As many have noted, Longform writing is dead,
Well, this is unless you are looking to get a job in a company that values their communication and branding, as increasingly, they are looking for applicants to positions that are able to express themselves well in written format to underpin their messaging, both internal and external to their organization.
My wife works in HR and recruitment and is currently looking for opportunities herself and noted that in lots of the position announcements now, they want people who can both do a subject matter expert position, as well as write communication material, including blogs. Corporate messaging for a long time has used social media to advertise and brand, but what they have of course recognized, is what someone like me has known for a long time already - real engagement doesn't come through shallow interaction.
For decades, the world of consumption has increasingly become disposable to the point that we ourselves are a throwaway item. And, with an increasing amount of source options, there is always another content creator from which to consume, another platform, application, product or service to fill the gap. What this means, is "brand loyalty" has weakened heavily, as the cost of change has been reduced, while the diversity of choice has simultaneously increased.
Brand loyalty is one thing in regards to sales of products and services, but it also comes into play in employee engagement, which affects retention and churn. Training employees is an expensive exercise, losing them once trained is even more costly. So, companies are increasingly looking to build their employment brand, where they are the kind of place people want to work. It is a tough goal to accomplish when not only do people want to work, but many are far more emotional instable than the employees of old and get triggered by even the slightest variation in experience or increase in discomfort, even if it is temporary.
They have of course realized a long time ago that money is not a great motivator, but it is also not a great engager, as while it does attract attention, that attention is subject to be drawn away by more money. Instead, they have to find more creative ways to engage their employees, often looking to build social frameworks that empower and support their people, through the development of a community.
But, because it is open to personality, direct social engagement only goes so far in delivering corporate messaging and values. People engage with personality far more than information, which is why the internal branding of a corporation is shifting to build a corporate persona of some kind, one that an employee wants to be associated with, like a well-liked and socially popular friend.
The company I work for has successfully done this over the years without really knowing it, as they have built an environment that has organically brought people together through various mediums for them to engage with the company itself. Even people who leave the company, do so on good terms and I am yet to hear one of them have a negative word to say about the product or culture of the company, even if they have less than ideal experiences with some of the individuals within from time to time.
Many companies are looking to build user and client communities to engage users of the kind that used to be more for software troubleshooting. But it isn't just the tech companies, it is also the softer areas, where brand story matters and people are interested in the people. This requires more mediums to engage through, than a static advertisement talking about prices and features, it requires engaging and "winning" their hearts and minds.
It ends up being about character development and this requires a narrative that builds over a period of time and gets supported by the informational ecosystem, the communicational environment within which it lives. For depth and continuity, the scenes have to include background actors that still support the storyline, without breaking the attention and focus of the target audience. Otherwise, it is like watching a Victorian period piece film complete with puffy dresses, white wigs and horses, where someone suddenly roles up driving a Tesla 3.
Clear communication requires more than bullet points on a slide deck, it has to have a diverse and rich ecosystem of information collateral that entwines and connects the audience to build a solid foundation for them to stand upon and trust. Even when things change, the trust and loyalty, which is essentially social capital, supports and empowers change management activity and can keep users supportive, even through difficult periods. I think many of know a little bit about this being on Hive for several years.
But, one of the things that many of the companies are finding is, that while they have subject matter experts, the change in creative culture has meant that the pool of people who are also able to deliver valuable and engaging content is a fraction of what it perhaps once was. This might come as a surprise considering how many outlets are available for people to create, but most are used more for consuming and sharing the creations of others, not for users to be creative forces themselves.
But this will change as like in any market environment where value is available, supply and demand drive prices and increasing value on these skills will increase the supply of these skills. As more positions open up, the average quality of the applicant goes down, putting a premium price on applicants who are able to truly deliver an engaging experience for the audience. For medium to large companies, it isn't going to be enough to have one or two or even a small handful of people working on persona collateral, it will require many, as there will be many gateways with diverse skillsets needed.
Longform writing is going to be one of these, as once a content creator can build the continuity of their message, they will also increasingly build their own personality into it, making them a trusted source that the audience can be loyal to. This requires more than writing skills, it also requires being able to present the kind of personal values that the audience can be loyal to - something that marketing rarely succeeds in. What builds loyalty is experience with the product and when it comes to corporate communication, this experience can be improved by helping the user engage more heavily, see more benefits and connect with different aspects of the company itself through what becomes an endless guided tour of interesting topics to think about and perhaps some practical points to employ.
The life of the blogger is evolving, because the "traditional" blog has been crowded out as value has attracted all kinds of people, lowering the overall quality and making the ecosystem of blogs difficult to navigate. Rather than go it alone as a creator, there are increasing opportunities for the skilled to take inhouse positions, whilst still being able to maintain a personal persona. These kinds of people build up informational and emotional connection within and outside the organization, in the same way they build it with their public audiences.
I think it is even possible that in the not too distant future, "inhouse" will be inhouses, as they will be able to provide service to several organizations, as long as they are not in conflict with each other. This is simpler than it seems, as companies are always within an ecosystem of companies themselves, which means they could effectively share resources, with the creator being somewhat of a freelancer that works very closely with communications teams of each.
To close this rather long post, I just want to reiterate that the future of corporate content creation is one that brings back the personality of the individual, but connects that person to the why, what and how of the greater community of the organization. They become an informational facet that represents aspects of the organization that are hard to present as they require time to develop the character for. These people will be heavily sought and the best will be highly valued and because it is a skill that has been largely ignored and takes effort to develop, there is going to be a lot of scarcity in the market place, putting a premium on those who can truly deliver.
This might not have been the original or expected path, but the vision of what it means to be a full-time blogger is shifting, as the value of written communication is increasing. There are going to be many positions surrounding content delivery arriving and while a majority of people might be moving away from the practice and into sole consumption, others are building their future career and ensuring that for a time at least, who they are and what they do is in demand, valuable and not easily thrown away.
Longform will live on.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
