How Long Should Your Content be for Blogs, Social Media and More?

Creating online content to promote any type of business is virtually a necessity in the 21st century when competition is at an all-time high. However, knowing exactly how long should content be is challenging. From Tweets to factual information about the company, each domain has its own general rules to consider.

Informative Content

On a website, a great deal of information is going to fall into this category. Consumers want to know the history of the business, the specializations of the team members and details about the available products. The content for these sections should be only as long as is necessary to relay the facts to the web surfers. For most pages, one or two paragraphs is enough. Review the content to make sure readers who are completely unfamiliar with the product leave with the information they need to make an informed decision. Craft content for an audience with little to no prior knowledge.

Blog Posts

Individuals who read blog posts are usually not looking for a formal, research-oriented read. Following other links to delve deeper into a subject can be useful, but the content should not be submerged in them. Three to five paragraphs is usually a good estimate for blog posts. You can have one short paragraph to introduce your ideas and another of relatively equal length to wrap up the topic. Each paragraph in the middle can focus on a separate component of the topic. Blog posts shorter than three paragraphs often don't provide enough detail to act as an enjoyable read.

Facebook Posts

Providing little snippets of information on Facebook is a strategy that plenty of companies use, but don't necessarily use to the best of their abilities. A post about an event should contain the date, time, location and entrance fee as well as some catchy information to get the viewers there. If you are posing a question or asking readers to vote on an issue, have two sentences. One shows your intent, and the other serves as a call to action. Facebook consumers are not looking for lengthy paragraphs; they want detailed but concise information.

Twitter Posts

Twitter posts are perhaps some of the shortest announcements regarding the business you will write. For those who are new to the Twitter domain, a tweet is usually around the length of a Facebook status update. In fact, Twitter updates are limited to 140 characters. The intent of this tool is to bring interesting news to your consumers or to reveal new details about a particular product. You can also use Twitter to post about an event or to let potential guests know how successfully it is going and to entice them to join in.

Email Marketing

While social media is one main avenue of marketing in second decade of the 21st century, other forms are not yet dead. Sending emails to clients, for example, helps to add a personal touch. However, you need to remember that many have become suspicious of emails because they believe they contain scams. Provide two to three paragraphs detailing your product but also why you are writing. For small companies, including personal notes is wise. Doing so will show that you pay attention to the individual needs of the consumers and are not just sending the same email out to dozens or scores of customers.

Knowing Your Target Audience

While these rules will hold true in a number of different situations, you need to fully assess your target audience to understand the needs of the business. For example, if your audience is composed entirely of older teenagers who are used to quick pieces of information delivered in a short amount of time, you may wish to avoid email marketing altogether.

Understanding what your consumers want to read, as well as how much information you should reasonably provide to them, will help you determine the perfect formula for your various marketing methods.