Snackable Content

The Who, Why, and How

Did you know that the average Internet user leaves a webpage after just a mere 10 to 20 seconds? That’s not much time to get a follower to click, a viewer to watch, or catch a reader’s attention. And with many people using their smartphones to stay connected to their favorite brands, they’re now consuming content on-the-go, making it even harder to get keep their attention.

So, what’s a marketer to do? Create snackable content of course!

What is Snackable Content?

Just like your favorite “fun size” candy bar, snackable content is designed to be bite size nuggets of information that can be quickly consumed, understood, and shared.

Twitter is full of great examples of snackable content. It enforces the idea of brevity, so users share only the relevant and engaging information with their followers.

Here are a few other examples of content that can be made snackable:
• Videos
• Quotes
• Imagery
• Great headlines
• Infographics
• A Vine, post, or gif

Why Create Content that is Snackable?

Time is Precious

Most of us don’t have time to sit and read through a whole article, let alone multiple articles, with undivided attention — and neither do your followers. According to Hubspot, our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than they do text! Creating visuals to go with your content allows your visitors to grasp the essence of your blog post, or connect with your brand in a fun, fast, visual way.

Share-Worthiness

Social media posts with video or photos get shared up to 12x more than plain text updates. So much so, that social media sites like Pinterest , Vine, and Tumblr were created just to share this type of content.

On-the-go

With 20% of all content being viewed on mobile devices in 2013, it’s more important now than ever to make sure your content is viewable across as many platforms as possible.

How to Create Your Own Snackable Content

Creating your own snackables isn’t as difficult as you might think. Just use these tips, and you’ll have yourself some delicious content.

Create Content Worth Sharing

Nothing breaks a marketer’s heart more than a strategy using poor content. Make sure that the information you’re sharing is relevant, timely, and engaging for your audience.

Get it Designed

Since we’re talking a lot about visuals, it should be no surprise that well-designed visuals are #2 on this list. If you don’t have an in-house designer to help you out, check out Elance, Fiverr, or Behance to find somebody who can take your ideas and make them come to life.

Reuse and Recycle Content

Repurposing content you’ve already created is an easy way to amp up the interest level of your content strategy. One of my favorite examples of this is Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA turned into animated whiteboard. Another idea would be to take an ebook you’ve written and turn a few quotes into typographic posters.

I’d love to hear what you’ve done to recycle your content — share in the comments.

Make it Sharable

After making sure your content is share-worthy, you also need to ensure that it’s sharable. Giving your newsletter subscribers a “share on Facebook” button, or adding a “Pin it” button to your infographics ensures that your beautiful typographic posters get shared. Always be looking for ways to make it easier for your followers to share your content.

Creating good content is no longer just the job of marketers — it’s becoming increasingly easy for everybody to create brand boosting, engaging, and snackable content.