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Can your web pages compete with the allure of micro-content?

You may write some wonderful, useful and important content for your web site.

You might write thousand-word articles, reviews or product descriptions.

Your pages may be easy to read, instructive and valuable to your readers.

But can they compete with 142 characters on Twitter?

Can they compete with a two-minute video on YouTube?

Tens of millions of web users now find micro-content extraordinarily compelling and attractive.

Micro-content is so easy to consume, so instantly pleasurable, so easy on the brain.

What would I rather do during my lunch break, with my brain already weary from a long morning’s work? Shall I read an important article on your web site as I eat my pastrami on rye? Or shall I amuse myself by scrolling through some Tweets or short videos?

You might think that quality content will always find readers. And you might be right. But there is only so much time in each day. And every minute people spend on micro-content is a minute not spent on your web pages.

How can you compete?

I think there are two things you can do.

First, recognise that content online always needs to be broken into smaller chunks than its offline cousins. Narrower columns, shorter words, shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs.

You can see this in action by comparing the text on the offline and online versions of a quality newspaper. Smart online editors know they need to break things into smaller chunks. They need to give their content the appearance of being easy to read.

With the growth of micro-content I would advise that you go one step further.

Do more to divide your content into smaller bites.

And that doesn’t just mean breaking that 800-word article into shorter paragraphs. It may mean creating an entirely new category of content on your web site – content that is written and presented in its own short form.

In other words, you may want to give people the choice between exploring a list of full-length articles or a list for short-form nibbles.

The second thing you can do is harness the reach of micro-content to your advantage.

Many individuals and companies are now using YouTube, Twitter and other micro-content platforms to reach out to a new audience of readers and then entice them back to their primary websites.

One way or another, we can no longer afford to totally ignore the power and appeal of short-form writing online.

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