What about the one thing you expect to be going strong in 12 months? But should they die or expect to be strong? (Note: While we use “expect to be strong” as the label, some of the comments reflect things already going strong that are expected to stay that way a year from now.) Jason Schemmel, social media manager, Harper Collins Christian Publishing Wish would die: The term “best practices.” All that means is, “This is what has worked for us.” Too many people take that info and think, “If I do it exactly like they did, I’ll see the same success.” It’s a shortcut state of mind. People are livestreaming because it’s a trend, not because they have a good business strategy behind it. Mark Masters, owner, The ID Group Wish would die: We can stop banging on about purpose. We need to go back to a world where websites once again try to earn links legitimately. Expect to be strong: Influencer marketing, paid promotion, and social video Buddy Scalera, content strategist, BuddyScalera.com Wish would die: Too many email newsletters. Expect to be strong: Combination of PR and influencer marketing in content marketing campaigns. It is possible to maintain your quality standards, create value for your customers, and create value for your business.
If you could pick one thing in content marketing you want to go away today, what would it be? What about the one thing you expect to be going strong in 12 months?
That’s what we asked Content Marketing World presenters. Not surprisingly, they had a lot to say. Their responses are diverse and sometimes conflicting. Chatbots, webinars, livestreaming, GIFs, influencers, ROI, and many other topics are on the list. But should they die or expect to be strong? Read on to discover.
(Note: While we use “expect to be strong” as the label, some of the comments reflect things already going strong that are expected to stay that way a year from now.)
Jason Schemmel, social media manager, Harper Collins Christian Publishing
Wish would die: The term “best practices.” All that means is, “This is what has worked for us.” Too many people take that info and think, “If I do it exactly like they did, I’ll see the same success.” It’s a shortcut state of mind.
Expect to be strong: Short videos (30 seconds or less) with captions.
Ahava Leibtag, president, Aha Media Group
Wish would die: Long-form video content that isn’t broken into bite-size chunks.
Expect to be strong: Instagram Stories will be a hit for a long time. Marketers need to get smarter right now about how to leverage them.
Ben H. Rome, manager, marketing, American Industrial Hygiene Association
Wish would die: Stop calling it JIF, people. It’s GIF – with a hard G!
Expect to be strong: Epic marketing trolling war will continue.
Ian Cleary, CEO, RazorSocial
Wish would die: Livestreaming of content that is not interesting. People are livestreaming because it’s a trend, not because they have a good business strategy behind it.
Karl Sakas, agency advisor, Sakas & Company
Wish would die: Sleazy webinar promotion. I’d love to see the end of overpromising educational webinar content and then delivering thinly veiled sales pitches. Bait and switch is never a good strategy.
Expect to be strong: Podcasting, audio content, and audio marketing
Stephan Spencer, co-author, The Art of SEO
Wish would die: Explainer videos made to go “viral” without any understanding of who the target audience should be. (Hint: Most of the time it shouldn’t be your customers, it should be the “linkerati.”)
ShipServe Software had a cute explainer video made using stop-motion photography and Lego blocks. Unfortunately, the only people who would be remotely interested in that video were customers and not the linkerati.
Ironically, that video was even recognized by CMI for excellence. But as an SEO expert, I looked at it with a different lens.
Dollar Shave Club, on the other hand, killed it with its explainer video. It doesn’t matter if you never will need to shave in your life; you’ll probably get a chuckle out of it and you’ll be inspired to link to it and probably even embed it on your blog.
Expect to be strong: Repurposing or repackaging of old but successful content marketing campaigns is a big one. For example, a successful listicle can be repurposed into an infographic, video, SlideShare deck, slideshow, a quiz or personality test, a series of scenic images with quotes for social media, and more.
Tim Hayden, president and co-managing partner, Brain + Trust Partners
Wish would die: GIFs and auto-play video.
Expect to be strong: Thanks to GDPR and so many brands aligning data/customer records to deliver personalized content, AI and machine-learning will finally take over so much of what human marketers manage today.
Andrea Fryrear, president and lead trainer, AgileSherpas
Wish would die: Chatbots. They’re popping up in all kinds of places where they don’t belong. (No, I don’t need any help navigating your blog. If I do, it’s probably something your UX folks should be looking into.)
Expect to be strong: For bite-sized things and on-the-go learning you can’t beat video and audio. Multimedia is the future, and content marketers should get comfortable atomizing ideas so they are easily consumed in all these formats.
Margaret Magnarelli, vice president, marketing, Monster
Wish would die: The hype around AI in marketing. There’s a role for it (e.g., machine-generated standardized blurbs on your website pulling from APIs), but if we want to connect with customers, we need to employ as much of a human touch as we can.
Nicole Martin, vice president, strategy and analytics, Pace
Expect to be strong: Segmentation. It is vital for building a connection with consumers, so big data, the collection of data, and incorporation of robust CRMs into your marketing tool set is important.
Zontee Hou, senior strategist, Convince and Convert
Wish would die: Brands chasing after big social media followings. It’s 2018. We know better. You have to build the right audience that is highly valuable to your brand, not just aggregate “likes” for the sake of a big number.
Expect to be strong: Content displayed in a responsive way. We are only now getting better at serving up unique customer experiences on the content side based on past browsing behavior (which is, of course, something that’s been…
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