The Power Of Long-form Content In Influencer Marketing

Currently, influencer marketing is one of the best strategies brands use to connect with their audience. But there’s a problem, getting their attention.

Marketing constantly evolves with the quick reduction of attention spans. Dr Gloria Mark in her book on Attention Span, said that “…people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds.”.

The attention span of the average person is dropping and the emergence of short-form content, like TikTok videos and Instagram reels, seems to foster it.

People used to listen to 20-minute podcasts, watch long videos, and read lengthy blog posts, but now they can’t get past a 1-minute video. Even this blog post you are reading right now is a little above 2000 words, due to the same reason stated above.

But less isn’t always more. Long-form content, like podcasts, in-depth reviews, and live streams, remains the best way to build trust and drive amazing traffic to your products, bringing about significant results.

So, why is long-form content important in influencer marketing? This article will educate and help you put the pieces of the puzzle together, but before that.

Why Long-form content?

“What is considered long-form content?” Long-form content is any content that gives an in-depth exploration or research of a topic.

This typically encompasses long podcasts, blog post reviews, and live streams, all offering a detailed understanding of the subject, but to answer the question, “Why Long-form content?”

Firstly, Long-form content helps establish authority. In every industry, providing access to detailed and comprehensive information on a subject matter, positions you as an expert.

Your target audience trusts you to provide answers and solutions concerning that topic.

For example, a course creator who publishes an in-depth article on health-related topics is seen as a thought leader and solution provider to health-related issues.

Or let’s take a popular and real-life example, Alex Hormozi, who shares detailed information on investing and scaling companies through his YouTube and podcast, is seen as an authority in that field. No one paid attention to him religiously until he published his first book, $100m offers which is also a type of long-form content

Another similar example is Russell Brunson who is seen as an authority in building marketing funnels, but not until he published his first book Dotcom Secrets.

Secondly, long-form content is favored by so many search engines, which in turn boosts SEO performance + skyrockets organic growth.

Google, for instance, favors and prioritizes long review articles because they appear informative and helpful to readers. The search engine uses user engagement as a metric for determining content relevance and visibility.

With valuable long-form content, readers will spend more time on your page and the search engine believes that your article is helpful, satisfies user intent, and should be seen by more people.

Thirdly, trust remains the bloodline of every business, and long-form content helps build lasting customer relationships. Audiences tend to trust influencers who take the time to provide detailed information and share personal experiences.

Consistently publishing content that is beneficial to your customers creates trust and develops a sense of familiarity and ease with you and your products. remember, human engagement thrives on connection and relatability. By sharing relatable stories and case studies, your customers form a deeper emotional connection with your products and brand.

Lastly, content repurposing is a huge perk of long-form content in marketing. From reels to short intro videos to short blog posts, you can always repurpose your long podcast/article/video content to short form as an additional marketing strategy. This helps your content reach a wider audience and increases content engagement.

It is no longer long-form content vs Short-form content. It is long-form content AND short-form content.

Overall, incorporating long-form content into your marketing strategy can establish you as a niche authority, increase customer trust, and help you reach a wider audience.

Long-form Content Types

“Content is king!”– is the most common chant of the digital age, and for good reason. As we previously discussed, long-form content plays a crucial role in marketing strategies, as it helps build customer trust, increases visibility, and leads to more traffic.

In the influencer marketing vs traditional marketing debate, influencer marketing has been able to stay ahead of the curve by adapting certain long-form content types. Let us explore the top 3 long-form content types that can boost your marketing efforts.

1. Podcast: Captivating Listeners Through Voices

Influencer marketing has become a major part of any marketing strategy and podcasts have emerged as a powerful and valuable tool for creating content for customer consumption and interaction, in influencer marketing.

The surge of podcasting is attributed to the easy accessibility and variety of content that can be listened to “on the go”.

Recently, podcasting has gained popularity among influencers and content creators, and with it, customers have been able to build a deep connection with the creator.

Listeners get to choose the podcasts of their choice based on interests, and this helps the podcast host build a loyal following, and in turn, makes them influential.

The Most Influential Podcasters Right Now

With podcasting, the listeners become engaged for 30-60 minutes, allowing the podcaster to strategically and periodically promote a good or service.

Beyond a loyal following, podcasting allows for a wide but targeted audience reach. Since the podcasts are niche-specific, the content reaches the right people who are interested in the brand’s services.

Podcasts have a long-lasting impact as they remain readily available to both old and new listeners at any time. It’s also a unique opportunity for creators/influencers to use their personality and storytelling to sell products/services. By sharing relatable stories and personal experiences in line with the brand’s story, the influencer creates an emotional connection with the listener, and the listener becomes more attuned to the brand’s message and is more willing to interact with the product or service that is promoted.

Another thing to note is that influencers have built their authenticity and credibility with their followers for years. They have earned their follower’s trust, so when they promote a product or service, the listeners have little to no doubts about the recommendation- it’s like tapping into a community of ready-to-buy customers. To buttress this point, let’s take an excerpt from Wildcast article on how b2b influencer podcasts are redefining saas and tech industries.

“B2B influencer marketing through podcasts allows brands to expand their reach significantly, tapping into the podcaster’s established audience.”

Lastly, podcasts can serve as a metric for tracking influencer marketing campaigns.

Through podcasts, you can measure engagement level, number of downloads, and conversion, this data can help podcast hosts/creators optimize strategies for better ROI.

To know more about metrics for tracking influencer marketing campaigns, see: How To Measure Influencer Marketing Campaign Success.

2. Live streams: The Visual Representation

“Influencers offer instant access to their highly engaged audience. While a live stream hosted exclusively in-house will reach your fans and followers, working with an influencer will expand your reach without leveraging the massive expense of creating a highly produced video.” – Tony Wang, co-founder of agora.ai, made this statement to highlight the effectiveness of live streaming with influencers.

Imagine your excitement when your favorite writer, gamer, or artist, replies to your comment on Twitter, or the thrill when your fave engages you on a live stream. That shows the effectiveness of live streaming in building customer connections.

Source: streamhatchet.com

Live streams give a visual appearance to the content and foster trust in business like no other content strategy. It also makes the host and the brand more accessible to the consumer.

Before we go into more “whys”, let’s take a look over some stats:

• According to StreamHatchet, fans watched almost 30 billion hours of live-streaming content across various platforms like Twitch, YouTube Live Gaming, and Facebook Gaming.
• With about 3 billion active users, Facebook Live videos get viewed 4 times as much as pre-recorded videos and have 26% more engagements.
• In Q4 2016, Twitter streamed over 600 hours of live video content, including sports, entertainment, and news with almost 31 million viewers tuning in.
• For TikTok, one in five users watch TikTok Live, and 62% watch daily.

Live streaming provides authenticity and originality for your audience. These, among others, lead to higher engagement and deeper customer relationships.

As with other long-form content, Live streaming fosters trust with your customers but it helps establish authenticity and transparency in business like no other.

Live interaction via live streaming creates a sense of exclusivity in the audience that makes them feel like they are actively involved with the growth of your brand, This gives them a sense of belonging, as though they are a part of the brand.

You could reach out to an influencer marketing agency, and get them to invite a streamer (influencer) who aligns with your brand’s influencer marketing goals, to your workspace, head office/branch, or warehouse, and ask them to go live, they could give their audience a short tour around your office, or the influencer could ask you or your employees short questions about the workings of the brand and its products.

This helps to create an open feedback system where you can get live feedback from your target audience.

For instance, during a Q&A Livestream, potential customers get to ask questions and satisfy their curiosity about newly released products or offers. In turn, brands who use influencer marketing not only get real-time customer interaction but also gain helpful insights into their audiences’ wants and interests. This helps maximize and improve their marketing strategy.

Finally, live streaming is the most affordable way to add videos to your overall marketing campaign. Compared to live streams, professionally scripted and edited videos can be expensive and creatively limited. With influencers, creativity is at its highest, as smart influencers can respond to feedback from the audience and change the direction of the video accordingly, which drives up traffic and engagement.

Live streaming is a powerful and effective strategy, and with influencer marketing, it is an unstoppable force that can boost customer traffic and engagements to greater heights.

3. In-depth review

Technology has fundamentally impacted customers’ decisions when purchasing products. A practical example is the hashtag #tiktokmademebuyit, where Tiktok users showcase things they’ve bought that were influenced by TikTok.

#tiktokmademebuyit on TikTok

Deep within the human psyche is the need for validation, and technology has opened the door for enablement. With the internet, customers can discover, research, and get validation for their decision concerning a product. This is where in-depth reviews play their part. It can positively or negatively, impact customer purchasing decisions.

According to a report from ThePowerofReviews, 95% of the shoppers recorded were reported to consult reviews. 1 in nearly 4 shoppers consults reviews before every purchase. This illustrates how reviews have become a common and major aspect of the purchasing process.

Influencer in-depth review acts as a form of testimonial/endorsement that can boost awareness, visibility, and authenticity. Influencer reviews are like social proofs from influencers with a loyal and engaged following, where they give positive thoughts on products- in the form of articles, or videos.

An influencer who does this perfectly is Marques Brownlee, aka mkbhd.

From the brand’s perspective, the influencer review is a means to get in touch with the customer and affect their buying decision, whereas, from the influencer’s point of view, the in-depth review is a way to provide more valuable and engaging content for their large following, and from the customer’s perspective, these reviews grant them a better understanding of the product, thereby giving them validation to purchase the product or to not.

For brands, these in-depth reviews provide a refined analysis that helps the customers make informed purchasing decisions. The comprehensive reviews contain detailed analysis, step-by-step instructions, and relatable information that provide value to the customer. With these reviews, the influencer grants their knowledge and credibility to your brand and it is seen as an authority/expert in that niche.

In reviews, transparency is paramount. The customer engagement on a product post-review is dependent on the reliability and authenticity of the influencer. Good reviews, just like bad reviews, can ripple out and influence a larger pool of potential customers.

That is why trust must be prioritized. Businesses can in turn use an open feedback system to create User-Generated Content [UGC]. User-generated content allows customers to give feedback and reviews on their experiences with a product. This can be used to improve the next marketing campaign.

Other content types you could integrate into influencer marketing for your brand include scripted videos for ads, short Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and short guest blog articles.

Conclusion

Although we know that the content equilibrium has tilted toward short-form content, people are still craving content with a substance that is informative and valuable.

They need that podcast to know more about a product; they need that live stream for trust and authenticity; and they need that review to help their purchasing decision.

In special topics like health, legal processes, and science, your long-form content idea is necessary, and although it seems like a good idea to break up your content into short-form, understanding your audience and what resonates with them is key to having an engaged audience.

Finally, long-form content might seem dry and hard. Still, these top 3 long-form content types, together with a killer influencer marketing strategy, will help create awareness, enhance visibility, and drive traffic to your business.

And this can be made easier by collaborating with The Influencer Marketing Factory. At the Influencer Marketing Factory, we understand the power of long-form content and its ability to establish brand authority and trust.

We don’t just create content; we craft strategic narratives that resonate with your target audience.

Here’s how we can help:

• Content Brainstorming and Development: We’ll work with you to identify the perfect long-form content type – in-depth guides, comprehensive reviews, informative podcasts – that aligns with your brand goals and audience needs.
• Expert Content Creation: Our team of skilled writers and researchers can craft compelling, informative, and engaging long-form content that educates and entertains your audience.
• Influencer Pairing: We’ll identify the perfect influencers who align with your brand and content theme to amplify your message and reach a wider audience.
• Content Seeding and Promotion: We’ll leverage our network and expertise to promote your long-form content across various platforms, ensuring maximum visibility and engagement.