A Quick Guide to Micro-Content: What It Is & Its Benefits

When creating content these days, many companies focus on making long-form pieces that grab a viewer’s attention and give them lots of detail on their researched topic. This has proven quite effective, and some sites look upon you more favorably for doing so.

However, that doesn’t mean you should overlook briefer content entirely. There are still plenty of times when short and sweet bits of info are the best ways to present something. This is what’s known as micro-content, and we’re here today to cover this format and how it can benefit your business in this quick guide.

What Qualifies As Micro-Content?

Micro-content is anything a person can consume within a 10- to 30 -second time frame. You might be able to get away with something that takes up to a full minute, but the longer the content is, the more likely people will be to lose interest.

Some common forms of micro-content include standard Twitter updates or any other type of post that utilizes images to get its message across. Short-form videos like what you find on TikTok can also be micro-content, as long as they don’t run too long. People might even regard the short bits of copy you add to a product page as a form of this more concise content.

How Does Micro-Content Benefit You?

But now that you know what micro-content is, we’re sure you’re wondering how it can benefit your company. It all depends on how effectively you implement it, but there are quite a few ways it can help you.

It’s Easy To Digest

Obviously, the ease of digesting this shorter subject matter is its number one plus. People who view micro-content don’t have enough time to become bored with it because it’s over before they realize it. As the attention spans of the public become shorter over time, this type of content will become more necessary. It can get people invested in something they would have otherwise passed up due to length.

It Can Promote Other Content

This brings us to our next point, though. Micro-content is perfect for promoting longer forms of media, such as in-depth blogs and informative videos. When a person sees that a YouTube video is 20 minutes long, they might feel a bit too intimidated to watch it.

However, if you create a social media post that introduces the concept in a couple of sentences and includes a link, people will be more likely to check it out. Even if they notice that the video is longer than they anticipated after the fact, there’s a good chance they’ll already have become invested.

It’s Better for Sharing

Another plus is that short forms of content are much easier to share. Just because one person finds a longer piece appealing doesn’t mean their friends will, and that’s something they should consider before sending it to them. If the content is concise, though, they won’t have to worry about wasting their friends’ time and will send it without a second thought.

It’s Great for Experimentation

One thing that people have started to notice is lots of long-form content tends to try playing it safe. This is because these lengthier pieces take lots of time and resources to create. If that video or blog doesn’t do well, that company will have wasted lots of effort for no gain.

Because micro-content is effortless to create, it opens the ability to experiment and get creative. If that shorter piece finds success, you can then create longer content based on it. But if it does poorly, it’s easy to cut your losses and move on to something better.

It Allows for More Focus

Finally, the last main thing that micro-content can help with is focusing. To go into greater detail on a subject, the creator must show the larger picture of the topic at hand. This typically broadens the scope of that piece to put it into perspective better.

Micro-content doesn’t need all that. Of course, if you want to share a stat or piece of data, you can’t just write it out with little to no context. You’ll need to fluff it up with intriguing wording or some visuals to grab the attention of onlookers. However, you won’t need a substantial buildup to get to the point of what you want to share.