How does this strategy work?
A ‘Short-to-long form’ strategy plans a journey of discovery for audiences through your content.
You start with short, eye-catching content to grab peoples attention.
Design this to lead people through to your longer content where they can go deeper and explore more.
When done well over a period of time, this approach can help introduce your work to new audiences and build a community of fans.
To make this easy to create on limited time and resources, try sampling eye-catching moments, entertaining lines, provocative statements, or thought-provoking extracts from longer-form content that you’ve already created (e.g. from your trailers, artist interviews, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos etc.) Quickly creating interesting short-form content (for reels, posts, highlights in emails etc).
- The short-form version grabs attention and introduces you to new people. Creating teasers or intros that stop people scrolling and leave them wanting more.
- The long-form version then adds value, building trust and developing deeper connections with audiences, growing your digital fanbase – YouTube subscribers who watch regularly, readers who return for each issue of your blog, podcast viewers who can’t wait for the next episode etc.
Tactics include ‘breadcrumbing’ content on your website and across your digital channels i.e. leaving a trail of enticing content for people to follow, gradually building interest and showing why people might want to invest their time watching, listening, or reading your longer-form material.
Case study: experimenting with this approach
I’ve recently been catching up with the team at Camden Art Centre who I had the great pleasure of working with at the end of last year to help them create a new digital strategic plan – a route map for growth of digital audiences and content.
One of the many strategies we included in the plan (and one that is already seeing great results) was a ‘Short-to-Long-Form’ content strategy.
An opportunity to reach many more people – nationally and internationally – and enrich the audience experience
Camden Art Centre already has (and is continuing to build) an incredible range of On-Demand content (artist videos, podcast conversations, exhibition file notes etc.) designed to enable people to deepen their connection to contemporary art.
These valuable films, podcasts, file notes, and resources, extend the impact of exhibitions and programmes, enhancing experiences, and providing opportunities for those not able to visit in person to have an equally brilliant experience of the work digitally.
The On Demand content (and the podcasts in particular) have a long shelf life with people watching, reading, and listening months and sometimes years after they were first produced.
Growing the number of people who benefit from this content therefore became an important goal within their digital audience strategy.
What they’re experimenting with:
A short-to-long form strategy was devised to help them raise awareness of interesting content within their On Demand collection and to build trails of enticing content for people to follow.
FROM each long-form On Demand resource (video / podcast / pdf etc.) the team are selecting a mix of short form clips, excerpts, quotes, images etc. to repurpose and share on socials and in emails.
Providing valuable content for followers and tempting more people to read, watch, or listen to the full resource.
- From films such as their artist video series, they’re selecting engaging nuggets of content to create short reels and YouTube shorts.
- Sampling clips that share an interesting idea, challenge, or point of view, shared by the artist.
- Grabbing attention with a moment from the film that has strong visual appeal.
- Or making an emotional connection by sharing a key moment in the artists story.
- Email newsletters now include regular features from the archive to encourage people to explore the On Demand content and to highlight limited editions in the online shop.
- Excerpts of text from podcasts are being shared on social media to highlight key questions or ideas within the longer interview that might intrigue the audience and get them interested in hearing more about that exhibition or artist.
- Carousel posts will share key ideas from reports, articles and file notes e.g. five interesting ideas from the longer piece shared as a carousel (one idea per slide).
RESULTS: What impact is this approach having so far?
It’s early days (just a few months into the three year strategic plan), but there’s already been a great response.
I recently caught up with Margo Amorim, Communications Manager at Camden Art Centre who shared the news that this new approach has helped to generate
over 40% increase in On Demand (longer-form content) views / plays / listens
compared to the same period in the previous year,
and there’s also been a 13% increase in their YouTube followers.
What might you try inspired by this approach?
You might use this approach if you want to …
- Enable people to discover previously hidden longer-form content and tempt them to watch and listen. Give them a reason. Show them in the short-form extract why they should invest their time in your podcast, blog, YouTube channel etc.
- Start to tell a great story to spark interest in an upcoming event – how might you sample longer-form content (trailers, interviews, news articles, videos, podcasts etc.) to create engaging short form stories that grab attention and leave people wanting more?
- Save time / budget. If you’re short on time for social content but still want to share something entertaining or impactful this can be a great approach.
What do you already have in your content collection or digital archive that you could sample to create entertaining or valuable short form content – without spending more time filming?
- Create a trail of interesting content to enable people to see the value to them within upcoming opportunities – e.g. to gradually explore your engagement programme, to show why they might want to get involved in an upcoming celebration or anniversary, or to help people discover new artists or new strands to your work etc.
Let’s get creative. What might your trail include?
Want to hear more about this case study?
The upcoming Content Strategy Club will include an update – including how Margo and the team created and are bringing to life their Content Pillars that deliver on both audience and artistic ambitions.
Share your story
If you try something inspired by this case study, or if you’ve already been using this approach to great effect, then I’d love to hear from you!
Get in touch and share your story.
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