What Is Snackable Content?
Snackable content is short, engaging, easily digestible content pieces designed for quick consumption. It includes videos, infographics, memes, and concise posts, perfect for social media, to capture attention and convey messages effectively, encouraging sharing and interaction.
If you can develop content that’s easy to digest, your audience is more likely to not only consume it but share it. Snackable content has become one of the most important elements of any website, social media platform, app, and other platforms, which is why you must use it in various forms to help break up longer, richer content.
Why is Snackable Content Important?
Snackable content is important because it provides easily consumable and shareable pieces of information (content) that can be quickly consumed on-the-go.
Here are some key reasons why snackable content is important:
Grabs Attention
In today's fast-paced digital landscape, attention spans are shorter than ever. Snackable content is designed to capture the viewer's attention quickly, with short and easy-to-digest information. This content format is essential to keep users engaged and encourage them to explore further.
Easily Shareable
Snackable content is often created with shareability in mind. It's compact and accessible, making it easy for users to share on social media and other platforms. This amplifies the reach of your content and can lead to increased brand visibility and engagement.
Optimized for Mobile
As the use of smartphones continues to rise, it's crucial to optimize content for mobile devices. Snackable content is designed for easy consumption on small screens, making it a perfect fit for mobile users who are often on-the-go and have limited time to engage with content.
Higher Engagement Rates
By providing quick and digestible information, snackable content encourages users to interact with it. This can lead to higher engagement rates, including likes, comments, shares, and click-throughs. This increased engagement can improve your brand's online presence and ultimately lead to more conversions.
Ideal for Busy Audiences
With the hectic schedules of modern life, many people find it difficult to dedicate time to long-form content. Snackable content provides an alternative by offering concise, easily digestible information that can be consumed quickly. This makes it an ideal format for reaching busy audiences who still want to stay informed.
Adaptable Across Platforms
Snackable content can be adapted to suit various platforms and formats, such as images, videos, social media posts, and more. This versatility allows creators to repurpose their content to reach different audiences, maximizing its impact and effectiveness.
Different Forms of Snackable Content
Depending on the type of app you have and the content displayed on it, there are several types of snackable content you can use to reach audiences in the years ahead. The following are going to continue trending well into 2023, making it important to consider which types will resonate most with users.
In-App Stories
One of the most reliable kinds of snackable content is the in-app story, which will be as relevant as ever in 2023. Stories are brief and engaging interactive messages that you can personalize for each user, which will make it feel as though you’re speaking directly to them. This is crucial as 90% of consumers in the U.S. alone prefer personalized marketing.
Specifically, in-app stories consist of a variety of formats and messages to reach users. For example, you can use a quick series of screens to onboard new users, with brief and concise messages that detail the next steps and core app features. For existing users, you could develop personalized stories that narrate and show the progress the user has made, which will encourage them to continue using the app.
Another way to use stories is to create shoppable videos, which could feature influencers who actively and entertainingly promote a particular product or service, with a simple call-to-action that wastes no time in leading people to purchase.
In short, there are myriad ways to use in-app stories to entice and retain users, regardless of the type of app experience you offer. If you’re not sure how to go about developing stories for your app, Storyly is an intuitive platform that enables you to use stories in many creative and exciting ways to attract and retain users.
GIFs
A GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format file, is a type of bitmap image that can play a sequence of image files to animate them. GIFs are highly consumable and easy to use to engage users, and they’ll continue to be critical to use in the years ahead. Because of their wholly visual and brief nature, they often go viral if audiences enjoy them enough, leading them to share them and apply them to various situations.
GIFs could include a range of content for mobile users, including business-related content such as how-tos or previews of products or services. GIFs are often helpful in teaching users about apps and offerings in lieu of text. For instance, a short GIF could show users where to tap within an app to retrieve certain info or perform a particular task.
Memes
Many consumers love memes, and that’s not going to change in the near future, which makes them a tempting tool for marketers. However, brands must take care when creating memes, as they’re known to either use them controversially or even ruin them when distastefully made. The key is to entertain audiences without tarnishing their favorite meme formats. As an example, you could use a meme to make fun of the ways competing brands have ruined memes, or try other engaging and unique formats to entertain audiences and make your brand appear more human.
Short Videos
Similar to animated GIFs, people enjoy short videos that present content in a visual format without taking up too much of their time. In 2022, 64% of marketers intend to use short-form videos in their campaigns, meaning that app owners will need to use them to stay ahead of competitors.
Short videos could include behind-the-scenes footage of your team at work, instructional videos and tutorials, interviews with business leaders or influencers, product reviews and testimonials, product demos, and much more. Snackable video news content for news apps can also compress longer written stories into a format that people can easily consume on the go.
Keep in mind that animated videos are a great way to make complex topics easier to digest. So, if you have a lot of technical information you want to present to users, brief videos might be the best tool to use, especially within an app.
Infographics
As the name of this content would suggest, infographics present information in an image format that effectively summarizes it. They’re widely used as snackable content that takes a lot of statistics and other data and makes it easier to take in and comprehend. When used in marketing, infographics can boost a brand’s credibility while attracting new audiences. This is because infographics are often fun and entertaining compared to conventional text data. You can even use infographics to build a narrative around data points to tell a story. For instance, you could introduce one statistic and use it to segue into another, which helps lead into another relevant stat, and so on.
If you plan on using infographics in 2023, there are some design trends to consider. In the next year, many infographics and other types of graphics are likely to feature more expressive lettering, abstract drawings, and a general rejection of traditional design trends. This ultimately means that you should feel free to get creative with the layout of infographics and other images, particularly those that incorporate text.
Quotes and Social Graphics
You can use a wide variety of social graphics to connect with users, which will continue into 2023 as social media continues to grow in popularity. Oftentimes, social graphics feature quotes, user-generated content, or tips and tricks pertaining to your industry. Images can be standalone visuals with text content included, or they can supplement posts or other text formats on social media and other platforms.
Quote-oriented content is particularly popular, and there are many ways to use it in your app. For example, when first opening the Goodreads app, a famous reading-related quote will appear as the home screen loads. This is a great way to welcome users to the app and motivate them to remain engaged once they open it.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content, or UGC, is content that customers create around your brand or offerings. This content is only going to gain more momentum in 2023 as people prefer UGC to promotional emails and organic search results. There are many types of UGC that people might create, including customer testimonials, images, videos, and blog posts that customers share on various platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
One of the most important types of snackable UGC to encourage is customer testimonials or product reviews, which highlight the value a brand brings. For app owners, a glowing review on an app store is critical in attracting new users. You can get people to generate this kind of content by incentivizing reviews or sharing your app on social media platforms to refer new users. You could offer promo codes to users for sharing their thoughts, for example, or offer in-app rewards to users who successfully refer people to the app through social media engagement.
How to Effectively Create Snackable Content
Here are some tips to effectively create snackable content:
Understand Your Audience
To create snackable content, first and foremost, you need to understand your target audience. Determine their interests, preferences, and pain points to develop content that resonates with them. Conduct thorough research, engage with your audience on social media, and analyze their responses to your content to gain insights.
Focus on Simplicity and Brevity
Keep your content simple, clear, and concise. The aim of snackable content is to deliver valuable information quickly, without overwhelming your audience. Break down complex topics into bite-sized pieces and use short sentences and paragraphs to make it easy for readers to consume.
Use Strong Visuals
A picture is worth a thousand words, and this holds true for snackable content as well. Strong visuals can capture your audience's attention and effectively convey your message. Use images, infographics, or videos to support your content, and ensure that they are relevant, engaging, and of high quality.
Optimize for Mobile Consumption
Most people consume snackable content on their mobile devices, so it's crucial to optimize your content for mobile consumption. Ensure that your content is responsive, easy to read on small screens, and loads quickly. Use mobile-friendly design elements and test your content on different devices to ensure a seamless user experience.
Create Shareable Content
Make your content easy to share on social media platforms, as this can help extend its reach and engagement. Include social sharing buttons, create eye-catching images for sharing, and use attention-grabbing headlines to encourage your audience to share your content.
Experiment with Content Formats
Don't limit yourself to just one type of content; instead, experiment with various formats like blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, and social media updates. This will allow you to cater to diverse audience preferences and keep your content fresh and engaging.
Track and Analyze Performance
To create effective snackable content, it's essential to track and analyze the performance of your content. Use analytics tools to measure key metrics like engagement, shares, and conversions. Based on these insights, you can optimize your content strategy and improve the effectiveness of your snackable content.
Implementing Snackable Content into Your Marketing Strategy
The integration of snackable content into a digital marketing strategy requires a thoughtful approach, one that aligns with the overarching goals and the preferences of the target audience. Snackable content, characterized by its brief, engaging, and easily digestible format, is crucial in capturing the fleeting attention of audiences in today’s fast-paced digital environment. Here’s how you can effectively incorporate snackable content into your strategy.
Understanding Snackable Content
Before diving into implementation, it's essential to grasp what snackable content entails. This type of content is typically short, visually appealing, and designed to convey a message quickly and effectively. Examples include short videos, infographics, tweets, and eye-catching images. The key is to deliver value in a format that is easy for the audience to consume on the go.
Identifying the Right Platforms
The choice of platforms is critical in the distribution of snackable content. Different platforms cater to different audience demographics and behaviors. For instance, platforms like Instagram and TikTok are ideal for visual and video content, while Twitter is effective for witty, concise textual content. Understanding where your audience spends their time and what type of content they prefer is the first step in choosing the right platforms for your snackable content.
Aligning with Audience Preferences
Audience research is pivotal in creating snackable content that resonates. Understanding the interests, pain points, and content consumption habits of your audience helps in crafting messages that not only grab attention but also create meaningful engagement. This might involve analyzing social media trends, conducting surveys, or examining the performance of past content.
Creating a Content Calendar
Consistency is key in maintaining audience engagement. A content calendar helps in planning and scheduling snackable content, ensuring a steady stream of material. This calendar should account for special events, holidays, and other timely opportunities to make content relevant and engaging.
Quality Over Quantity
While snackable content is brief, quality should never be compromised. High-quality graphics, well-researched information, and a clear, concise message are essential. The goal is to make a lasting impression, encouraging the audience to seek more in-depth content from your brand.
Encouraging Interaction and Sharing
Snackable content is often shareable content. By creating content that encourages interaction, such as polls, quizzes, or shareable infographics, you can increase your content's reach. Encouraging user-generated content around your snackable pieces can also amplify engagement.
Measuring and Adjusting
Finally, monitoring the performance of your snackable content is vital. Use analytics tools to track engagement, reach, and conversion. This data provides insights into what works and what doesn’t, allowing for adjustments to be made for future content.
Use Snackable Content to Your Advantage
Regardless of the type of app you own, snackable in-app and marketing content can be the key to connecting with audiences and maximizing engagement. Everything from GIFs and in-app stories to short videos and user-generated content can supercharge the app experience and keep people coming back. The key is to take the right approach to content creation and gain a deep understanding of your audience.
For help with developing snackable in-app stories, consider using Storyly to develop interactive and personalized stories of all types. Using this platform, you’ll be able to easily develop and share snackable content that drives user acquisition, engagement, and retention.
