As a content marketer, it is not only a good rule of thumb
to keep up on current trends, but also to look forward into the future for
helpful tips that could very well either make your marketing agenda or brake
it.
For instance, what trends will carry over from this year to
help shape your plans for 2017? What new advancements will change the way
marketers operate or carry out their current plans?
While it’s true that we don’t have a crystal ball or some
fancy-schmancy scientific doo-dad to tell us the future of the ever-changing
world of content marketing, there are plenty of strategies gaining momentum
heading into this new year.
The current research shows that content marketers are
becoming more effective in their efforts, with 62 percent of B2B marketers
alone feeling more confident than in previous years. Eighty-five percent of those marketers stated
they believed enhanced content to be the key to success. And changing it up was
the winning formula for 72 percent of them.
So how can you, as a content marketer, get a leg up in the
coming year?
Personalization
Regardless of the industry, personalization is here to
stay. In the content marketing space,
this has less to do with writing the customer’s name on their product and more
to do with creating content specifically tailored to the targeted
audience. Content that will not only
engage them, but also speak volumes to their personal or professional life.
Ask yourself these questions:
Who is your target audience?
What do they care about?
What do they most desire to “fix”?
Content marketing is often about helping others ease their
fears and anxieties or fixing a specific problem they are searching out the
answers for. Appealing to your target
audience is a powerful way to show individuals that you understand and wish to
offer a solution to their situation.
Quality
Quality content is nothing new, in fact it is something that
is likely hammered into our heads the most.
Sure, you can churn out trash content all day long without any
issues. But will that actually bring in
the views? Probably not.
With so many voices in the crowd, you have to try even
harder to not only be heard but to be taken seriously. 2017 will be no
different. It will be equally, if not
more so, important to create only high-quality content in order to get noticed.
Going Live via Streaming
2016 was the birth of Facebook live with all it’s bumps and
hurdles. For instance, getting someone
to click on your content (whether live or static) is one thing, but how do you
get them to stick around for more?
Data from Social Media Today showed that people spend almost
triple the amount of time watching live video on Facebook than they do watching
recorded content.
Let’s face it, people are spending incredible chunks of time
watching live streaming via Facebook, Periscope, YouTube Live, and
SnapChat. So why not capitalize on this
knowledge?
Email
I personally am so tired of hearing the phrase: “Email is
dead.” Really? Then explain the numerous
studies that suggest otherwise.
According to Campaign Monitor, BuzzFeed added over 1 million
new email subscribers in 2016 alone. How and Why? The answer is simply, with social media
channels moving further and further towards revenue growth, brands have very
little control over communicating with their fans and followers. So what does
that leave you? Email.
The Washington Post, for example, has over 75 e-newsletters,
while The New York Times has 12 people dedicated solely to churning out
newsletters for their subscribers. So while there will probably always be those
nay-sayers squawking that email is dead, the media is telling us otherwise.
What trends do you expect to see in 2017? We would love to
hear about them in the comments below.
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