Get the Word Out: 7 Content Marketing Trends You Should Be Aware Of

The content marketing world keeps changing every day, with new trends cropping up. One thing you must know as a marketer is that these trends don’t last long and you must stay updated always to remain relevant and successful.

As an entrepreneur, you know that marketing is essential for your business but only if you do it right. That’s why you need to stay on top with every trend and keep a close watch at the behaviour of your customers.

But since you’re busy overseeing your business’s day-to-day running and don’t have time to research new trends, we’re here to do it for you. This article brings you some of the latest content marketing trends taking the world of online marketing by storm.

1. Chatbot Marketing

Consumer demands are sometimes outrageous, and it becomes hard for a business to stay on top of these demands. Up to 82% of customers expect an immediate or 24-hour response to their queries no matter the time of the day.

Thanks to the chatbot, customer support has become much easier for businesses.

Customers can command the trust of their customers by offering immediate responses through a chatbot. This has greatly increased conversation rates. Businesses are also able to retain the customers they already have and even convert new ones easily.

If you think that chatbots are only about replying messages, then you’re wrong. Modern chatbots are designed in a way that they can also recall customer buying history, help customers to checkout, and recommend products.

What’s more, Google is already working on a Chatbot called Meena that can now capture basic human attributes such as conversation. Google can determine this through a measurement name, the Sensibleness, and Specific Average (SSA).

The good news is that Meena has already scored 79 percent SSA out of 86 percent that Google has assigned this kind of measurement. Well, the chatbot is yet to be released as Google is still working on its safety, personality, and factuality. It seems like this is even going to make the content marketing world even better.

2. Video Content Marketing

When it comes to content, many marketers focus more on written content. Well, the written content is still taking the market by storm, but the audience is now focusing more on video. Customers have a very limited attention span, and videos have a way of commanding this kind of focus right away.

You can communicate a thousand messages in a single image. More than you would if you had to write everything down. According to a Hubspot survey, 85% of marketers are now using videos as their main marketing tool. 50% of customers are likely to buy products they’ve seen on video.

Some e-commerce brands agree that video marketing has greatly multiplied their conversation rates. Others say that video marketing has greatly improved their ROI.

Many social media sites, including Facebook and Instagram, allow video posts to make content marketing through video very easy. You can also do live video streams to showcase your products and interact with your audience. To hook your customers right away, make it short and engaging.

3. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is not going anywhere soon, and you must know that it’s one of the most effective ways to market your content. Influencers are people who hold a high value in society. People look up to them and are likely to buy from brands they endorse.

Influencers can spread the word about your brand and represent the entire community in your niche. It’s all about finding the right voices to amplify your message. By this, it means that the influencer must know more about your products and have followers in the same niche.

You can use influencers in two different ways. The first is to through collecting and featuring thoughts of influencers in the relevant topic. You need to collect influencer posts that are in line with your business goals.

Another way is to get influencers in your industry to publish original blog content on your site. With this, the influencers can carry along their audiences with their contributions hence making the content successful.

4. Data-Driven Content

This type of digital marketing involves creating content with the data you collect from audience profiles. You use your customer’s profile information to develop content marketing campaigns. Things such as customer search history like, and dislikes, and preferences can turn out to be a great commodity.

Data is also a vital tool you can use to determine how your content connects to your target audience. This way, you can have a well-guided content creation process.

Using a data-driven approach for your content strategy helps your brand use the resources the right way and avoid targeting the wrong audiences. You’ll easily identify your target audience, the preferences, trending topics, etc. This approach will direct your content to a more practical path.

5. Voice Search in Content Marketing

Voice search now accounts for 20% of all Google search activities. Don’t even think that this number is too small because you don’t know how powerful this small percentage can be for your marketing needs. People are becoming lazier every day, and typing what they want to search on Google has become a big problem.

Voice search also gives people the freedom to do what they need to do hands-free. You can do it while driving, working, or cooking. People speak faster than they type; hence they can use longer phrases. This enables them to be more specific about your search.

This means your marketing should think about focusing on the effectiveness of voice search when it comes to keywords. Identify those important phrases that people are likely to speak rather than type. By identifying these keywords, you’ll be several steps towards reaching your customers with just a simple search.
Well, you must be careful with this marketing strategy because you must take into account issues such as accents and pronunciation. There must be a huge advancement in technology, but it hasn’t gotten to a point where it can incorporate everything in real-life human speech.

6. Social Commerce

People are not only viewing content on social media but also buying and selling. Social media is not only about interactions, but a platform to sell your items and convert several customers. Social commerce is simply an act of selling and buying through social media sites.

Unlike social media marketing, where you need to drive traffic from social media to your website, in social commerce, the entire shopping takes place on the platform. The customer doesn’t have to leave the social media site to use your website or online store.

One of the things that make social commerce more reliable is because it requires fewer clicks. The type of purchase is straightforward and efficient. The primary players in this type of content marketing include Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.

Facebook has even made this easier by introducing its marketplace and checkout features. Your customers can now purchase directly from your Facebook sponsored posts. And one thing you’ll love about social commerce is its low rate of cart abandonment. This is due to the fact that people spend more time on social media and are less likely to forget.

7. Use of Stories Format for Content Marketing

Facebook stories have since become a lucrative idea for small business marketing where you can update your audience about your products and connect. Facebook stories have specifically appealed to the younger generation and help businesses, especially when creating brand awareness.

This method looks like an extension of video marketing where you only need a video and a photo to update your audience, and everything is done. Facebook stories only last 24 hours a bit within this time; several people can see your story allowing you to reach a large audience.

If you think Facebook stories are becoming old-school, you’re wrong because Twitter and Instagram are joining the bandwagon. Apart from Facebook stories, marketers can now reach their audience through the story format. You need to make use of the story format to reach out to your audience and drive sales.

There Is a Bright Future in Content Marketing

With all these trends shaping the content marketing agency, it clearly shows that it’s not going anywhere soon but will continue growing. Content marketing will still be the best way online marketers can reach their customers and increase their conversation rates.

The marketing world might be an ever-changing landscape, but you need to stay on top of it all and find out new strategies that are going to work for your business. Stay alert on customer behaviour and use an approach that aligns with the change of behaviour.

If you’re looking for ways to adopt these trends into your business’s day-to-day marketing activities, you can reach out to experts for help on our page. We’re here to offer all the help you need when it comes to the best digital marketing strategies for your business.