Petition to abolish long lists; Making memorable messages

Long lists bug me. 

I realise my choice of topic is a bit ironic considering I made a long list yesterday but this is different. 

I'm talking about the "how tos" and step-by-step kind of list. Lists we are supposed to remember in our day-to-day living yet they make them fifteen points long. 

If you make any form of content, online or offline, from captions on Instagram, to Twitter threads, videos, PowerPoint presentation, speech, and so on, this is for you.

 

Memorable content should be portable.

The first step to memorable content is the size. This will encourage your audience to read, watch or listen. And because you've made your content portable, chances are, every point is important.

This is what you want; for them to remember every one of your point after consumption.

People only remember what they can apply and how will they apply it if they can't remember? Long lists are easily forgotten.

Remember, keep it short and sweet.

Three to five points is enough to make your content. Even better if you can make them into mnemonics or make each point start with the same letter.

Think of SMART targets, STAR method, the 5Ps of marketing, why do we remember them so easily? 

Make a summary.

You're probably thinking, "but every point is important, I can't let any of them go." 

Making your content portable doesn't mean you should cut out parts for the sake of it, it's saying you should summarise them so they can fulfil the purpose of you creating them.  

For instance, there were ten commandments in the old testament, then Jesus came and summarised them into two; Love God and love your neighbour. Did he cut out the other eight? No. All he did was compress the commandments so that every other law falls under those two. 

And that's what I ask of you; to summarize your 20 step list so we, your audience, can remember to apply.

So dear content creator,

Let us say no to long Twitter threads, 5-minute read LinkedIn posts, 6-page-long blog posts and so on.

Like I mentioned earlier, if your goal is to create content for your audience to remember and apply, be realistic and summarise.

When you create your content, slice and dice it, cut it and cut it again until it's portable, memorable and applicable.