Reading is Real
People do read. The “do” is unnecessary in that sentence, but I put it there to do some work. I’m writing in response to a post I saw this week saying, “People don’t read.” Now to clarify, my first sentence could read, “Professionals on LinkedIn read blogs and posts and white papers and website copy when your writing informs or entertains.” But I just like “People do read.”
Photo by Malte Helmhold on Unsplash
Reading is Dead. Long Live Reading.
We’ve been predicting the demise of reading for years. While we might do it differently today, we read a lot. No, not all of us humans, or even us Americans. (Parents of teens, social media has the potential to damage reading comprehension abilities and overall reading habits.) But when talking about us professionals on LinkedIn, words are popular. And lots of them.
“People who spend time on LinkedIn are generally looking for long-form content,” said social media communication expert Neal Shaffer, “so you should always publish lengthy articles, as they have proven to generate more views, likes, and shares.”
I don’t know when or where this myth was created, that people don’t read. But I’ve heard it before, and it goes beyond social media. A former client of mine always tried to minimize copy in ads and brochures I created. Then he wondered why potential customers didn’t know the product details. I see post after post echoing the sentiment that made me write this post. And they’re often written in short sentences, each separated by a line break, and often including emojis. But I’ll tackle that style another time. I do find it funny, though, that the “People don’t read” posts are nearly always posts with words. They’re generally not memes or even videos. You need to read to know that people don’t read.
Don’t Just Take My Word For It
Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash
Neal Shaffer and I aren’t the only ones talking about writing. Here’s why you should write (and more is better) for online audiences. Semrush published its “The State of Content Marketing Report 2019” and reported that posts “that are 3,000+ words in length earn 3.5x as many links as those of an average length of between 901 and 1200 words… The conversion rate of long-form content is typically higher than that of short-form content, largely due to the attention given by a reader and the intent of their visit.”
Hubspot polled more than 300 people to ask them how often they read blogs, and they found “… blogging is still incredibly valuable to marketers, but the way you approach blogging matters more than ever. And, while our past survey found that 40% of people never read blogs, it conversely revealed that 60% of consumers read this content regularly.”
OptinMonster (I’d never heard of them before) reports, “Based on a study, 77% of internet users prefer reading blogs. In the U.S. alone, internet users spend 3x more time reading blogs than email.
A study by OK Dork analyzed more than 3,000 LinkedIn posts and revealed that long-form content (1,900-2,000 words) performed the best, as well as content with eight images.
Cons of Long Form Content
I can think of two main disadvantages to long-form content creation. These are real but easy to deal with.
1. It takes more time to produce and edit, meaning higher costs. You can’t just program a bot or buy long-form garbage from inferior writers. Sure, some people prefer an all-you-can-eat buffet, but most professionals prefer a meal created to their tastes. “Make sure that you provide real value with every single line you write,” Neal Shaffer again, “instead of meandering only to make it lengthy. It must be high-quality, useful, interesting and broken into small, easily digestible sections.
2. Long-form contact can present display challenges on a website. The good thing about today’s website design is that simple and clean web pages have proven effective. Now just make sure you can minimize ad intrusion.
Still, People Want Your Words
Remember why people, especially professionals, read online, and your posts will succeed. Three reasons:
1. Learning – they have problems to solve and productivity to increase and people to manage and more. And they need help.
2. Entertainment – professionals need a break from all that learning and problem solving. They’re humans with passions and interests outside of work.
3. Trends – people want to learn what you know. They want the latest information.
Bonus 4th reason. People want to have conversations. They want to read your posts and comment on them. Make sure you’re up for that conversation and respond.
Sit down and start writing. I want to read what you have to say.