Definition
Snack content – or micro-content – is a marketing term used to describe short content that goes straight to the point, easy to consume, and often – but not exclusively – is dedicated to social media use and/or use mobile.
Definition
There are many formats of snack content.
Here are 7 of the most commonly used (and which we present in this article):
- Infographics
- The citations
- The same
- GIFs
- Short videos
- Short articles
- Text social posts
Why make a happy snack?
To stand out and generate engagement.
Snack content is different from more conventional content because it is thought out and designed to generate strong, but short engagement.
It is ideal for showcasing your business and your expertise through impactful content. And if you integrate it correctly (we’ll talk about it right after) in your content marketing strategy, you will gain notoriety.
Also, content snacking is part of the era of scrolling time and infobesity.
Millions of content are posted on social media every day, and the few hours we spend awake is not enough to see and read everything addressed to us. As individuals, we, therefore, tend to favor content that allows us to quickly meet our immediate needs and quickly resolve a problem encountered.
This means that brands have no choice but to think of content that is both impactful and easy to consume to stand out from their competitors.
If any content – whatever it is – attracts attention, it will be seen, read, and possibly shared.
Otherwise, it will be ignored. Swiped up
Many make – wrongly – the connection between snack content and Fast Food.
Our 6 tips for creating a happy snack
In other words, the snack content would be content to be consumed very quickly, without the quality is there.
This is a wrong view.
As with all other types of content, there is a set of basic rules to follow in creating great snack content.
Here are 6.
1.Adapt your content for the targeted platform
Each platform has its tone, uses, and formats.
For example, a user doesn’t take to Twitter to spend hours on a single video. Like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, Twitter is a platform designed to accommodate short and engaging content.
Be careful, this doesn’t mean you should forget about more storytelling-oriented platforms, like Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn when it comes to snack content. They are also “snack content Friendly”! For example, short video series (1 to 2 minutes) also work very well on YouTube.
2.Create diversified content
Sharing the same type of content over and over again will eventually tire out even your most loyal subscribers.
The added value of snack content lies in part in the diversity of content that you can offer to your target audience – diversity in particular enabled by the variation of your existing content.
We detail them later in this article with 7 types of content to consider.
3.Use the news as a base
Like you, your target audience cares about the news.
If a piece of news is in the headlines, try to find something in common with your business (or market) and turn it into a well-thought-out infographic, GIF, or even a meme.
Moreover, if the snack content is quick to consume, it can be very quick to create if you have a process in place and templates ready for use.
Thus, it makes it easier to broadcast messages by surfing the latest trends and news (newsjacking).
4.Integrate (if possible) CTAs * in your content
- CTA: Call-to-Action
The CTA is the key to any good digital marketing strategy. It initiates the action expected by your target audience and feeds inbound marketing strategies.
That said, you don’t have to insert CTAs into all the content you produce.
If you share a GIF or funny story with your audience on Twitter, a CTA might appear sluggish and out of context.
5.Design your content for mobile
You’ve heard it since 2016: we’re in a mobile-first situation.
That is, the share of mobile traffic (smartphones and tablets) is greater than the share of desktop traffic.
This means that you have to think and optimize your content for mobile use. Especially since users today access social networks mainly from their mobile.
For example, in January 2020, 98% of active users on Facebook say they connect from mobile devices.
6.Only opt for a quality result
“It’s the intention that counts”.
Said no successful marketer, ever.
If your content does not please, your target audience will move on and will inevitably find what they are looking for a few swipes later on their various news feeds.
Also, the result of a snack content must be in the era of time. It must be compatible with the trends in your market, with new uses, and with the latest graphic trends (general design and shapes used, in particular).
For this, we recommend that you call in professionals.
If you don’t have the resources in-house, outsource the production of your content!
Call on content marketers, designers, and graphic designers to think up and design quality snack content campaigns. Good thing, we work with more than 5,000 freelance content production experts.
7 snack content formats to consider
We have selected 7 types of content to consider as a priority to capture the attention of your target audience on social networks.
Starting with the infographics.
1.Design infographics
An infographic is a graphic document built from images, graphics, illustrations, and a bit of text. Most often, the goal is to make the consumption of advanced content more digestible and enjoyable.
How to create an infographic?
Creating quality infographics cannot be improvised. It is not enough to copy/paste a few colorful graphics and doodle a few illustrations.
Ideally, you should use the services of a graphic designer.
If, however, this option is not possible for you, you can also embark on the adventure alone – under two conditions.
1. Get inspired by current trends
Before you jump into creating an infographic, soak up the latest graphics trends. You will learn from it some good practices that will be very useful when designing your own.
2. Use tools adapted to your skills
We have selected 4 tools, classified by difficulty of use, to assist you in this task.
Venngage (beginner level)
Venngage is a SaaS that offers you a large sample of ready-to-use and fully customizable templates.
Canva (beginner level)
Just like Venngage, Canva offers hundreds of templates that you can modify and customize as you wish.
Sketch (intermediate level)
Sketch is a Swiss Army knife tool that allows you to design websites and applications, but also to create CTAs and other infographics.
Illustrator / Photoshop (expert level)
Illustrator and Photoshop will allow the most talented of you to make great infographics. However, they are also more expensive tools.
2.Share quotes
Here, it is not a question of skimming all the Even du Figaro quotes to share pieces of sentences taken out of their original context.
So forget the quotes from Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, and Socrates.
At best, your audience will ignore your posts.
At worst, you will lose subscribers.
In the corporate world, a valuable citation must meet at least three criteria :
- It must be original (read “unique”).
- It must be interesting.
- It must highlight a personality or a profession known to your audience.
How to create engaging “quote posts”?
As interesting as it is, a quote will only engage your audience if it’s seen and read. Logical, in short.
Take a look at what Adobe teams regularly do on Instagram.
Why does it work?
- The quote “speaks” to the target audience.
- The design and concept are compelling – it also showcases Adobe products.
- Sally Spratt and her company (The Lust List) are tagged on the post: a way to generate engagement within her community.
If you don’t have an in-house designer, we highly recommend that you use the 4 tools mentioned above to make quotes just as nice.
3.Create your memes
While the chances of you not knowing what a meme is are close to nil, a definition booster doesn’t hurt.
A meme is a “ recognizable cultural element, reproduced and transmitted by imitation of an individual’s behavior by other individuals ”. On the internet, a meme takes the form of viral images and photos with personalized text.
While we recommend not to overdo it, using original memes can help generate a lot of engagement with your brand.
Here are two examples of Ruffles and Jimmy John’s.
The first example of Ruffles, who hijacks a well-known meme to use it in a rather clever way.
And a second, from Jimmy John’s this time, who created his own meme.
Either way, the formula works.
How to create your own Memes?
If you can create your own memes with various tools, we recommend that you use IMGFlip . The tool is free, easy to use and the visuals of the most famous memes are freely available on the site.
4.Create and share GIFs
GIFs ( pronounced JIF ) are a great way to grab the attention of your audience and share simple messages with cool animations.
Oat milk producer Oatly is an expert on the subject.
On Instagram, Oatly always accompanies his images, GIFs and videos with long posts. The result is dense content, but pleasant to consume and easy to like.
How to create your own GIFs?
We can only advise you to use a free tool like Giphy to create and assemble your own Gifs.
The tool allows you to upload photos and videos to then transform them into GIFs.
If however your skills allow it, you can also use a more advanced tool like Photoshop (from US 20.99/month ).
5. Edit short videos
Rather than sharing with you yet another statistic in favor of video, here is a concrete example.
Text :
“ Happy New Year 2020! ”
– a sentence you’ve read hundreds of times.
Image:
And as a “bonus”, here is another example of simple, funny and effective video content.
How to edit your videos?
The good news is technology is on your side.
In 2020, you no longer need to be born a videographer to film and edit a more than correct video. Also, snack content-friendly applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or the most recent TikTok offer very interesting in-app editing options.
Now, if you want to get a professional look, we can only advise you to use premium editing software, or to call on video content professionals ).
6.Write very short articles
A short blog post or memo can also serve as great snack content.
If you have simple information to share with your audience, you don’t need to dwell on the subject at length.
Get straight to the point.
Here is an example with a speech by Bill Gates, who announces that he is leaving the administrative boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on other projects.
Rather than writing long content, which a majority of his subscribers will not read, he opted for a short format (less than 300 words), digestible and concise.
In other words, if you have something simple to share on text-friendly platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or even Medium, share short content!
7.Publish text-based social posts
Finally, you can just share short messages on social media to start a dialogue with your audience.
Again, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
The recipe is simple. It is necessary :
- Have an interesting message to convey.
- Express it clearly
- Bonus: use humor.
The variation of content: the secret weapon of the best marketers
Creating qualitative content takes time. One of the best ways to make profitable the time spent on the production of content is to decline it in several formats.
In doing so, creating snack content becomes much more affordable for any marketing team.
With a good strategy in place, you might even find the time to create and share snack content every day on multiple social networks (read “where your audience is”).
In this regard, Gary Vaynerchuk recently proposed a content strategy to create and share up to 64 pieces of content per day.
How? ‘Or’ What?
By declining and adapting your different content for several platforms.
If you want this strategy to work, be sure to tailor your content for each platform (file type, format, resolution, video length and weight, etc.) .
Take an example .
You work for a B2B company and have conducted a video client interview to build a Success Story .
You publish the interview on YouTube:
Now, doing an interview takes hours, if not days, of work . In addition, the video interview format is very dense in information.
You should decline it and, for example, make it into a podcast:
” Ready to snack “? 🍩
Now you have everything you need to embark on a snack content strategy to improve your brand awareness on social media.
