Get ahead of the curve with tips and tricks to create valuable content and reach your target audience
Every wondered why is content marketing important for your business? Not only is it cost effective and impactful, it also offers the chance for you to create an authentic connection with your target audience. That's why 82% of marketers actively invest in content marketing.
With budgets being squeezed, we now want the best ROI, and that’s where content marketing comes in. It’s time to consider content that can be repurposed in different ways and utilise the latest trends to our advantage.
By staying ahead of the curve and creating a relevant strategy for your business, you’ll stay up-to-date with the latest trends and create content that your audience actually wants to see. In doing this, you’ll build trust and retain customers.
Here are the seven content marketing trends you need to know for the year ahead:
1. Stand out from the crowd with SEO
It’s no surprise to see SEO on the list as it continues to be an important part of any content marketing strategy. SEO is at the forefront of how businesses think, with 69% of marketers currently investing in SEO. This means you need to level up your SEO strategy to stand out from the crowd and stay relevant with your audience.
Authentic content is still king. As such, always write with your audience in mind and avoid stuffing in keywords; Google knows and will relegate you to the bottom of search results. By keeping your content relevant, your audience is more likely to read all the way through, organically pushing your content to the top of Google. Seek to be the best resource available on whatever topic you are discussing to help rank higher and drive web traffic.
Backlinks are still important, helping Google map out your page and leading new potential customers to your website. As is a quick load time and a responsive design, specifically ensuring your site is mobile-friendly. Voice search continues to grow, so optimising your content with long-tail keywords and natural language ensures voice search engines can find your content quickly and easily.
Google now has many rules and regulations regarding SEO and content, so it’s crucial to re-evaluate your SEO strategy to reflect these changes and avoid being penalised.
2. Get up-to-date with video trends
Video is becoming the most viewed content on the internet and is an essential aspect of visual content marketing, with short-form videos estimated to have accounted for 80% of mobile traffic in North America in 2022. This is due to the popularity of apps such as TikTok and other video-focused platforms, and as people become accustomed to short-form video, it is now a trend that has made its way into the marketing world. This can be seen in videos of up to 10 minutes and Instagram Reels of 90 seconds or less. People want easily digestible instant entertainment, and social media platforms ensure this is reflected in their formats.
Videos are an essential part of any SEO strategy and should be optimised accordingly: ensure they’re relevant, consistent, and optimised with tags, and keywords. Another way to engage your audience is with Vlogs. This kind of storytelling is popular with influencers and is the perfect way for brands to create a human connection by sharing tutorials and product information.
Finally, people are increasingly watching videos on their smartphones, whether they’re on a busy commute or out with friends. So, if you want to keep them engaged, ensure you add closed captions.
Choosing the right kind of video platform for your business is essential. Work out which platform is relevant for your audience and create a presence there. Don’t just jump on trends if your target audience isn’t interested. For example, there’s no point in setting up a TikTok account if your audience prefers Pinterest or YouTube.
3. Forge a human connection
In a world filled with content and now the addition of generic AI content, understanding your customer and writing with them in mind has never been more important. Most don’t want a formal customer experience; instead, they want content that helps them to resonate with you as a person or brand. In fact, almost 95% of consumers said they’re more loyal to brands that are genuine and transparent. Embrace your natural voice and speak to your customers as a human.
A good way to connect with your audience is to give them a behind-the-scenes feel of your brand. You can do this with short “meet the team” videos to show them who’s involved in the company or LinkedIn posts from the CEO to build a stronger personal brand. Consider also asking your communities on social media for feedback, so you can discover what kind of content they want to see and get a better overall picture of their needs and desires.
It’s harder than ever to gain trust, so being transparent and honest about mistakes and failures can help your audience see you as more human and ultimately help build respect. Also, try to adapt your content to talk to your audience, rather than at them. Talk to people, ask them questions, create quizzes, and ask their opinions. Ask for user-generated content to invite people into your brand story with photos, videos, hashtags, contests and more.
4. Save time with AI
The most significant trend to keep an eye on in 2023 is AI and automation. Those businesses that struggle to stay on top of trends, and manage content production and costs, can use automation tools to save time. With the rise of AI, it’s possible to create a myriad of content almost instantly.
However, the internet is now swimming with generic content, and while AI can be great for ideation and structure, it’s also setting the bar higher. It’s essential to make your content stand out and be useful with real insights, reputable sources and a human voice.
Think of it as a tool to speed up mundane tasks and streamline certain aspects of content creation. AI and automation cannot entirely replace your content marketing strategy; the technology has several limitations. For example, it isn’t always able to provide reputable sources and doesn’t consistently deliver correct information, it’s often repetitive and doesn’t scratch far below the surface.
That being said, it’s still a valuable tech tool that can help optimise your content and allow your team to focus on more creative and important tasks.
5. Make your content go further
Repurposing is the act of utilising content for multiple purposes, for example, turning an old blog post into a fun marketing campaign or using information from one of your landing pages to create TikTok videos or Instagram reels.
The aim is to create one piece of content that serves multiple purposes to achieve business goals across the board, from content marketing to social media. It helps you save time, energy and money and allows you to squeeze the most out of your ideas to provide lots of valuable content for your target audience.
By repurposing content, you can maintain a regular publishing frequency by providing high-quality content to keep your audience engaged and interested, without having to constantly create new content. By diversifying across platforms, you’ll also satisfy your audience’s needs by giving them the option to consume your content in different formats. Having multiple pieces of content for the same keyword also boosts your position in search engines, helping to get your brand in front of a wider audience.
Another way to dial into this trend is to refresh old blog posts and web content, ensuring your content is up-to-date to provide your audience with relevant information. This could mean improving blog posts that contain outdated information or modifying keywords on a web page that is no longer accurate. Make sure you tweak the content for each marketing channel, it’s not just a case of copying and pasting.
6. Increase your audience with Co-marketing
Collaboration is king in content marketing. Brands and influencers are increasingly collaborating to market products and services and help drive sales. Collaboration doesn’t have to mean a new product launch; you can join in on the trend by coming up with a shared product or service, a giveaway on Instagram to promote your businesses or a link exchange to drive interested consumers to each other’s sites.
Social media platforms now offer more accessible ways for businesses to collaborate by tagging other creators and brand accounts. Collabs can benefit both parties by increasing engagement through access to another creator or brand’s community, offering a wealth of opportunities for content marketers.
It’s also a cost-effective way to get your brand in front of a wider audience and offer higher returns while building trust. By collaborating with other trustworthy brands and influencers, potential customers are more likely to trust your brand, based on the trust they’ve already built with your collaborating brand.
7. Establish expertise with Webinars
Webinars are online training sessions where users can sign up with an email address and attend via a video conferencing platform such as Zoom. Unsurprisingly they saw a boom in lockdown, but they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. That’s because webinar hosting is an inexpensive way for brands to showcase their expertise in a specific niche and can help build authority in the field.
By organising a webinar, you can get your brand in front of a wider audience by promoting it in emails and on social media. It gives you the opportunity to receive retweets and mentions from anyone planning to attend, helping to create a buzz around the event. They’re also great for list-building, as attendees will need to register their email addresses to attend.
By hosting a Q&A session at the end of the webinar, you can also give potential customers the opportunity to engage with you, answering questions which could give them the reassurance they need to make a purchase. People who register are usually more interested in your offering and are more likely to convert, with studies showing webinars can achieve conversion rates of around 30-40%.
If you want to join the buzz around content marketing trends, contact us today, and one of our writers or our SEO expert will talk you through the process.