The Long and Short of Language and Advertising
In 1996, Bill Gates wrote an essay entitled Content is King.He began, “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.”
This phrase has ruled our thinking in marketing to a large extent since then. From Google’s Matt Cutts, Head of the Webspam team, repeatedly saying that what matters in terms of SEO is content (and quality content), to the findings of the latest annual Effies Survey (which found content as being listed in the top three areas that marketers are primary focusing on this year), it’s clear content is a big deal.
But at the same time that content has enjoyed its coronation, there’s been a trend toward shorter and shorter forms of content – with the seeming assumption that our attention spans are getting shorter. Is our fast-moving culture of today, with smartphones and/or tablets always at our sides, and the ubiquitous use of “ttyl” (talk to you later), “totes” (totally) and “b4” (before), among others, literally spelling out the death of language?
Will our obsession with truncation leave language in as sad a state as samples of ancient parchment found in a museum? Are emoji symbols the new hieroglyphs? What does it all mean?
Yes, our daily communication has been transformed drastically. We’re not fully writing out thoughts, feelings and ideas (emphasis on “fully”) in the course of our rapid-fire, bite-sized messages. We’re communicating more and sharing more, with countless social status updates from Tweets to Snaps to text messages.
Are we hurting language as a whole? And what does it mean for our jobs as marketers when language is such a big part of what we do?
Mobile technology has been very beneficial. And short form pieces can be helpful, providing easily digestible insights. Quick videos and infographics are great tools, too. But is there no room for long form content in the mix?
We are certainly obsessed with our technology. An interesting study from the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA) and the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, A Day Without Media — 24 Hours: Unplugged, surveyed students and questioned them about their love of mobile technology. What were the results? Unsurprisingly, contemplating giving up a mobile device for one single day was unthinkable.
Well… there’s hope for those of us who love language and revel in the powerful storytelling that can be found in long form content.
On the marketing front, serpIQ found that the top-rated posts in search query results have more than 2,000 words. And KISSmetrics reports that more comprehensive content with multiple pages in a guide increase page views and time spent on a particular site.
Medium found that the ideal blog length (in terms of the time spent on each post) is seven minutes (or 1,600 words). A post with imagery and graphics brings the word count down to 980 words. But still, this evidence strongly disproves the notion that only short form content gets all the attention in today’s world.
Yes, people are busy. Short and sweet works well on social and can bring in high engagement rates. But if what you have to say is worthwhile, or if a brand is sharing content that resonates and adds value to people’s lives – they’ll spend time with you. They’ll read, and share, and engage.
So what does it all mean? Marketers have more tools at their disposal for sharing brand messaging, and people have more options for how to receive content.
Still worried about the state of language and the art of writing today? While Snaps are gaining in popularity (and can be an effective marketing tool in a comprehensive advertising plan), for those of us who love the written word, there is a sign that love holds strong. Longreads,a site dedicated to helping people find and share the best long-form stories, currently has more than 91K fans on Facebook and regularly sees healthy engagement with the content it shares.