Estimated read time: 3 minutes
Short-form video content – think Instagram Reels or TikTok – has been a thing for a bit now and certainly can be addictive. People scroll through those short videos all night and maybe even all day. But what about short-form audio content? Why is that not a thing or maybe it is?
Let’s dive into the topic of short-form audio content here for a bit and see how your brand or you as a creator might be able to use it.
What is short-form audio?
Short-form audio is audio content that has a time limit to it. How long certainly can be debated, but Racket.com, for example, currently allows creators to record up to 99 seconds. Before Racket moved to an app-only format, it allowed longer uploads of around 9 minutes.
Some Rackets are even shorter than that and if they tell a story worth listening to, that certainly works. In a nutshell, short-form audio is to the point, tells a story and to a degree, I see it as the equivalent of TikToks, but for audio.
How to create short-form audio content
You can create short audio content on several different platforms:
Twitter has audio memos
From the smartphone app, you can record short voice messages and then publish them to Twitter. Here’s how that looks:
Audiograms on any networks
Audiograms – short snippets from a podcast – technically are short audio content. Adding an audio wave hardly makes it a video. Audiograms can be produced on a number of platforms and can basically be used anywhere – including, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok.
Short-form audio apps
Racket is one of those apps that are similar to TikTok but for audio. Once you download the app, you are immediately greeted by the top audio clips.
The audio clip starts playing while you can see the cover art the creator uploaded for that specific audio file. I would say the first few seconds of a TikTok video matter. When it comes to audio, the picture and the first few seconds of the audio matter. That could include:
- Sound quality
- Tone of voice
- Quality of the story being shared
- Likeability of the voice
As they say, first impressions matter. That holds true for audio as well. And one thing I’ve struggled with and thought of is how podcasts sometimes take a bit to get to the actual meat of the show. I’ve actually tried to get to the point quicker on my show, which takes some getting used to – for me and the guest. After the intro and a quick setup, I throw it to my guest with a question.
Short-form audio conclusion
Audio content certainly can be a differentiator and should be part of a content strategy. At least, it should be considered. Whether that’s through podcasting or short-form audio content elsewhere. It’s yet another way to show off your brand’s human site and connect with people differently.
