The power of short-lived content

Fact: our brains are fast. It takes 30 milliseconds to process a thought. And, only 13 milliseconds for us to identify an image, and even develop an emotional reaction to it within that time frame. With this speed in mind, brands have on average just 1.7 seconds to stop people scrolling. That is the time it generally takes to move past a piece of content.

The mobile environment is fast, frequent and consumed with sound-off. Our brains and behaviours have evolved to better experience mobile since it came into our lives. The speed at which we scroll and take in information is getting faster and our ability to make decisions on what we are going to watch is almost instantaneous.

Get your message out there quickly

Ephemeral content can help cut through the noise. Short lived, story-focused messages created in the moment content are an effective way of reaching people, generating a sense of FOMO and prompting desired audiences to take immediate action.

The platforms taking the lead are Instagram (with Stories) and Tik-Tok, where short, frequent and engaging content is encouraged in order for people to take a desired action. In 1.7 seconds each piece of content should tell you about the brand, their message and the desired emotional reactions. This is why a great attention grabbing idea is so important.

We did this with one of our clients who are leaders in the engineering field. We created an interactive Instagram story that captivated users in the first frame, leading them to engage and interact further with our content, understanding the brand and message in the first interaction. 

Another example was a paid advert for a major sports team and promotion on their website. Using our understanding of the way consumers interact with content on Facebook, we were able to make changes to the creative that resulted in over 50% increase in revenue when compared to previous ads. The secret: short-lived, powerful content.

Find out how we can help

Content these days is consumed and spat out fast; is yours being savoured or is it destined to fly past with the swish of thumb in a blur of colour and copy? At Mighty Social we have a dedicated team of creatives who are poised and ready to give your content the flair  needed to grab the attention of your audience, thus helping you smash your KPIs.