One of the myths of modern marketing is that attention spans are getting shorter, and it follows that the only way to cut through the noise is by going viral with a TikTok dance.
by Claire Deane
The good news is that this isn't true. As Brendon Hufford puts it, people don't have short attention spans, they have short consideration spans. And these days, they have a lot to consider.
Great longform content still has the capacity to capture and keep the attention of a busy audience. But if we look at what's working in longform content, we see there's a catch: it has to be great.
And the definition of what counts as 'great' content on the web is changing. Audiences now expect longform pieces to combine immersive visual content like multimedia and interactive elements, with excellent writing and UX design.
What does this look like? Read on to find out:
Longform content dives deep into a topic and is typically longer than 1000 words (although it’s not all about the word count). Longform content can be a magazine article, a blog post, a piece of investigative journalism, a white paper, trend report, or a long interview that lets readers immerse themselves in a particular subject.
Traditionally, longform content on the web took two forms. First, it was published in a PDF, perhaps gated and available to be downloaded from a website. Second, it was a long piece of journalism told simply in big blocks of text, with perhaps a few images.
But audience expectations are changing — and to meet them, the best content creators are using modern content creation platforms. With the rise of platforms like Shorthand, content creators can develop longform content that is immersive and interactive, featuring video, imagery, infographics, maps, and more.
What do the BBC, Tripadvisor, and Penguin have in common?
They craft stunning, interactive web content with Shorthand. And so can you! Create your first story — no code or web design skills required.
Get started.
Want to learn more about the benefits of longform? Check out our guide: Why publish longform content?
We’ve analysed some of the best pieces we’ve seen at Shorthand, and some of the common criteria are:
Penguin Books UK’s Lit in Colour program, along with race equality think tank, The Runnymede Trust, produced a report outlining how schools in the UK could make the teaching and learning of English literature more inclusive. While the report could have existed as a (rarely read) PDF, Penguin Books UK created a piece of visual longform content designed to make the findings and recommendations accessible.
RELX wanted to share their collective years of internal communications wisdom while also creating a top-of-funnel resource that would demonstrate their knowledge to prospective clients. The Internal Communications Manual is a beautiful piece of content for internal comms practitioners that also serves to demonstrate their quirky tone of voice.
A research project about restoring the desert ecosystem in the outback of Sturt National Park could be a pretty dry subject. UNSW have humanised the story by focussing on the family behind the study, while integrating imagery and video to help readers understand the scale of the project and the landscape it’s being delivered in.
Looking for more great feature story examples? Check out our article, 7 examples of engaging feature stories.
Honda have recognised the opportunity for longform content creation to work as a promotional piece that feels like a magazine excerpt.
Stuff NZ’s feature editorial on the people of Te Urewera in New Zealand couldn’t have been told with just words on a page. Imagery, video, sound, and interactive elements make this story immersive and are critical to evoking an emotional connection with the reader.