When Robert Rose, chief strategy officer of Content Marketing Institute, was asked to predict the future of content marketing, he replied: “2016 will be the year when the worlds of product-as-content and content-as-product will collide.” And he’s not alone.
Content Marketing Institute released an article comprised of more than 40 predictions for content marketing in 2016.
This is nothing new for our industry. Professionals constantly strategize and analyze what they think the future will hold, and while it’s tempting to analyze (and over-analyze) all 40, we decided we’d stick to three major themes.
Prediction 1: Data Driven Content Marketing
Make no mistake — you don’t have to be a big business to leverage “big” data. More than likely, you already have everything you need right at your fingertips. Customer information such as conversations, surveys, reviews and testimonials can provide valuable insight on which type of content will interest your customers. Shopping behavior can illustrate common threads among audiences and personas, while user behavior can identify gaps in the engagement process. These gaps can present timely opportunities to engage customers with unique content.
How do you take action? Start with the source. Schedule a meeting with the sales team and discuss the primary objections they hear, and find out how and where their prospects like to receive information. Take a look at the sales life cycle to discover at which stage prospects disengage. It’s also important to understand where your customers are located. A great content marketing strategy is only effective if it actually reaches your audience.
Prediction 2: All Signs Point to Video
When it comes to capturing your clients’ attention, visual content can be more engaging and easier to consume than text. Nearly 71 percent of marketers are using visual content in their marketing campaigns, and have taken advantage of the multitude of available tools. Videos are an excellent way to encompass text, photos and audio. However, a paragraph of text is only text and limited in its output to consumers.
When consumers are demanding more information than ever at times that are convenient for them, video should be viewed as more than an “add-on” to your campaign. In fact, it’s predicted that nearly 74 percent of internet traffic will be video by 2017. This is the time to take advantage of the medium. But what should your videos contain? The choices are endless. Peruse the comments on your blogs and dig through your emails to uncover which questions are most common among your consumers. Make a video that answers those questions or provide “how-to” tips and tricks for solving a problem.
Prediction 3: Content Marketing Goes Mainstream
Content marketing has already gone mainstream, but it will also begin to shift from organic to paid promotion. With the rise of paid promotion platforms such as Facebook, Outbrain and other native advertising methods, users will become exposed to more and more businesses paying for attention. That’s not to say organic results will fall by the wayside, but they have become less predictable than paid methods. Facebook has realized much of this success thanks to a rise in mobile advertising, which accounts for 80 percent of its ad revenue.
The paradigm shift from organic to paid also means a shift in content marketing and native advertising. Native advertisements may appear similar in their style to the original text, causing some audiences to find them deceiving. But if you’re looking to make an impact and increase brand awareness, native advertising tends to yield favorable results. Whichever paid method you choose, you’re certainly following the trend of the future.
Are you looking to put these tips into practice? Celarity can help. We can find the talent you’re looking for thanks to our relationships with trusted partners and our dedication to placing individuals in fulfilling careers. Contact us today to learn more, or start looking for talent!
