2020 is the start of a new decade, but most importantly, it brings along a fresh wave of content marketing trends to pay attention to. While it can be hard to keep up with the latest tools and technology, few marketing trends cut through the noise and deliver tangible, actionable results. It comes as no surprise that lists of best practices and guides for tips and tricks in the new year will be filling up your feed, possibly giving you slight anxiety on all of the additions you’ll have to add to your marketing arsenal. Before you create a new social media handle or invest in the latest chatbot software, it’s important to understand what the best strategy is for you. To narrow your focus, we’ll concentrate on the topics we think will have the most impact and help you build out your content marketing strategy.
Video Continues its Climb up the Charts
Video content drives significantly more search traffic than sites that only use written content. Easier to digest, less time-consuming and fun to watch, it’s an excellent way to tell a story. Audiences are heavily attracted to well-designed visuals, and by incorporating infographics and stunning images into the video, your audience is more than likely to stay on the page than if you were to post a static blog. While a high production video is not only time consuming but relatively expensive, remember that you don’t need an entire team to create video content. Social tools like TikTok and Snapchat are excellent for providing visually stunning templates, emojis, and gifs. Video is also great for repurposing. Turn the film into an audio clip, blog or use pull quotes for social media. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!
Podcast Land is Expanding
Crime tales and murder mysteries aren’t the only stories that are best told audibly. From customer experiences to business techniques, podcasts are a great way for brands to tap into the minds of their customers in a more melodic fashion. While it may seem like there are podcasts for every topic, many brands are still not taking advantage of this medium, leaving a wide-open net for curators who have a library of knowledge to share with potential listeners. Just like any other mode of content, you’ll need to have a strategy behind your production. Releasing podcasts at irregular times of the year may cause your audience to lose interest and forget the importance of your brand. By being consistent and shaping each episode around a common theme, podcasting can prove to be an excellent avenue for brand exposure and conversion.
Save Time — Shorten Your Content into Searchable Chunks
Information is everywhere, and to make sure your audience pays attention to what you’re providing them, use the power of snippets. Short, informative captions and text are easily picked up by Google, further pushing up your content to the top of the page. Consumers are strapped for time and are looking for ultra-relevant information without sifting through tons of pages. By understanding this pattern, you can create content that is quickly digestible and matches the searcher’s intent.
Humanize Your Content
Voice command devices are increasing in popularity, yet many brands still struggle with making their content accessible for these tools. In today’s multi-device world, marketers not only have to create content for smaller screens, but they also have to take into consideration the actual voice of their marketing. As technology continues to be refined, marketers can assist by using language that is more natural and conversational. This friendlier relatable approach will not only enable more devices to pick up the message, but it’ll also help build up trustworthiness in the consumer.
Trends are everywhere but content marketing is here to stay. Get more advice, insights and useful strategies at the Content Marketing Conference in Boston on April 21-23, 2020. Grab your ticket today!
Content marketing professional with 7+ years of copywriting and client satisfaction experience. Developing engaging content for product and retention initiatives, Martina A. has driven efforts that strengthen brand awareness, reduce churn and expand internal communication flows. Alongside this, she develops guidelines for ongoing marketing projects and help articles for customers learning new platforms and features. Always open to new projects, Martina seeks out opportunities where she can contribute work to publications looking for fresh, relatable content that is memorable, shareable and has the ability to capture the attention spans of youth today.