6 Content Marketing Trends to Be on The Lookout For

I would gladly sell my soul to be a content marketer in the 1800s. Back then, the entirety of content marketing was printing newspapers and journals, like Samuel Wagner’s American Bee Journal, that touted Rev. L.L. Langstroth’s moveable-frame hive. And it remained so for quite a while.

Today, everything is constantly changing. New content marketing strategies, trends, and technologies emerge every year, forcing us to adapt merely to compete. Sometimes even before you’ve finished updating your content marketing strategy to take advantage of a new trend, another comes up.

Oh, you weren’t done implementing that hot new trend? Well, guess what, here are two more that are better.

And woe unto you if you leverage a trend that was only short-term or unprofitable.
 

The best way to stay ahead of your competition is to know which trends to look out for and which to avoid. Leveraging the wrong trends can damage your content marketing campaign and spell doom for your business. 
 

The emerging and continuing trends below can refine your content marketing tactics and shape your approach.

1. Personalization and hyper-personalization

Personalization is not exactly new; it is considered a trend because of how prolific it has become and is yet to become. 

Over 90% of marketers have seen an increase in personalization. It has several benefits, including boosting engagement and feedback, improving customer experience, and influencing purchase decisions.

Personalization is more than just addressing the recipient by name. The messages and interactions are based on your customers’ and prospects’ needs, preferences, and wants. These details can only be learned through data.

The more data you have on your customers, the better your personalization. You will serve them relevant content they can resonate with, forming connections and building trust, making them loyal to your brand.

A good example of personalization is TikTok’s For You Page, which serves content based on your activity. It is very effective at keeping people scrolling.

2. Short-form video content
 

Like personalization, video content has been around for a while, but the recent popularization of short-form video content has made it a significant component of any solid content marketing campaign.

The time spent watching video content has been rising and is 19 hours per week across various platforms as of 2022, which isn’t at the very least surprising considering the rapid growth of TikTok. And it’s not just any video content; it is short-form video content, which is evident in how quickly several platforms have adopted it, such as YouTube shorts.

Video marketing is more effective than most other content marketing because it grabs attention quickly, is easy to digest, more shareable, engaging, entertaining, and has a significant return on investment. It is also the best way to explain something. Explainer videos and testimonials can be very effective at converting.

The popularization of video content is not a fad as many had thought when TikTok started to become famous.

If you aren’t using video content now, it is time to consider it. And it’s not just short-form video content; live videos are also popular, effective, and engaging.
 

3. Interactive content

No matter how much content marketing changes, one fact remains - brands that win are those that make a lasting impression on their target audience. Interactive content is becoming popular because of how effectively it gets attention and makes a lasting impression.
 

Interactive content is a type of material that conveys its message by encouraging user participation. As attention spans reduce, brands that manage to hold their audiences’ attention the longest will be a force to reckon with; that is why interactive content will continue gaining popularity over time.
 

Engaging with content instead of passively consuming it optimizes their experience and keeps them on your webpage for longer. Using it strategically in multiple stages of the buyer’s journey can help push them forward.

Types of interactive content include maps, calculators and tools, games, infographics, etc. A common type of interactive content on social media platforms is quizzes, typically used to collect feedback or poll.
 

2022 and beyond will continue to see the rise in the use of interactive content and an increase in ways to incorporate them. There are several tools you can use to implement them with ease.
 

4. A focus on content experience

Content experience is your customers’ holistic perception of their experience with your content. It comprises every interaction they have with your content, from accessing to engaging with and consuming it.

A positive content experience is crucial to the success of content marketing campaigns. It also contributes to the customer experience, which increases retention and boosts word-of-mouth marketing.

Consumers’ needs and preferences, such as the preferred type of content, its message, and its format, change. Lately, they are changing pretty fast, which is the primary reason many businesses are shifting their focus to improving the content experience. The better they can define their consumers’ preferences and address them in their content, the better the content experience.

That means the only way to improve and consistently deliver a positive content experience is to stay updated on the tastes and preferences of your audience in terms of content. You have to understand their pain points and provide the right solution.

The content you create for your current customers and brand loyalists is not the same as that you create to appeal to prospects. Each group is different. For example, you can serve highly personalized content to your customers and create demographically targeted content for prospects.

Another way to improve the content experience is to ensure your social profiles and content your posts match the look and feel of the platform to increase impressions and engagement. For example, being visual on Instagram and using word-focused posts on Facebook.
 

Most importantly, you must come up with metrics to measure the content experience to improve and boost results continuously.
 

5. SEO trends
 

Almost all (93%) online experiences start with a search query, which is why search is the biggest source of online traffic. Virtually all content marketers use SEO in one form or the other. But many of the current SEO strategies will be ineffective in the future. To future-proof them, keep the SEO trends below on your radar.

• Search intent is now more critical than ever. Content based on keywords and the intention behind a user’s search will rank higher than that which isn’t.

• Publishing unique, high-quality content that covers specific topics not covered by other websites will highlight your specialty in the area and rank your website higher for related searches. Enhancements to Google’s algorithm, such as MUM and BERT, mean SEO professionals need to focus on the quality of their content and site structure.

• Content targeted to searches with local intent is critical as Google will start localizing content. That means people from your country, state, or area will get more localized search results. If you don’t create more local-focused content, you will miss out on traffic from searches by people in your locality.

• Images and visual content will be critical for SEO. In Search On 2021, Google decided to make SERPs more visually browsable, mixing images and videos with the text results. AI will determine whether an image, video, or text is the best result for a user, meaning sites with pictures and videos will get more traffic. Image optimization will become more critical as more people use Google Lens to find products or businesses. Additionally, due to originality, Google will reward sites with unique images rather than stock images in search engine results.

• Automating SEO practices, such as competitor analysis, technical audits, or search intent research, will become widespread and more advanced. Businesses will automate and implement SEO alert systems to be warned when SEO issues arise.

• Mobile and user experience will be at the forefront of the best SEO strategies.

Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning will also be more widespread. Focusing your SEO talent, time, and resources on these trends will future-proof your SEO strategies.

6. Championing social responsibility

Socially responsible businesses balance their revenue-generating activities with activities that benefit society on a local, national, or global scale. Customers now more than ever care about brands that share their beliefs and values and factor it into their purchase choices. They’re even willing to pay more for socially responsible businesses.

2022 and beyond will have marketers focusing more on, and increasing their investment in, social responsibility. Adopting social responsibility elements in your content marketing strategy will attract and retain customers who want to make a positive difference.
 

Remember, as you champion social responsibility in your content, be genuine because most people can identify when something is staged or real.

You don’t have to be on the lookout …Let the Professionals Do It For You

Did you know that you can keep these content marketing trends on your radar and leverage them without lifting a finger? Well, hiring a content writing agency to write relevant and well-timed content for you will enable you to do just that. 

Luckily, you don’t have to look far. At Zoey Writers, we can help you achieve your content marketing objectives by consistently delivering high-quality content that leverages the best content marketing trends.

Our team of content writers is always on the lookout for new content marketing trends and, owing to our experience, can filter out those that won’t be profitable or long-term and implement those that will be.

Contact us today to talk to us about your content needs and we’ll be happy to provide you with professional content writing services that’ll take your brand to the next level.

Also read: 6 Content Marketing Trends to Be on The Lookout For

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