Content marketing is hot property right now, from blogging and social media to email newsletters and videos.
And you must agree. According to the Marketing Insider Group, 86% of B2C companies currently use content marketing, while 91% of B2B companies have already implemented it into their marketing strategies.
However, embracing it for all its greatness and using it effectively to cut through the noise are two different beasts altogether.
So, whether you’re looking to update your SEO strategy, improve social traffic or find new ways to draw eyes onto your excellent editorial, the following top 7 content marketing future trends might just do the trick.
New trends in content marketing
1) Building a community
We are a nation of skim readers. When presented with a list of search results, we will scroll down the page, waiting for something to catch our eye.
In fact, most people will leave a web page after only 10-20 seconds and will only consume around 28% of the words.
But you’ll soon recognise a difference in readership times when you focus on your audience and the quality of your content.
Instead of writing for the masses, think about what your core audience wants to hear about. With the rise of Slack, social media platforms and integrated digital solutions, building a community is one of the most powerful ways to increase your brand authority in your industry.
Use Answerthepublic.com to search for long-tail keywords and speak to your customer service team to understand FAQs. If you can cover the topics that mean the most to your target audience, not only will you gain more traction, but your content will be of greater value.
To expand your reach and build your community more quickly, follow the trend of guest blogging and inviting other thought leaders to do a podcast.
2) Translating content
English is by far the most competitive language in terms of SEO. However, if your product or service can stretch beyond the UK and native English-speaking countries, you could be missing a trick.
Think about it. Most people around the world don’t speak native English, let alone surf the web in English.
Can you sense the opportunity?
By translating and transcribing your content, you will open up a whole new audience and penetrate exciting new markets with your awesome editorial.
But don’t stop there. Use tools like SEMrush to gain insights into what keywords are particularly popular in your target language and work them into your article transcriptions.
3) Optimising existing content
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to get good results. Updated content results in more links, social shares and better search rankings. It’s a no-brainer, especially when you consider that it takes far less time to update editorial than to create new content.
Simply hop onto Google Analytics and analyse your existing content. Remember, it’s not all about clicks at this point, it’s about finding potential. A high number of impressions or average “time spent on page” suggests the interest is there. It’s just a case of making the content evergreen so it remains relevant for many years.
Once you identify these articles, create new publication dates to tell Google that your content is fresh and take further steps to boost your “time on page” metric.
To do this, turn to images, infographics and videos. If you run webinars, you can even add short and relevant recorded snippets.
As a rule of thumb, you must update your content every quarter to keep it relevant and SEO-friendly. Even spending an extra ten minutes every few months to update the statistics and information within the content can make a big difference.
4) Broadening the appeal of your content
Audio content is another big content marketing future trend you should think about. As it stands, around 28.3 million adults listen to digital audio every week in the UK.
The rise of smart speaker systems and podcasts is changing the way people consume information. For a brief moment in time, your audience can escape the screen and listen to quality content on the go.
As we mentioned earlier, invite other industry thought leaders to do a podcast or webinar to maximise exposure.
It’s also worth converting your existing long-form content into audio files using SpeechKit to add a whole new dimension to the user experience. The good news is that Google is starting to recognise audio as a search factor. So, not only will your content be more digestible, but it’ll potentially be more findable too.
5) Using browser notifications
Emails are no longer the only method to engage a database of loyal subscribers with your latest content. Instead, many companies are turning to “web push notifications” – otherwise known as “browser notifications”.
This content arketing innovation notifies your followers through their browser every time you release a new blog, podcast or video.
Tools like Subscribers enable these push notifications through browsers such as Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari. They then appear on every possible device, including smartphones, desktops and tablets.
To elevate this strategy to the next level, you can set up sequences for push notifications, like an email drip. This will ensure you’re reaching out to subscribers at a sensible frequency that is best for your business.
6) Automate the customer journey
The next content marketing future trend to think about is Facebook Messenger bots – aka chatbots. With this innovative feature from the social media giant, you can wave goodbye to unnecessary calls and the need for an app.
Facebook Messenger bots is an AI-driven piece of automated messaging software that reaches out to your audience directly, re-engages customers and identifies leads when they land on your Facebook company page.
Just think of all the time you’ll save usually spent qualifying leads.
7) Optimising conversions
In principle, growing your audience is great. But don’t lose sight of your return on investment (ROI).
Don’t just assume that if you double your traffic you’ll double your revenue. It doesn’t work like that. Companies will soon get to grips with this and start to analyse how they can optimise conversions, not just page views.
To do this, try adding advert pop-ups using OptinMonster or simply referencing your product/service within your content.
It’s also a golden opportunity to include references to gated content, such as webinars and e-guides. In layman’s terms, gated content is valuable content only accessible when your target audience enters their contact information.
Once you add these elements into your content, analyse the impact. Are you generating more leads and sales? Is your website bounce rate decreasing? Or is it putting customers off?
The key is to be subtle and to find the right hook.
Fortunately, organisations will become more sophisticated in how to do this, with proactive messaging, personalised product suggestions and improved call-to-action copy. So, this is a trend you need to think about sooner rather than later. Or you could find your company falling behind the competition.
How to anticipate content marketing trends
To anticipate trends and stay ahead of the game, start by analysing your existing content. Think about what’s gaining popularity and what’s falling flat?
Tools like Google Analytics make this possible, allowing you to spot current trends within your content marketing that could influence the future direction of your editorial strategy.
Lots of larger companies will also use social listening tools to analyse social media feedback and find emerging trends that matter to their customer base. Hootsuite and SproutSocial are among the best for doing this.
Yet, the simplest and most effective method of anticipating content marketing trends is to subscribe to our newsletter. This will keep you updated on everything within the content marketing arena.
Our latest blog is a great example, sharing lots of expert advice that proved very popular with our subscriber base.
Parting words of wisdom
We appreciate there’s a lot to think about. But our advice to you is to act now.
Believe it or not, planning, executing and adjusting a content marketing strategy doesn’t have to be a struggle. It’s a case of analysing your efforts up to this point, seeing what works and scaling up as you learn more about your audience.
A great place to start is a content calendar. This approach will give your content marketing efforts structure and purpose.
If you feel like you need a hand in developing a content marketing strategy and creating campaigns, our team is here to support you. At Flamingo Marketing Strategies, we can build content solutions specifically tailored to your specifications.
In fact, we offer an entire range of services to help you take advantage of the latest trends in content marketing and improve those all-important conversion rates. Get in touch today to find out more.