The problem of how to present long-form content (stories and articles that last longer than 1,500 words) and keep the audience engaged is finally being solved, according to Journalism.co.uk.
The issue is really one of engagement, since creating HTML for a page of 3,000 words is as simple as it is for 500. Audiences, it seems, are primed to read for seven minutes or 1,600 words. But what if online stories were not simple pages of text?
In this interview, features editor for BBC News Online, Giles Wilson describes how the art of long-form is changing. For a start, the most compelling subjects describe a ‘character or situation that is in flux’, and from there, Wilson’s team combines text, imagery and sound to create an ‘immersive’ experience that keeps the audience’s attention.
One of the BBC’s most popular is The Reykjavik Confessions, an investigative piece about why several people admitted involvement in two murders, when they couldn’t remember anything about the crimes. At 6,000 words long, the story was created by a team of three people – investigative journalist, radio producer and video producer. That line-up is telling: the finished work combines all elements of storytelling, not just text and was created using software called Shorthand.
‘[We] knew it could make quite a rich novelistic style piece,’ Wilson says.
As Journalism.co.uk puts it:
The aim was to make the transition seamless, said Wilson, by posing a question in text that would then be answered in video, or a direct quote that would be continued by the speaker.
‘Is the video there as illustration, or is it part of the storytelling?” Wilson asked. ‘You don’t want to see the join. You want it to be a true multimedia experience where you don’t see the join between the text and the video.’
Lessons for content-marketing
It’s easy to see how the technique can be applied in content-marketing. Does your business have an interesting story to tell? Was there a pivotal moment in its history that defines what the company is today? Or perhaps there is a tale to tell about the design of a product?
Because immersive stories take longer to create than a 750-word blog entry – but are potentially much more engaging – they should be on the topics that are most important to your business. They should also sit separately from your blog so they don’t get buried and forgotten by the updates of more run-of-the-mill entries.
However you tell your story, the lesson is simple: truly celebrate the content that defines your business.
