Have you been seeing a lot of posts about micro content and macro content? Me too. The concept piqued my interest so now I’m bringing the break down to you.

MICRO CONTENT

Micro content is just that, small. It’s easy to digest tid bits of information. Think social media posts, tweets, short videos. They’re like the appetizers at a dinner party – just a little something for your guests. The best way to use your micro content is to use it to either lead into your macro content OR use your macro content broken down to create micro content. It all works together, just in varying amounts of information.

Examples of micro content are short (like less than 15 seconds) videos, tweets, Facebook and IG posts, memes, headlines – anything that can be taken in quickly.

MACRO CONTENT

If micro is small, you’ve probably guessed that macro means big content. Or more appropriately, longer or more detailed stuff. These are your blog posts, info graphics, long form sales pitches, etc. Stuff that is longer than a Twitter post. The other reason is that misplaced content can hurt your SEO. Too short of blog posts or other content can mean bad analysis and categorizing of your site.

I like to take my macro content like a blog post (say, this one) and use it to feed my micro content. So this post would break out into social media posts like 1. Micro content 2. Macro content 3. Types of micro 4. Types of macro 5. The best macro content form, etc.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

It may seem silly to distinguish between the two, but in reality, it’s important for a few reasons. First, misplaced information means potentially losing readers. Have you ever been on Facebook and seen an entire blog post in a Facebook post? I’m tired just looking at the length of the post, let alone reading it! Or how about clicking on a link for a blog only to find it’s one paragraph long (i.e. not worth my time) or worse – it’s 1,000 paragraphs long with no headers or visual break up to the content. I see that and I’m out!

Think of it like a dinner party; serving a huge entree when someone walks through the door is off-putting. But a little taste of an appetizer is just right. Apply the same concept to your content; keep the small stuff where it belongs and let it feed into the big stuff.

HOW I USE IT

My biggest struggle is that being a writer, macro content comes naturally to me. I like telling a story and painting a picture with words. Being restricted by word count is like torture – how can I get out all my ideas?! But after understanding how micro and macro content work together, I’ve been able to perfect my micro game and use it to feed my macro content too.

Need more examples of how to make your content work together? Check out Ellen Grace Marketing’s blog here.