Why Traditional White Papers Won’t Work in a Social Media World

Why Traditional White Papers Won’t Work in a Social Media World: from White Paper Pundit by Jonathan Kanto

The online world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. Simple websites now include animation. HTML has gone the way of WordPress to optimize content for SEO. Video is no longer a unique content addition, it is now a requirement. Social Media links are found everywhere.

But what about the white paper?

Unfortunately for many B2B marketers, white papers have seen little change since its inception in the early 1920s as a all-text government document. For a growing number of Social Media-savvy business readers, the traditional, all-text white paper just doesn’t cut it anymore. Here’s a few reasons why:

The first issue is the size of the traditional white paper. Weighing in between 10-20 pages, these traditional papers are more than any online reader can digest in one reading session. A white paper must take into consideration today’s Social Media oriented user with an increasing short attention span. Publishing any white paper over 15 pages is simply overkill. If you have a white paper that’s over 15 pages, then it’s better to break it up paper into a series of smaller white papers that are related to one another. For example, a 20 page white paper on supply chain management could easily be transformed into three 7-page white papers on different aspects of the same topic.

Second, is the the lack of formatting. The traditional paper is typically made up of a series of similar-looking, left-flush paragraphs. There is very little text formatting such as the use of bold, larger fonts, bullets, callouts/pull quotes, or shaded text boxes that would allow skim readers to quickly grab key bottom-line points. With the traditional mono-font format (often Courier, Times, or Arial) it is difficult for most reader to remain engaged, let alone comprehend the key messages in the white paper. Most may get through about 2 or three pages, but more than that, significant drop off occurs, resulting in readers that will somewhere else.

The third reason is the lack of graphics. The addition of a professional front and back cover design, business, concept and/or workflow graphics, and stock business images builds reader affinity, enabling them to quickly and clearly understand complex business messages. As Social Media becomes a bigger part of our lives, graphic images will become more important to delivering strategic messages. Without them, B2B marketers risk alienating online readers and any hope of generating an ROI from their white paper development costs.

The best analogy for the use of graphics is the annual report. For anyone who has invested in a publicly traded company, receiving a professionally designed annual report in the mail supports a positive impression of the investment you made in that company. Can you imagine receiving an all-text annual report devoid of graphics? How would you feel about your investment and of that company in general? I imagine it would not be very positive.

Yes, it is sad that as a society we don’t read as much as we should. But from a business perspective, we have to accept the reality of our target audience and what will be the most effective way to reach them. It is my belief that given the changing Social Media savvy audience, adopting these new white paper principles will facilitate the delivery of essential business messages, generating a greater number of leads, new business opportunities and ultimately customers.

If you would like to learn more about how to adopt white papers for a changing Social Media-oriented business audience, I invite you to attend my FREE webinar called, “Designing White Papers that Grab Prospects, Nurture Leads, Get Shared, and Produce Sales”. The webinar is sponsored by Target Marketing and ActOn Software and is schedule for Wednesday, May 2nd at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern. If you can’t make the live session, you’ll be notified when the recorded, on-demand video will be available when you register.

See you online!