You cannot relax and stop paying attention to changes in the content marketing world because it doesn’t stop. It’s like there’s a new tool, method, channel, tactic, or statistic that you should use to refresh your strategy every month. Content marketing does include all the content forms you can see online, such as blogs, videos, podcasts, white papers, case studies, infographics, newsletters, emails, and so on. And regardless of it being the most effective marketing technique, it’s no good if you’re not analyzing and determining what form of content works, why, and where to publish.
Let’s take a look at the top trends in content marketing we should expect to see dominating in 2020.
1. Driving Engagement with Interactive Marketing
Today’s content marketing warriors are always on two simultaneous missions – to engage their audiences within a short attention span and fight the online noise and content clutter. To combat these challenges successfully, they’ve been relying on interactive content – games, surveys, polls, contests, interactive videos, and quizzes. Whether they are taking part in a survey or learning something, people engage better with interactive content. Add a good story with visuals and data, and you’ll delight your audience.
2. The Reign of Live Video Will Continue
It is expected that live video will grow to make 13% of all online video traffic by 2021. Live video has been growing steadily for years, and since every major social platform supports the format, it’s expected to explode in 2020. Live video presents an opportunity to introduce your business to new customers by letting them see it in action.
3. Micro-Moment Marketing
Also known as in-the-moment marketing, it’s about capturing the moment to win consumer engagement. What is the purpose of great content? It’s to be useful in the moment when consumers need it most. Brand content should be there whenever a customer needs to know, do, go, or buy something.
4. Content Experience Matters
Every piece of content is there to convey an experience. We can define content experience as the combination of context and content as well as the structure and interface of the content. Want to wait passively, hoping that your latest published piece of content will hit the right mark or get discovered at the right time by the right prospect? No, of course not. The content experience approach will give you more control than the content marketing approach.
5. Immersive Technologies Will Reach Their Highest Potential
Content marketers and brands will deliver content compatible with VR (virtual reality), AR (augmented reality), and 5G. All of these technologies are game-changers through which brands and marketers would be able to solve information asymmetry, offer deeper product experiences, and accelerate the buyer’s journey by reaching customers in real-time.
6. Building Content Around Long-Tail Keyword Phrases
There’s a lot more competition around short-tail keywords because they lack context. For example, probably every fitness and wellness site out there will publish content that competes for the “summer fitness” keyword. On the other hand, long-tail keywords are like semantic phrases, like real questions asked by real people. Google’s Hummingbird algorithm update encourages these conversational phrases over typical keywords. So, instead of searching for “summer fitness,” people might search “what are the best summer fitness tips to get fit for the beach?” To cater to this user behavior, brands and marketers will start using semantic, long-tail keyword phrases when creating content.
By adapting to the shifts in content marketing on time, you will make sure that your brand will stay ahead of the game. Expect these trends and adjust your content marketing strategy accordingly to welcome the year 2020 with open arms.
