Short form vs long form content: Which do audiences prefer?

Instead of picking a favorite content child, we’ll just say this: short and long form content both play important roles in the world of digital marketing. While it may seem like shorter content has the starring role (how many 30-second TikToks have you watched today?) long form content can really dig into a subject (and convert social media users into paying customers, too).

In some cases, long form is required—like, for example, a blog post explaining the pros, cons, and best practices for short vs long form content. So go long; we’ll catch you at the end.

What is short form content?

Short form content includes videos, photos, or copy that is concise. In other words, a piece of content that can be consumed and understood in a short amount of time.

Short form content generally performs well on apps like TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) — platforms that feed quick scrollers and require a snappy delivery of information. In fact, the average TikTok, for example, is 42.7 seconds long, and all 250 million of X’s daily users are limited to tweeting in 280 characters or less.

According to a Statista study published in 2023, TikTok is the most popular app for watching short form content for U.S. users (40% or respondents prefer it over other platforms). And while YouTube may be known as a hub for long form content, YouTube Shorts (YouTube’s 60-seconds-long horse in the short-form race) ranks second in the study.

Types of short form content:

• TikToks*
• Instagram Reels
• Instagram Stories
• Instagram Threads
• YouTube Shorts
• Tweets
• Infographics
• Short captions
• Memes and text posts

Note: Since you can now record videos up to 10 minutes long on the app, some TikToks may be considered long form—but most are still short and sweet.

Pros of short form content

It’s simple to create. Short form content is efficient by design, and that includes your own time investment. Sometimes all it takes is a low-effort TikTok to make your business go viral.

It can be low-cost. Not all short form content is cheap, but most of it is: reposting a meme or recreating an Instagram Reel to suit your niche can cost you little to no money.

It’s easy to share. Short form content benefits from quicker upload times and is sharable on basically all social media platforms, regardless of limits on character count or video length. It’s also easy to attach it to an email for internal approval (Psst: Hootsuite can help with this).

It’s quick to consume. Most importantly, short form content is accessible and user-friendly (I, personally, will spend hours on TikTok, but a 14-minute YouTube video feels “too long”). Quick videos, small collections of images, and short text are often the preferred medium for information for our shrinking attention spans.

Cons of short form content

It’s limited, in both length and opportunity. Because short form content is, well, short, it can be difficult to communicate complex ideas or tell longer stories.

It can be time-consuming. We just said short form content usually doesn’t require a big time investment, but sometimes it does (anyone who has ever thought “I’ll just make a quick TikTok” and realized it’s suddenly dark outside knows what we mean). Short form content can be an unpredictable time suck.

It’s harder to monetize. Users spend less time viewing short form content, and many platforms require a certain amount of view time in order to monetize your social media account. For example, for a TikTok to be eligible for the Creator Fund, it must be at least 60 seconds long.

What is long form content?

Long-form content — think blog posts, YouTube videos, and webinars — offer in-depth information and analysis. With long-form pieces like a 1,500-word article, you can dive deep into a topic and answer search intent thoroughly.

Longer content also plays a major role in SEO efforts, especially when targeting specific keywords to rank in search engines. The word count and quality content in long-form articles can drive organic traffic to your site, increasing your visibility in search engine optimization (SEO) results and SERPs.

However, the mascot for long form content is YouTube — despite the growing popularity of short form-focused platforms like Instagram and TikTok, YouTube continues to be popular (in fact, many people are choosing to use free streaming services like YouTube instead of traditional TV or subscription services).

The following YouTube video, for example, is over 20 minutes long, but over a million users have happily invested 20 minutes of their time into watching it.

Additionally, long-form videos and articles improve backlinks and provide opportunities for repurposed content. They also support your content marketing strategy and can become pillar pages that feed other forms of content across your marketing efforts. These in-depth resources help build brand awareness, nurture leads, and increase conversion rates.

Case studies, webinars, and other long-form content formats are designed to be informative, engaging, and shareable — just like your short-form pieces, but with more in-depth content creation that speaks to users looking for more detailed information on specific topics. By aligning your content format with your audience’s search intent, you can also create more high-quality, shareable content that resonates across multiple platforms.

And let’s not forget about content writers. A skilled content writer is essential when you’re looking to create high-quality, long-form articles that attract organic traffic, convert visitors, and rank higher in search engines.

Types of long form content:

• YouTube videos
• Blog posts
• Case studies and webinars
• Podcasts
• Long threads on Twitter
• TikTok videos with multiple parts

Pros of long form content

There’s more room for more information (and entertainment). Long form content gives you more space to play. You can include more information and tell a better story.

You can get deep. Short form content can sometimes feel impersonal, but long form content is just the opposite. Ever received a paragraph-long text message? You know how engaging that is.

It feeds your most devoted followers. Your diehard fans will love long form content; it’s a great way to give back to the people who really care about you and your brand.

It’s easier to monetize. As we mentioned above, videos often require a certain length or watch duration to be monetized. And long form content leaves more room for ads—in between podcast segments, in the gutters of your online blog, etc.

Cons of long form content

It’s time-consuming to make. Okay, maybe all content is time-consuming, but long form content is especially laborious. And time is money, so long form can be more expensive to create, too.

Viewers may lose interest. You’re bound to lose a few people with long form content, no matter how great it is—some users just aren’t down to invest the time.

It’s hard to share on multiple platforms. All platforms have maximum metrics to keep in mind, and long form “works” on fewer apps than short form content does (and that’s okay—you don’t need to cross-post everywhere).

So, short form vs long form: what do the experts have to say?

To get the long and the short of it (har har), we asked Michelle Leighton, Social Content Lead for Career Contessa, for her insight.

According to Leighton, short form content is great for building trust with audiences: “It thrives on social media, where people go to connect and build relationships,” she explains.

Leighton notes that short form messaging can be more relaxed and authentic. “It really helps you make the most of the brief moments of interest with your target audience.”

Check out how this TikTok creator engages with their audience by taking requests for balloon animals.

That said, Leighton believes that long form is best for evergreen or “mid-funnel” content (when your audience is aware of your product but not quite at the purchasing stage yet).

Long form can communicate complex ideas and better explain how your brand can solve a problem. “For educational, pain point-focused content, long form can deliver better results,” she explains.

For example, this YouTube video highlights all the features of a particular tech product (a phone mount for a motorcycle), and is ideal for folks considering buying it and want to learn more.

In her experience, short form content is better for attracting attention to your brand, and long form content is better for reeling them in—think of it like a one-two marketing punch. “Short-form content drives interest and engagement, and once you have that engagement, long-form content helps to build the relationship,” she says.

Different platforms favor different content lengths, too. “TikTok, which used to be all about short clips, is now pushing much longer videos, sometimes a few minutes long,” she says. “This seems to be because longer videos give them more chances to show ads on the For You page.”

For example, this chocolate-focused creator has several 30-minute TikToks on their page that have amassed hundreds of thousands of views.

On the other hand, Leighton says that very brief videos are performing better on Instagram Reels. “Super short-form videos—under 10 seconds—with lots of text on the screen are getting the best engagement, especially if they loop while people read the text,” she explains.

Some social media managers even make the text a bit confusing on purpose, so it necessitates more than one read—like this 4-second Instagram Reel from a bike shop.

The takeaway? Both long and short form content are useful for social media marketing; the most important thing is to know when to use them. “I believe a balance of both is necessary for the best results,” says Leighton. To know for sure which form is right for your brand’s specific needs, keep reading.

How to assess if short form or long form content is right for you

Understand your audience

Knowing your audience is essential when making any marketing decision, and it’s particularly important when you’re evaluating what form of content to make. “You need to take into account your own audience and which social platforms they favor,” says Leighton, “from there, you can adjust your content length to match what performs best on those platforms.”

Extensive research takes time, but it’s worth it (and reading up on 83 stats on social media demographics in 2024 is a good place to start). Tools like Hootsuite can also help you better understand your audience by delivering helpful, easy-to-interpret metrics for your social posts.

Consider the platform

“Whether you choose short-form or long-form content, I’d argue it’s more important to understand the nuances of each platform you’re posting to,” says Leighton. “Each platform has its own culture, and users engage with content in different ways.”

For example, in her experience, users watch TikTok and YouTube videos with the sound on, but Reels are often watched on mute (“So you need to rely more on text and engaging visuals,” she explains).

This Instagram Reel, for example, can be watched on mute, and the meaning and message is still very clear.

Psstt: Here are 53 up-to-date stats on major social media platforms for your consideration.

Think about your message

Leighton says that one of the core questions to ask yourself when making the decision between long and short form content is “How complex is the message I’m trying to communicate?”

For example, if you’re offering a tutorial on how to slice a mango, short form should do the trick. However, if you’re teaching someone how to make a turducken, you’ll likely need to go long form. Be realistic about the complexity of your message and how it’s best delivered to your audience.

See how this career and lifestyle influencer uses short form for a simple, “day-in-the-life”-style TikTok…

… and a 17-minute YouTube video to get into the nitty-gritty of salary negotiations and job hunting.

Assess your budget

How much money are you willing to allocate to content creation? Your budget may make your decision for you.

“Short form content—done well—delivers a strong ROI because it’s cheaper and quicker to produce than other forms of content,” says Leighton. The opposite is true for long form content: “It just takes longer to produce, and requires a higher level of production quality,” she adds.

If you have a limited budget, you may want to lean into short form and only produce long form content once in a while (check up on how often to post on every social platform to know best practices for how much content to create).

Evaluate your resources

Along with money, time commitment is an important factor. Short form content often requires flexibility, quick reaction times, and instant publishing.

“This can be really difficult for brands that are slow to adapt, have lengthy approval processes or lack effective analytics monitoring to identify what’s working and what’s not,” says Leighton. “If you fumble your hook, or your opening frame isn’t interesting enough, everything that comes after is swiped away and forgotten.”

Producing effective short form content means keeping up with trends and pumping out content fast. “Short form content is a world of instant gratification, and if you can’t adapt quickly to content styles, trends, and audience expectations, you’re going to struggle,” Leighton says.

Long form content, while it may take more time to produce, is more often evergreen (so it will be relevant and useful in the future).

Test it out and review your results

There’s really no limit to how much you can research and predict which form of content will be successful, but the only way to determine the best form for your brand is to make and publish the content.

“It’s important to have both forms of content in your social media strategy to cater to the different stages of the customer journey,” says Leighton.

And remember what she said about effective analytics monitoring? The numbers won’t lie: check in on the performance of your content. Do more of what works and less of what doesn’t, and don’t be afraid to try something new.

How’s that for some long form content?

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