The average human’s attention span is eight seconds; the average goldfish’s attention span is nine seconds. As astounding as that seems, it’s the foundation of the perceived reality marketers and brands are working in today, as social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr have taken hold of the collective, shorter attention of consumers everywhere.
This emphasis on all things brief was highlighted when Instagram rolled out videos of up to 15 seconds in length in its formerly photo-only feeds in response to the growing popularity of Vine’s six-second videos. “The fact that marketers are having serious debates over 6-15 seconds of content speaks volumes about how seriously we now regard short-form content,” according to Judi Cutrone, senior social media strategist at The VIA Agency.
For brands, there are plenty of ways to deliver short-form content to consumers in a way that’s conducive to marketing. What’s interesting, according to Tessa Wegert, is that this trend is happening as native advertising rises in prominence. In a guest post for ClickZ, the interactive media strategist for Enlighten notes that native ads often take the form of lengthy branded articles and three-minute video clips. “If consumers are smitten with short content, why are brands spending so much on native ads?”
According to BIA/Kelsey, $1.6 billion was spent on social native ad formats in 2012. This figure is expected to rise to $2.4 billion this year and $4.6 billion by 2017.
The key, according to Wegert, is for brands to understand that longer-form content has a place in strategies as well. The key is knowing which platforms work best for which types (or lengths) of content.
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