In today’s digital age, creating valuable and informative micro content is key for B2B technology businesses looking to drive awareness and engage their target audience. It is becoming increasingly popular among B2B technology companies to promote thought leadership, lead generation and omnichannel marketing. In this blog, we explore the benefits of incorporating micro content into your content marketing strategy and explain how to get started.
Let’s look at some statistics that highlight the importance of micro content in today’s digital landscape. According to a study by Statistic Brain, the average attention span has dropped to just 8 seconds. This means that people are less likely to engage with long-form content and more likely to consume shorter, easy-to-read content.
Additionally, a study by the Content Marketing Institute found that 91% of B2B decision-makers use social media to research products and services, and that 80% of decision-makers consume content on mobile devices. These are channels facilitated by snackable bits of information.
With these statistics in mind, it’s clear that micro content is an essential tool for reaching and engaging with B2B technology decision-makers.
Micro content definition
But what is micro content? Micro content refers to small, easily digestible pieces of content designed to be consumed in 30 seconds or less. Because the average reading speed for non-fiction is 238 words per minute, micro content should then be less than 119 words or 560 characters in length. This definition is an example of micro content!
Micro content examples
In your social media and mobile usage, you’ve consumed countless pieces of micro content in your business and personal life. And your technology brand has doubtlessly created micro content for social media and ads.
While micro content may make up an entire asset, such as an infographic, it can also be a part of a whole. Examples include email subject lines, blog headlines, charts, etc. On a website, micro content might sit behind the scenes, such as HTML page titles, search snippets, meta descriptions or image alt tags.
Examples of micro content include:
- 30 second video or audio clips
- Micro stories
- Memes
- Gifs
- Social media posts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
- Infographics
- Polls
- Graphs, tables, charts
- Blurbs or quotes
- Summary or abstract
- Listicles
- One-liners
- Images and illustrations
- Micro stories, micro blogs and micro emails
- Display ads
- Headlines
- Tag lines
- Email subject lines
- Error messages
- Snippets
- Page titles
- Meta description
- Alt text
Micro vs. macro content
Micro content is different from macro content, which is typically a long-form, in-depth asset. Examples of macro content include white papers, case studies and e-books. Long-form articles are designed to be consumed over a longer period and are typically more informative and educational. Ironically, this blog is an example of macro content.
Micro content vs short-form content
On the other hand, micro content is different from short-form content, which is typically around 500-800 words in length and may take two to four minutes to consume. Short-form articles are still designed to be consumed quickly and easily, but they are longer and a bit more in-depth than micro content.
The advantages of using micro content for B2B technology marketing
So, how can B2B technology companies use micro content to achieve their marketing goals? Here are some micro content strategy ideas:
Thought leadership: It’s the ideal way to share high-quality information, industry insights and best practices. Publishing thought leadership content helps show your brand expertise and credibility and builds trust with your target audience.
Omnichannel marketing: It’s perfect for omnichannel marketing because it can be easily repurposed across different platforms. For example, you can share industry stats via a chart on Twitter, a 15-second Instagram video and thought leadership insights on LinkedIn.
Sales funnel: It provides a way for companies to engage with potential customers at different stages of the funnel. For example, social media posts and interactive polls can be used to raise awareness of a company and its products or services, while quotes and graphic elements can be used to drive traffic to deeper funnel assets.
Lead generation: Use it to promote lead generation activities. For example, B2B technology companies can create interactive quizzes and polls that encourage prospects to provide contact information in exchange for a download or a free trial
Targeted messaging. One of the main advantages of using micro content marketing for B2B technology is that it allows for targeted and personalized communication. By creating marketing assets that are tailored to specific segments of your target audience, you can increase the likelihood that your message will resonate with them.
Increase awareness. Because snackable bits of information are highly sharable, they make it easy for B2B technology companies to reach a wider audience through social media platforms such as Facebook. By creating visually appealing micro content, brands can generate more interest in their products and services, ultimately leading to increased brand awareness.
Increase engagement. It promotes engagement with your audience. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are ideal for micro content marketing, as they provide an opportunity to engage with potential customers in real-time.
Improve the user experience. Because it’s consumed quickly and easily, micro content is ideal for busy professionals who may not have the time to read through lengthy articles or blog posts. Additionally, it can be used to break up longer-form articles, making them more engaging and visually appealing.
Support SEO Efforts. It can also support your SEO efforts. When developed in combination with keywords, micro content can be optimized for search engines, helping B2B technology brands to improve their visibility in search results. Additionally, it can be an effective tool for B2B brands looking to supplement in depth articles, providing additional information and context for search engines to index.
The disadvantages of using micro content for B2B technology marketing
There are some disadvantages to using micro content to promote your technology brand. These include:
- It’s not ideal for complex technical information. One of the main disadvantages is that it can be difficult to convey complex or technical information in a short format, which can make it challenging to educate your audience about the features and benefits of your product or service.
- It’s easily overlooked. With so much organic content being shared on social media, it can be difficult for your micro content to stand out and be seen by your target audience. This means that you may need to invest more resources into creating high-quality micro marketing and promoting it through paid advertising or influencer marketing.
Micro content creation for B2B technology
When it comes to creating micro content, it’s important to keep your audience in mind. What are they interested in? What are their pain points? What type of assets do they prefer to consume? What social platforms do they prefer to use? Facebook? LinkedIn? Once you have a good understanding of your audience, you can get started.
Because it’s an ideal way to share technology insights, tips and best practices, it can help position your team as experts in their field, establish trust and credibility with your target audiences and push traffic to your website.
Here are some micro content ideas for technology marketers wondering how to create micro content:
- Social media posts: Share product updates, images and videos on platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
- Infographics: Share industry data and statistics on your social media channels or your website. One popular idea for B2B technology businesses is to create graphics that break down technology concepts into easy-to-understand visuals. For example, a business that specializes in cybersecurity could create an infographic that explains the different types of cyber-attacks and how to prevent them.
- Polls: Create interactive polls or quizzes that encourage prospects to engage with your brand.
- Animated GIFs: Create short, looping animations that can be used to highlight a product or service.
- Micro-videos: Drive traffic to longer videos by creating social media video clips of 30 seconds or less. Another way to use micro video content is to create a series of short, informative videos to demonstrate how your tech services work or share customer success stories. For example, a business that sells enterprise software could create a micro content video that shows how easy it is to use their platform.
- Repurpose long-form articles: Reuse stats, charts, quotes and illustrations from white papers, on-demand webinars or in-depth technical blogs to build interest with your target audience and drive traffic to these assets.
The important thing to remember about micro content is that it also needs to be concise. For example, the ideal email subject line is 20 characters or less. And the ideal headline is 70 characters or less. That’s not a lot of space to get your thoughts across and grab your audience’s attention. For this reason, you need to be specific and on-target.
In some cases, the shorter your micro content, the better. A recent study shows that tweets with less than 100 characters are 17% more likely to be retweeted than longer tweets. Similarly, Instagram posts with captions of less than 125 characters receive more engagement than those with longer captions.
Work with B2B technology content writers experienced in micro content
Micro-content marketing is an effective way for B2B technology businesses to promote thought leadership, engage their target audience and generate leads and conversions. By creating infographics, micro videos and concise social media posts, businesses can educate their audience and build trust and credibility.
However, because it can also be difficult to convey technical information or stand out in a crowded social media space, careful consideration and planning should be taken when using it as part of your technology marketing strategy. If you’re looking to create high-quality, visually appealing micro content for your tech business, it’s important to hire a B2B technology marketing agency to ensure your micro content resonates with your target audience and drives results.
Work with an established B2B agency that specializes in technology marketing. With over 20 years of marketing experience in the technology industry, Elevation can help target your unique audience with the right message, across the right channels. Contact us to learn more regarding how our technology marketing services can benefit your company.
