Like 600,000 other people, I have been held to ransom by Sarah Koenig’s brilliant podcast, Serial. I have waited with bated breath for each weekly 50 minute episode, actually looking forward to a long walk with my dog where I can be alone with her brilliant journalism.

For those of you who have somehow missed this massive internet trend, Serial analyses the case of Adnan Syed. Syed was convicted 15 years ago at the age of 17 for murdering his high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

For the entirety of his time in prison, Syed has maintained his innocence. Would a guilty man continue to do this for a decade and a half? Certainly there are some inconsistencies about the case – which Koenig examines in detail over the 12 weeks. She has become friendly with Syed over a series of phone with him at his Baltimore prison, but even she cannot overlook some of the damning evidence that condemns him. But is Syed the kind of man who would kill a woman simply for spurning him? Koenig doesn’t think so.

This is a real-life crime drama with intelligence and heart – and the most successful podcast of all time.

So as an internet content creator, what conclusions can I draw from the success of Serial?

It’s heartening that in the era of the 140-character tweet and the six-second Vine, that in-depth content is still finding an audience.

Although short and sweet is often best, we should not forget that at the heart of good content is good storytelling. We care about Syed’s case, about the concept of an innocent man suffering in prison for the best years of his life. But we are also horrified by this – what if we are actually feeling sympathy for a cold-blooded killer?

Serial has evoked an emotional response.

Most people who engage with Serial will be reading the additional material on the website, and following on Twitter and Facebook. If you are lucky enough to live in the area, you can actually go and look at some of the sites mentioned. The Best Buy store in Baltimore that is mentioned as a possible place for a phone call to have been made in which Syed was supposed to have confessed to the crime to a friend has been inundated with visitors, each trying to prove or disprove the timeline and even confirm the existence of a phone booth in the area. Don’t leave your audience hanging. Give them plenty to engage with so that you stay at the forefront of their minds.

And it’s intelligent – Serial doesn’t look for easy answers. It analyses the evidence (a different aspect of the case each week) objectively and steers clear from trite summing up of evidence.

While knowing our audience is an important element of any kind of writing, we should never under-estimate them. Just because shorter content is easier to engage with, it doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there – a lot of people even – looking for longer content.

The second season of Serial will make its way to us in 2015, this time with a new case to ponder (and possibly some updated on Syed). And this is thanks to crowdsourcing. In the latter half of the season, Koenig added a clear call to action – donate if you want a second season of Serial. And people did! Ask your following for a favour and if your brand is strong enough, they will do it for you. This isn’t just about asking for cash – but ask for likes and shares and you will likely get them.

All good content is original – and we should not feel that we have to stick within the boundaries. With intelligent thinking and some positive risk-taking, the team behind Serial created something new and exciting. See how you can channel that into your own writing.