7 Content Marketing Trends You Need To Focus On This 2015
We now live at a time when everyone is a publisher. That’s because the Internet is redistributing power from content producers to audiences. While our lives become increasingly digital, the lines between publishing and content marketing continue to blur. Times change so fast and Content Marketing is now at the core of every marketing strategy you can think of.
Content Marketing trends and strategies can change from year to year as brands find new ways to reach audiences using platforms and websites they’re interacting with most. While we struggle to keep pace with the changes, it gives us a challenge to stand out in the field of how we tell and share our stories with our audiences.
Posted originally on Forbes, John Rampton tips us on seven unmissable ways Content Marketing is going to change in 2015. Consider these trends when you publish your content this year, to help you earn shares and make a name for your business.
1. Increased spend on content creation.
It’s quite clear that digital marketing has become the backbone for most B2C and B2B enterprises in the private sector. And with content marketing leading the way as the top priority for the majority of these businesses, it should come as no surprise that spending on high-quality content creation will grow in proportion with digital marketing budgets this year. In fact, one report suggests the average enterprise brand plans on dedicating a hefty 15 percent of their marketing budgets to content creation. Companies that are unwilling to adjust their budgets accordingly may find it difficult to compete in an already content-crowded market.
2. Enhanced focus on personalization.
There are two primary causes of the enhanced focus on content personalization going forward: (1) social networking sites and evolving technologies are providing marketers with incredibly sophisticated data and insights, and (2) there’s so much saturation on the web that businesses are being forced to search for ways to separate themselves from the competition. According to Dr. John Knight at Hand Wrist Doc, “We’ve discovered firsthand that our patients respond much better to the highly-personalized content our website now offers, as opposed to the generic site copy we invested in just a few years back.” Other businesses in varying industries will repeat that sentiment in the coming months.
3. Better use of visual content.
All you have to do is look at the direction of social media to understand where the future of content lies. Over the past couple years, internet users have flocked towards images, videos, and graphics – and the move appears to be permanent. Visual content performs much better than static text and the content marketing field will be forced to appeal to these demands. This trend also goes hand in hand with the evolution of content as a storytelling medium. Visual content is much more conducive to telling brand stories than text – which means videos and infographics will only increase in importance this year.
4. More access to measurement tools.
Folks in the analytics industry are anticipating the coming months with plenty of excitement – and much of that is due to the fact that content marketers are falling in love with measurement and testing tools. Specifically, content marketers are learning to love A/B testing. The good news for you is that A/B testing is incredibly easy – yet produces sophisticated results. There are dozens of cost-effective options on the market and all of them are fairly easy to understand.
5. Content will go local.
Google has been pretty vocal about their desire to appeal to mobile users and 2015 promises to be a major turning point. Content will no longer simply be adapted for mobile consumption – it will actually be created with mobile in mind. Content marketers will allocate significant portions of their budgets towards reaching local users while they’re out shopping, riding the bus, or grabbing lunch. The end result will be much more personalized and unique.
6. Lines between content and social blur.
Content marketing and social media are already so intertwined that it can be difficult to separate the two from each other, but those lines will content to be blurred and erased in 2015. Savvy marketers understand that social media presents the best opportunity for organic growth and will heavily invest in developing brand advocates that share, ‘like’, and interact with content. I personally have been focusing a lot on that with my latest startup Due. With the recent focus on social, it’s crucial for your business to succeed online.
7. Collaborative marketing rebounds.The seventh and final major change content marketing will undergo in the coming months is related to collaborative marketing. While many brands took a step back from guest posting in 2014, some are regaining confidence in collaborative efforts and expect to reinvest in mutual relationships with other social media users, blogs, websites, and industry publications. This one will be interesting to keep an eye on – as Google will continue to crackdown on spammy links – but is likely good news for businesses and brands that have good connections.
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