Cheap dopamine has f***ed up 95% of people under 30's attention span.
Short-form content has taken all social media by storm, but that doesn't mean long-form content is dead; you just need to change your content strategy.
Here's how:
In its essence, it's simple:
Top of funnel = short-form.
Which funnels into long-form.
- Tweets → Threads
- Threads → Newsletter
- Podcast clips → Podcast
- Shorts → Long-form videos
- All of the above → Your offer
Captivate an audience, nourish them, then monetize the top 1%.
Too many gets this wrong though.
They focus on vanity metrics (impressions, followers, likes) which aren't useful when siloed.
You must look at the whole picture - which few do.
When you don't, you fall victim to "what gets measured gets optimized".
Which in this case is a vanity metric - i.e., you're optimizing for vanities.
The Balance Problem
If your thing is impressions;
↳ you optimize for maximum impressions
↳ meaning you disregard depth
Some will call finding this balance "strategy".
Whatever you call it, this balance is vital.
Time and time again, the posts that converts best for me and our clients are long-ass posts. The ones getting the least impressions.
The Two Types of Converting Posts
These come in two shapes:
1) Meant to read
↳ these build affinity and depth with your audience
2) Not meant to be read
Sounds super illogical but this works like a charm.
This is the "on the verge of being ridiculously long and too in-depth" posts.
The conversation always goes:
Them: "I read your [long article]. Really great! So valuable!"
Me: "Glad to hear that! What stood out? Did you read the whole thing?"
Them: "Nah, didn't actually read it. Just a paragraph. Maybe two. Clearly insanely valuable tho!"
So what's happening there?
Why do you even need the not-long-ass posts if they convert far worse than the long-ass ones?
Without the less in-depth posts, no one will see the long-ass posts.
What's happening is:
You convince others by
↳ showing you've got the expertise to talk extensively about this
↳ showing you're committed to this
↳ being liked (Halo Effect)
The Nuance Problem
Nuance is optional—it shouldn't be, but it is.
Andrew Tate is a great example of that. Consider politicians, and you're overwhelmed with examples of this too. Lots of assertive hyperbole with minimal (if any) nuance.
Depending on who you want to reach, nuance's significance is different.
Nuance shrinks your audience but attracts the best minds.
Oversimplification grows your audience but builds an audience of (mostly) sheep. With nuance you filter those sheep out.
That's the nuance tax; it's you optimizing for the wrong thing, usually decreasing nuance as that's how you optimize for the oh-so-satisfying vanity metrics (impressions, likes).
Finding the Right Balance
So with all this said — should you entirely prioritize one over the other?
No.
Prioritizing nuance above all else only works for the 0.01% of exceptional accomplishments — somewhat like when Paul Graham shares a new essay.
If you're not well-known among your target audience, you should find a balance. Nuance and less-nuanced virality. I'd approach it by:
The 3 Main Pillars:
Maximize for reach = Convert strangers into followers
Maximize for being you = Convert followers into fans
Maximize for showing expertise = Convert anyone into clients
Many sub-pillars could be added but this is the 80/20 of it.
The Repurposing Strategy
Do yourself a favor and create a lot of easily repurposable content.
Repurpose a listicle blog post of 10 principles into:
-
10 short-form pieces → TT, YT, LI, X & IG
-
1-3 long-form video(s) → YT, X & LI
-
10 tweets → X, LI & IG
-
A carousel → LI & IG
-
A thread → X
One piece of (original) content.
All platforms are now covered.
The Infinite Loop
If you want to dive deeper down the rabbit hole:
The infinite monetization loop; repurpose your repurposed content.
May seem lazy or questionable at a first glance — but people need to be reminded more than they need to be taught — meaning, ideally you say 1 thing in 1000 different ways across most of your content.
No one remembers your content nearly as well as you.
Most of your audience won't even be served every one of your posts.
What Really Matters
With all this said, repurposing and having a shtick won't guarantee any results.
Which comes back to my shtick:
-
Taste. Is. Everything.
-
Build conviction capital.
AI has broken the barriers to create content (and repurpose it).
However, taste determines its success. And most lack taste — AI certainly lacks it.
Subsequently, you need to build conviction capital; you need to convince people about you and why you're worth listening to.
The Long Game
It is a long-term game. Expect to suck at it when you start.
Use the feedback you'll get accordingly to:
Analyze → experiment → adapt → tweak → repeat.
Analyze → experiment → adapt → tweak → repeat.
Analyze → experiment → adapt → tweak → repeat.
As you do, you'll improve but you'll also notice the nuance tax — that's the moment in audience building akin to Viktor Frankl's "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
In the context of the nuance tax, that's when you have to decide what audience you're building; one that rewards nuance or one that'll reward shallow thinking.
If you wanna implement this but don't want to spend your own time on it, I've helped multiple YC-backed tech founders do exactly that. A few results here.
DM me or apply here: brandworksstudios.com