So, this year too, brands will need to focus more on content marketing. Over the years, Google search algorithms have become better at deciding the relevancy of content. As a result, brands are focusing more on the authenticity of the social influencers, rather than number of followers. Trend #3: Content personalization Today, most companies are using analytics for customer segmentation in order to target specific customer groups in a better way.1 How Airtel India is helping his customers on Twitter is a great example of devising a content marketing strategy around certain audiences. Creating and promoting personalized content in this manner make a content marketing campaign focused, and win more prospects for its high relevancy. And now with better video compression algorithms in place (and at the same time, with the internet’s growing penetration), videos are being used extensively to send across a brand message, promote offerings, or simply for the purpose of engagement. Use such tools for creating a good number of videos in less time. It offers a new opportunity to content marketers and increases customer engagement with your brand. Social media has evolved as a popular content marketing channel in the last few years. Growth of video marketing in recent time also puts Instagram among the most popular content marketing social media channels.
Content marketing is an integral part of your digital marketing strategy.
In 2017, we saw extensive adoption of content based promotion across all industries. In 2018, the practice will continue to thrive even more; especially in small and medium sized businesses.
Content marketing offers better engagement, better conversions, and usually cost less than other forms of marketing. Besides, with a constantly increasing number of ad-blocker software users across the globe, content marketing becomes the only way to get a message through with assurance. So, this year too, brands will need to focus more on content marketing.
The following 9 content marketing trends will help you reap the maximum benefits out of your content marketing strategy in 2018-19.
Trend #1: Production of more user-friendly content
The number of online users is increasing constantly, so too does content consumption. This has made businesses think that producing more content is the right way to get into limelight through content marketing. In fact, 70% of B2B marketers plan to create more content in 2017 compared to last year. However, that’s only the half solution.
Over the years, Google search algorithms have become better at deciding the relevancy of content. And now search bots are smarter than ever in detecting whether a piece of content is user-friendly or not. Also, relevancy is the prime factor that triggers engagement, which is one of the main reasons why content marketing is done in the first place.
A post shared by Greatist on healthy protein snacks received about 90K shares on Facebook and over 2 million Pinterest shares; all because it was of some value to the target readers. And because of its relevance, now it also appears on the top of search results when you search for ‘protein snack’, ‘healthy protein snack’, and other related terms.
So, when you put efforts into creating more content this year, make it relevant at any cost despite the huge volumes that you plan to produce.
Trend #2: Micro-influencers
Companies have always relied on influencing individuals to increase their brand awareness (hint: celebrity endorsement). However, with the rise of social media in recent years and an increasing number of influencing individuals on these platforms, today, influencer marketing has grabbed the top position in the checklist of marketers.
According to MuseFind, 92% of customers trust influencers more than advertisements and celebrity endorsements.
Consequently, at present, influencer marketing is going through a great upsurge, wherein brands are approaching experts to endorse/review/promote their product on their blog, social media accounts, and other online channels.
In recent time, there have been many campaigns that prove how beneficial influencer marketing can be for a brand; however, the lesson 2016 has taught us is that influencer marketing revolves around trust, and a bigger following doesn’t always bring the better results.
As a result, brands are focusing more on the authenticity of the social influencers, rather than number of followers. According to a New York based fashion store Gigi New York, working with micro-influencers (with small but authentic followings) brought them better engagement than working with popular social influencers.
So, paying heed to micro-influencers will be critical when you formulate an influencer marketing campaign this year.
Trend #3: Content personalization
Today, most companies are using analytics for customer segmentation in order to target specific customer groups in a better way.1 How Airtel India is helping his customers on Twitter is a great example of devising a content marketing strategy around certain audiences.
All social networks have a distinct structure when it comes to content sharing and promotion. Most of them let you personalize content either with location settings or hashtags. Based on the channel you choose for marketing, make the best use of such features.
How Facebook selects content for its ‘Trending Section’ based on location is a good example of personalizing content for a specific customer segment. If you own a Facebook page and have promoted your updates in the past, then you must have seen how it allows you to target your content to a very specific group of people.
Creating and promoting personalized content in this manner make a content marketing campaign focused, and win more prospects for its high relevancy. This in turn improves engagement, brand recall, and sets you apart from competitors.
Trend #4: Video content
Video content is no new concept, as brands have been using videos as their website banner, in social media updates, email content, etc. for quite some time. And…
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