MARKETING TRENDS
Whether you already have a digital marketing strategy or are working on one, you need to remember the golden rule of digital marketing; content is and will remain the king, today, tomorrow, and always. Every digital marketing strategy revolves around content. It doesn’t matter how fast your website or what SEO tools you use – if the content is your Achilles heel, say goodbye to your plans for driving engagement. To stay ahead of the curve, you need to keep an eye on the latest content marketing trends and adapt your content marketing strategy accordingly. To help you outshine the competition, we’ve geared up to bring to you a few game-changing content marketing trends in 2019.
1. Voice searches to increase
Thanks to the improvement in technology, the number of voice searches has drastically increased over the past few years.A study revealed that by 2020, 50 percent of all Google searches would be voice-based.CLICK TO TWEETAs speech recognition technology goes mainstream, the balance will tilt in favor of voice searches.
When designing your content marketing strategy, instead of just thinking about how your customers will type keywords, also consider how your buyers will ask questions into their devices. When optimizing for voice search, think about the words people use when talking.
Make sure your answers are concise and to the point. Look for tools that help develop a deeper understanding of how keywords can translate into questions. Because most voice searches are conducted on mobile devices, make sure your content is mobile optimized. To help search engines better understand your content, use structured data.
One of the best ways to optimize for voice is optimizing for local. To help your current and prospective customer locate you, display contact and location information in a place where visitors can view them.
Learn more about this in our 6 Ways to Optimize Your Content for Voice Search article.
2. Personalized content is here to stay
Personalized content helps you bond better with your buyers, giving them a reason to choose you over the competition.A study shows that 78 percent of buyers consider personally-relevant content as a critical factor when making purchase decisions.CLICK TO TWEET(Sidebar: Now this makes me happy because that means I still get to keep my job as a content specialist! Ha.)Lack of content relevance can drag down the engagement rate by up to 83 percent followed by a dip in conversion rate.CLICK TO TWEETOn the flip side, increasing personalization can boost consumer spending by up to 500 percent.
These statistics illustrate the important role that content personalization plays in driving conversion. If your content provides even slightest bit of interactivity, you can expect to see a rise in your consumer engagement rates. Personalized content helps you establish your expertise and build brand trust, which is necessary to stand out from the crowd.
When working on a personalization strategy, instead of believing on hearsays, go to your customers to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. Reach out to your customers by asking them about their recent experience with your brand. Request them to fill feedback forms that include questions about the things that they like and hate about your content.
Use platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to create personalized content (can be Q&A sessions and how-to videos). To create value, include simple software and tools in your content that helps your consumers accomplish critical tasks. When a new tax bill is introduced, for instance, you can provide an online tax calculator along with content addressing questions related to the bill.
3. Cross-team content marketing is the new buzzword
At the heart of impactful content is a great idea. Good ideas can come to anyone, even people working in different departments, which is why it makes sense to get inputs from different teams. Each team in your business interacts with your customers differently and can provide different perspectives regarding their expectations in terms of the content that they want to read.
Your content creation team should play the role of a facilitator letting other teams create content related to their duties. To increase transparency, create informative and engaging content that highlights how your organization functions.
To make your customers feel valued, upload meet-ups the team posts and podcast interviews with team members. Broadcast behind the scene videos on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook with wide reach; and post reports detailing your business’s recent successful initiatives.
4. More businesses to collaborate with other brands
More brands are collaborating with other players to create impactful content such as collaborative podcasts and case studies. The businesses can either upload the contact created through the collaboration to their blogs or hosted on a channel created collaboratively by the brands.
When looking for a partner to collaborate, make sure they offer products or services that relate to your niche, without competing with your business. Look for a partner whose marketing knowledge complements your area of expertise. If, for instance, marketing is your forte, collaborate with a business that has a reputation of offering world-class products.
5. More businesses to get influencers onboard
Influencers have a massive following on social media websites. Followers closely monitor every move that influencers make on social media platforms. One like or a downvote by an influencer can turn the tide on the business’s competitors or take the momentum away from the organization.
Businesses realize the power that influencers posses and have started roping in known faces to create compelling stories around their brand. To build brand credibility, get into an agreement with an influencer to create content on your channel. Make sure the content that is being shared is relevant and authentic.
5 CONTENT MARKETING TRENDS YOU CANNOT IGNORE IN 2019
We expand further on this with Influencer Marketing 101 – The Beginner’s Guide You Need to Succeed article.
