Why you should make your content longer.

I have inadvertently gotten involved in content creation and it is eye-opening. I am a former startup founder and co-founder who exited a business for a value of $28 million at the age of 33. For the last two years (15 years after that exit), I have been working with early-stage companies -- mostly in business development and strategy. For me, I have always been industry agnostic. I have worked in temp staffing, women's fashion, corporate gifting, social media, and now content. It hasn't mattered to me what the vertical is. It's always just been about how to take a startup to the next level. But I think I may have found my love.

Before getting involved in a content startup, I had my own revealing experience on Facebook. I had been told, as you may have been too, that your posts should be brief and include photos. Now, I do believe that there is a place for short posts with images -- all of your posts can't be novels and humans are visual creatures. I believe in the importance of regular updates, selfies even, to let your audience know you're still alive and going strong. However, I noticed that the posts I've written that are at least three paragraphs in length have gotten 4 times the comments and likes than those that are 140 characters or less. Not only that, the posts where I get more detailed in sharing my story deepen the interpersonal relationships that I have with my social network.

It turns out that Internet users have an average of 8 seconds attention span but are surprisingly willing to spend 4x of that time on well-written articles. To that I say, let's not buy into the short-attention-span hysteria. It may be true that attention spans are getting shorter - of course, they are. However, people are still smart and smart people crave good content.

Let's tell our stories, and let's do it in a way that is engaging and educational. As it happens, you will acquire brand loyalty by offering knowledge to your audience. In an economy where we're pressured to just get words out there, and by that I mean posting content for the purpose of SEO, it is even more important that business leaders and employees alike take a stand.

For an insightful talk on this topic, click here to watch Anna Redmond's presentation at Hub101. To stay consistent with my messaging in this article, the video is an hour long. But the time you spend watching it will either validate or change how you think about content.