From Viral Trends to Long-Form Videos: The Power of Diversified Content in Social Strategy

It’s hard to believe that currently, over 5 billion people are active on social media. This equates to more than 93% of all internet users.

But why are these platforms so interesting to people today? The answer is two-fold. First off, social media sites are a great place for individuals and brands to connect. They can share news and information, engage with one another on a personal or professional level, and offer up their opinions or feedback.

However, another component behind the somewhat addictive nature of social media is the sheer amount of diversified content available. Individuals can share images, videos, podcasts, and a wide range of forms of content. As a brand, knowing how and when to leverage these diversified content formats in your social media strategy is critical.

What Does Diversified Content Mean in Social Media?

To diversify your social media content essentially means using a variety of different content formats to engage with your audience. There are a lot of different ways you can incorporate this strategy into your social media marketing initiatives. For example, you could create:

• Micro-content or in-depth blog posts
• Images and slideshows
• Videos
• Infographics
• Recorded audio
• Interactive polls

The reason why having a more diversified content format is so impactful is that each social media platform tends to have its own demographic of users, each of them having their own individual content preferences.

Demographics By Social Media Platform

• Facebook
  

• • • Broad demographic (ages 25-34). Users prioritize photos, videos, and news content
    • Over 3.065 billion monthly active users

• Instagram
  

• • • Younger audience (ages 18-34). Users prioritize visual content, with preferences towards photos, Stories, and Reels.
    • Over 2 billion active users worldwide

• YouTube
  

• • Diverse audience (ages 25-34). Users only view video content.
  • Over 2.5 billion active users.

• TikTok
  

• • Younger audiences (ages 18-29). Users only view engaging short-form video clips.
  • Over 1 billion active users.

• LinkedIn
  

• • Professional audience (ages 25-34). Users prioritize career-focused content in a wide range of formats. 
  • Over 1.15 billion monthly active users worldwide.

The Role of Diversified Content in Social Strategy

With demographics varying considerably from one social media platform to the next, sticking to only one format seriously limits your ability to reach your intended audience. The other thing to consider is that social media platforms, and the algorithms they use to prioritize content for users, love to see variety from brands.

How user preferences shape content choices

Knowing which type of content to serve will likely depend on the platform you use. For example, YouTube users spend 49 minutes a day watching videos – and this is all this platform is designed for. Because of this, using longer-form explainer videos or product reviews is a great option for this channel.

In other situations, such as when marketing on TikTok or Instagram, you may want to focus on creating short-form video content or commercial advertisements. Taking this approach caters to your “actual” audience, and helps you get better returns on the time and resources you put into content development.

Examples of brands leveraging diverse content

Several well-known brands have made diversified content a big part of their ongoing marketing strategies. Some of these brands include:

• Dove – Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” campaign blends TV commercials, active social media conversations, and digital videos that challenge conventional beauty standards. This mix didn’t just get people talking – it’s also significantly boosted sales and improved how people view the brand.
• Nike – Nike’s “Dream Crazy” campaign was designed to inspire athletes to follow their beliefs. While controversial to some, Nike leveraged their platform presence and varied content to take a strong social stance. The result was massive engagement and widespread discussion, showing how diversity in messaging can create real impact.
  
• Fenty Beauty – Fenty Beauty by Rihanna provides a great example of how imagery can provide powerful messaging, even without extensive written content to support it. The health and beauty brand consistently showcases models of different ethnicities, body types, genders, and backgrounds, which is in line with the brand’s values. The brand also focuses on authenticity and real-life representation while creating exclusive collaborations with top influencers in the space.

Viral Trends vs. Long-Form Content – Striking the Right Balance

Every brand loves the idea of “going viral,” but what exactly does that mean, and how does this type of content vary from other, more traditional long-form content? Below are some of the primary benefits of both approaches and how you can leverage each for maximum impact:

Benefits of short-form viral content

• Rapid reach across individual or multiple social media channels.
• Quickly increase engagement and click-through rates.
• Increases brand visibility considerably with a shorter shelf life

Benefits of long-form content

• Establishes brand authority and expertise.
• Creates deeper audience connections using more detailed narratives.
• Provides more in-depth information and educational value.
• Improves brand visibility over the long term primarily through SEO

When to use each type for maximum impact

Viral content and its associated formats are typically best reserved for quick marketing sprints focused on getting quick attention on new products or services. While this type of content generally has a shelf life before it becomes less engaging and loses steam, it can be a great launching point for a larger marketing campaign.

Long-form content helps to add more context and credibility to viral videos and clips. It provides a good foundation to build your campaigns on and will give you slower, but longer-term benefits when it comes to organic web traffic and user engagement.

How to Create a Diversified Content Mix for Social Media

Understand Your Platform and Audience

Every platform is different, so you want to consider what’s going to resonate the most with the audience you’re trying to reach. Think about who is actively visiting various social media platforms and why. Track the demographics regularly and make sure you’re providing them with the content format they prefer.

Experiment with Various Formats and Styles

There’s nothing wrong with experimenting with new social media marketing approaches. Try to add new personality to your content by using different memes, sharing behind-the-scenes video footage of your business, and creating engaging image carousels. If you find one format gets more engagement than others, take note of this trend and use it to inform your strategies moving forward.

Leverage Evergreen and Time-Sensitive Content

Over time, content can become stale or outdated. To help this from happening, try to blend your highly relevant content with information that will continue to stay relevant long-term. This will help you avoid having to constantly update or remove content that no longer serves value to your users.

Align Content with Business Goals

Remember to always have clear company goals in mind as you explore different social media platforms. Keep your messaging consistent across channels regardless of the content format you use. This will improve your chances of increasing your credibility as well as bringing you additional leads to the business.

In Summary

Diversifying your content on social media can be a great way to deliver more engaging ways to share information with your audience. By researching user demographics across different platforms, you’ll discover which formats are likely to get better responses from users while giving you more opportunities to grow your followers and build long-lasting connections.