Top 10 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Know In 2019

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These content marketing trends will help you make the most of this cost-effective method of marketing your business in a digital world in 2019 and beyond.

Now that the internet-savvy generation rules the world, mastering content marketing is more essential than ever. Afterall as Seth Godin says, “It is the only marketing that’s left.” Probably this is why more and more brands are embracing it enthusiastically with prominent use of storytelling and content creation.

As the year 2019 is still young, it’s the perfect time for brands to reflect on the effectivity of their current strategies and to prepare a game plan. To help you with creating yours, here are the top 10 trends that you should know:

#1 Long-Form Content Is In

Check out this report by BuzzSumo that analyzed over 100 million articles in eight months and found that long-form content receives more shares as compared to shorter content. In other words, long-form content has higher chances of receiving shares and can act as a self-sustaining ad engine.

Pretty apparent, long-form content is among the favorites of the user and is expected to gain even more popularity in the coming years. Additionally, search engines are more fond of lengthier posts and reward them with high rankings which, in turn, will get you more readers.

That being said, long-form content does not mean wasting the reader’s time with irrelevant information. Instead, it aims to provide them with as much information as needed.

#2 Social Media

Facing tough times finding prospects? You could be missing the places where they potentially are – Social Media. If your brand is still aloof from radical social media, now is the time to experiment with it.

Why? Because this is what the trends look like:

  • At the end of 2018, Facebook already had 2.32 billion monthly active users (Smart Insights).
  • 95% of adults aged 18-34 are more likely to follow a brand on social networks (Smart Insights).
  • Active global mobile social media users account for 3.3 million in number with a penetration rate of 42% (Statista).

There is no better time to translate your content marketing strategy into your social media marketing strategy.

#3 Content Marketing Strategy As A Medium To Establish Authenticity

Does your content marketing strategy strive for brand authenticity? In case you’re unsure, let’s check the facts.

In the era of “fake news” and scandals, it becomes really tough for consumers to find a brand they can trust. And if given a chance, they won’t step back from rewarding them for the same.
At least this is what several studies suggest. Here are some key findings from one of the surveys conducted by Stackla:

  • For 86% of customers, authenticity plays a crucial role in deciding the brands they like and support.
  • Over 57% of consumers think that less than half of the content owned by brands is authentic.

Another study by Science Daily suggests that “consumers are willing to pay more for the products offered by businesses with a good reputation.” That makes it a no-brainer that content marketing can play a significant role in building a strong brand authenticity.

How to create great authenticity? Explore the true definition of your brand. How does it reflect in the mind of customers and how do employees define it? Once you are sure of your business landscape, shape your content marketing strategy to reflect the brand. Make it a great combination of text, content, and visuals. Use user testimonials to make the best of customer-generated content.

#4 Webinars, Webcasts, & Live Video

Time and again consumers have expressed their love for videos. To make the best of this favoritism, brands are continually thriving to incorporate videos into all the stages of content marketing.

What also makes them popular among brands is their ability to deliver varied content in the most captivating form. You can use them to drive awareness about your brand/ product or feature an inspirational journey of one of your customers. This form of content really makes the user connect with your brand without having to go through long-form paragraphs and articles.

If you are looking for tips and tricks regarding the same, here’s is all you got to do:

  • Be engaging and unique
  • Ensure mobile-friendliness
  • Don’t deviate from the regular, optimized schedule

#5 Strategic Placement Of Visual Elements In The Content

Want people to remember your brand? Content marketing with the touch of visual marketing is an exceptional aid. According to market leader Hubspot, people can only remember 10% of the information when read or heard. However, if this content comes in combination with relevant imagery, there are chances of 65% information retention.

On another note, BuzzSumo found that articles that have an image once every 75-100 words receive double social media shares as compared to the articles with fewer images. We don’t need to explain what you got to do now. Explore the power of visuals combined with great content, and you are all set to rock.

#6 Content Marketing As An Aid To Build Connections

According to Ambassador, 71% of the consumers who had good interaction with brands on social media are more likely to recommend it to others. But content marketing is not just about showcasing the best articles and videos. It also incorporates building a great connection with your audience and helps them to get to know the faces behind the brand. Simply put, it’s about personification. Here are some ways you can implement this trend as a part of your content marketing strategy:

  • Don’t keep your audience waiting. Did they connect with you via social media, blog, email, or any other medium? Make sure you reach out to them promptly.
  • Give some space to the faces that make your brand. Simply showcasing your products is not enough anymore. The audience looks forward to connecting with the people behind it.
  • Host a live chat over social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook is a fantastic way to connect with consumers in real-time. Alternatively, you can have one of the users as a question and get a response to the same in no time. Not only is this method pretty amazing, but also a cost-effective option to include in your content marketing plan.

#7 Chatbots

A use case of Artificial Intelligence, chatbots have come a long way from being a part of science fiction. As enterprises embrace chatbots in their processes, the market of chatbots is witnessing great growth. According to Grand View Research, the chatbot market is expected to reach USD 1.25 billion by 2025.

Support from the technical advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence helps it win the game not only at the enterprise side but also on the consumer front. They offer a quality-centric channel for the users to communicate with the brand while employing natural language processing in the most flourishing form. The grand popularity and advanced level technical abilities make it a cost-effective addition to your content marketing strategy. You can easily use it to engage users in compelling content and deliver them the value they seek.

#8 Ads As A Part Of Content Marketing Strategy

Were you always convinced that ads only form a part of digital marketing trends? You weren’t wrong. The idea here is rather to combine digital marketing and content marketing under one umbrella to drive sales.

Let’s accept it. Many times we just landed on the checkout page of a website after navigating from one of the ad copies. The takeaway is to brainstorm what made you click on the ad and what features you were looking for. What would you expect as a customer of your brand? Once you have a clear picture of the same, you’ll be able to device the ad copies that your brand needs.

Here’s how you should do it according to Hootsuite:

  • Know your audience
  • Set your goals and metrics precisely
  • Invest in quality content
  • Repurpose concepts from top-performing organic content
  • Employ learnings from previous campaigns to current ones
  • Don’t shy away from experimenting with new ad formats
  • Split test (Also known as A/B testing) for results

#9 Don’t Shy Away From Collaborations

Collaborative content marketing is not wrong. Brands can work together to build quality content and target it to the right audience. Complimentary business can aid your marketing amazingly to perform well on the content front. Find the brands that can complement your business and see how can you partner up to expand your content marketing efforts.

#10 Content Optimized For Voice Search

Voice search is more vital than ever. While SEO gurus and digital marketing experts are excited to upgrade their efforts, content marketers are adding necessary tweaks to their content. ComScore mentions that half of all the online searches will be voice searches by the 2020. Thus, upgrading content to match pace with growing demands is the need of the hour. Shape your content to questions, and focus heavily on the products and their whats/ whys/ hows/ etc.

 

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