The Future of Content Marketing: 4 Areas To Keep Pace With

The term “content marketing” was coined by John F. Oppendahl in 1996 with the increasing popularity of home computers and internet usage. This paved the way for websites and emails to give marketers a new and exciting opportunity to promote their brands. This led many companies to move their marketing dollars from radio and TV to email newsletters and websites — what we all know now as “digital marketing.”

More than twenty years later, content is still king when it comes to marketing brands, products, and services. Over the years, brands have learned to adapt their content to suit the modern consumer’s ever-changing demands and the introduction of new channels, including social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube. With the proliferation of these channels, marketers are expected to be more creative in the way they approach their content marketing strategy to ensure that they are able to stay ahead of the competition.

Content marketing trends to watch out for

One cannot emphasise more how ever-evolving content marketing is. To make the most of content marketing, you need to keep pace with the up-and-coming trends. By doing so, you’ll be able to provide relevant and valuable content that will effectively attract prospects, retain existing customers, convert leads, and increase your sales.

All of this means that content can be the driving force behind the different aspects of your marketing strategy, including search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), and social media marketing (SMM). Without high-quality content, you won’t have anything your followers will like or share on social media.

Take a look at the 4 content marketing trends that you must keep pace with to meet or even exceed your marketing goals.

1. Video content

It has always been common knowledge that the attention span of people online is only decreasing. Studies conducted in 2022 show that the average user’s attention span is a mere 8 seconds. This means that marketers need to fight to grasp people’s attention and keep them on their web pages or social media pages long enough to convert them into paying customers.

This is where videos become effective content marketing tools to captivate people’s attention. Videos are visually charged and have all the elements that need to stimulate your audience’s minds. This is also the reason why Instagram Reels and TikTok videos are incredibly popular nowadays.

2. Interactive content

The primary purpose of using interactive content is to educate the audience. From the name itself, interactive content refers to any kind of content that conveys a message by encouraging user participation. While eBooks, blog posts, and infographics are informative, making them interactive attracts more people to your website and increases engagement. This allows your brand to provide a better consumer experience that helps with customer retention.

3. Social media

It should come as no surprise that you’ll be able to find almost everyone you know on social media nowadays. Consumers do not only use social media to connect to their favourite brands but also to keep themselves up to date with the latest trends. This is why businesses must build a strong social media presence. To do that, you need to have compelling content that will increase your followers.

Find social media platforms that work best for your target audience. For instance, if you’re targeting younger demographics, you need to prioritise creating visual content for your social media pages. What makes social media incredibly effective as a digital marketing tool is that it allows consumers to see real people, with whom they can relate to, sharing valuable information online. This helps them decide whether to purchase from a particular brand or not.

The right social media content will also help you nurture customer loyalty, which then impacts your sales significantly. This is because people are more likely to purchase from brands that they have a personal connection with.

4. Evergreen content

Any type of content that remains relevant for a long time is crucial. Evergreen content will always be interesting to your audience. It will always be searched, which means that it will keep having a positive impact on your search engine rankings. It will also increase your website traffic for many years to come.

To create evergreen content, you need to find topics that provide great value to your target audience long after they have been published. Some of the most popular types of evergreen content include how-to guides, frequently asked questions (FAQs), case studies, and reviews/testimonials. These types of content will always have visitors to them because they are an integral part of engaging with the brand.

Conclusion

Investing time and resources in your content marketing strategy will ensure you reap many benefits. Consider the tips mentioned above to get a good head start in the coming year. Not only will you have a stronger online presence, but you will also rake in more revenue.

You may consider hiring a top-notch digital marketing agency in the Philippines if you need some assistance with your marketing campaigns. Be sure to also check out our article on the 6 digital marketing strategy must-haves for growth in 2023.