29 May
You may not be familiar with the term, but I can assure you you know what it is: the happy snack teeming on the web. These are short formats that often play on the visual to grab your attention. You know, you know.., these micro-contents that you consume everywhere and quickly like in the subway or waiting for the bus or your friends who are, again, late! There you go, now you know how to put a name to it.
But why am I telling you about it today? Because, I want to explain to you in more detail, where it comes from and what it's used for. To help you understand why more and more of them are being produced. And that can help you be useful for your content strategy...for example.
A typical example of a happy snack. A short 3 minute video of Loopsider.
The Snack Content and the Attention Saver
Today, our attention span is shrinking, which makes it a rare commodity (I refer you to the theory of supply and demand). In a society where information is abundant, the volatile consumer is at his wits' end. In the age of hyperconnectivity and infobesity, the attention economy reconfiguresso, our modes of communication and that's when the happy snack was born.
I'm taking a little etymological detour, but I think you've already noticed:
- snack' is an Anglicism meaning a snack, so something simple and easy to consume.
- content' is the English translation of 'content'.
The '.Snack content' is therefore a formatted micro-content that will allow you to pass on information quickly. Its main purpose is to get our attention. Specially adapted to our new modes of consumptionthe happy snack stands out by wearing an entertaining outfit. It is quick to consume, perfect for social networks and mobiles. The attention span of an Internet user being 8 seconds in 2019, one understands the interest of the snack content.
Some media such as Raw, Konbini... have, moreover, understood this strategy.
"Audience interest saturates faster because there is more content produced."
Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, co-author of the analysis 'Accelerating the dynamics of collective attention
The happy snack by its entertaining aspect makes it possible to easily capture the attention of the Internet user.
Getting to the point by entertaining or informing
The happy snack are the result of consumers' expectations: a quick solution to a given problem. Or rather, a quick response to a sought-after piece of information.
However, in spite of the easily and quickly consumable content, quality must not be neglected. Yes, it is, Snack content does not mean Junk Content. Thus, there must always be a purpose behind every piece of content shared.
The happy snack will entertain the consumer with beneficial information.
"The time has come to publish less but better! » - Aurélien Rousseau analysis
The happy snack perhaps humorous, informative or unusual. No frills, the message is delivered.
Why we're attracted to happy snacks...
What is opposed to attention in the sense of concentration is distraction !
Often the distraction comes from our hyperconnectivity, a notification on our laptop and we find ourselves on it for longer than expected. We scroll, we scroll and then we find a content that interests us. And very often, this content turns out to be snack content. The message is direct and sometimes leaves us hungry. It impacts us, gives us emotions.
Social networks are designed to capture our attention. This makes them perfect platforms for sharing snack content. In addition, they are mobile-friendly and since we spend a lot of time on our mobiles, that's perfect. So, um.., the happy snacks will focus our attention. When you scroll and finally come across this type of content, you have finally reached the end of a task (the scroll), which activates our reward circuit and therefore dopamine. This type of content therefore becomes addictive and we always ask for more. And of course, social networks, eager for your attention span, favour them.
And where the happy snack is clever is that it is able to provide us with more to satisfy us!
"Short content is an opportunity to redirect the consumer to longer content." says Quentin Baltus
Segment and diversify its content
One of the marketing strategies involving snack content is to produce long content then segment them in order to make several short contents or snack content! Thus, the happy snack becomes bait to a slower content (understand long). And this, allows you to produce content without too much effort.
A second strategy of the snack content is to Decline a content in several formats from article to video, from current curation to podcast... So everyone can find something to their liking.
Segmenting and diversifying content has the advantage ofto bring rhythm and not to tire of his audience.
Here's an example, Tapage magazine shared a post on Instagram that summarizes and leads to read his article produced upstream 👇.
The article Tapage
What are the interests of the snack content?
These micro-contents are part of the buzz marketing. It is produced in order to trigger emotions, reactions or actions in the consumer. Most of the time, engagement, interaction.
The interest of Snack Content is to make an impression for gain visibility and notoriety.
But the happy snack also has other advantages:
- saving time production vs. slow content, by fragmenting long contents
- set the pace a content strategy: by alternating slow and snack content, by diversifying the types of contents
- increase the interest and curiosity of Internet users by marking them, entertaining them...
How do you make a happy snack?
There's different formats for this type of content:
- short articles of about 300 words, ideal for a blog
- short videos like do Loopsider or Rawperfect for invading social networks
- gifs, Giphy is going to be your best friend for this.
- infographics, do not hesitate to call upon professionals for that with sites like Dribbble
- quotes, classic but always motivating and engaging
- of the same homemade thanks to sites such as IMGFlip
- content curation, creating engagement by interacting with your community, sharing content that you like and that interests you
- and so on
There's something for everyone, the goal is for it to be short and impactful.. Let it catch our eye and our attention. Visuals are therefore essential.
Storytelling, copywriting and the video format will allow you to create compelling and engaging content. To gain even more visibility thanks to the videos, don't hesitate to subtitle them.
Getting into Snack Content
Does this type of content tempt you? To help you get started, here's 6 classic but relevant tips to apply to your snack content:
- Adapt the content to the publishing platform A short video will be better suited to social networks than a blog.
- Opt for quality even if the content is short, it must be qualitative
- Diversify your content snack content is available in several formats, don't hesitate to use it, it will bring rhythm and won't weary your audience.
- Add Call-To-Action (CTA) Depending on your content, a CTA can increase engagement with your audience and make it easier to achieve your marketing goals
- Get inspired by the news the newsjacking allows you to solicit a common ground between your company and a trend/news to easily create a snack content
- Think mobile first. the share of mobile traffic is higher than that of computer traffic and in 2019, according to App Annie.half the people on the planet with Android spend three hours and 40 minutes on it.
Here it is, now, the snack content has no more secrets for you so do not hesitate to test it but with moderation!
And don't hesitate to opt for Capté if you need to subtitle 😉
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