker. Imagine integrating a brand promotion in a 40 minute YouTube video and integrating the  same in a 40 second Instagram reel, the latter has much better reach, retention value as well as easier to integrate. You do not require writing a 4000 word blog promoting a product/service, the same can be achieved with the help of 4 posts on Instagram. Short form Content has revolutionized the way we produce and consume content. Everyone is now a Prosumer, everybody produces as well as consumes content at the same time.

In this age of information overload short form content is the only thing that can cut through the clutter. And if done in an intuitive manner, then even better. With the help of artificial intelligence along with the numerous algorithms marketers now can specifically target their Target Group and achieve conversions. We often see ourselves engrossed in social media, scrolling and scrolling and that is the power of short form content. Even a consumer can now become a producer and that is what makes short form content so alluring.

Often short form content is accused of being cringe and massy. And perhaps to some extent it is but one man’s cringe is another man’s classic. Be it a trending Instagram reel or a quote trending on Twitter short form content has revolutionized the social media space. Remember the ALS ice bucket challenge, the #metoo movement,# the black lives matter movement, #India needs oxygen or even #free Palestine, all social issues of immense magnitude and all were able to have immense reach because of short form content. Short form content reaches people who are absolutely reluctant to go through content which is in any way cumbersome.

Even during this COVID-19 pandemic short form content has been used to spread awareness, locate resources and help the needy. Even marketers who have been sceptical of the same have acknowledged it. Short form content has influenced us and we have influenced it. So what does that mean, Will long form content cease to exist? Both long form content and short form content will continue to exist although one maybe more popular than the other at a particular given time.

Written by- Daniel Ayush Mehra