Content Marketing Trends in 2018
What content marketing trends will there be in 2018? In 2017, content marketing as consolidated its reputation as a key marketing tool, but also as much more. Content marketing continues to be a key relationship building tool, and this will continue into 2018.
As with almost anything related to the Internet, digital marketing changes, and so what worked last year may not work next year. For continued success, you must stay on top of content marketing trends.
Social Media Moves From Distribution to Publishing
Once, we used social media to distribute our content, but this has changed this year. Social media platforms will no longer just serve as content distribution platforms but also as publishing platforms. LinkedIn have long served as a social publishing platform through its Pulse feature, and Facebook has kicked it up a notch with a publishing platform called Facebook Instant Articles.
Instagram and Snapchat now include linking features that allow users to read articles instantly with a simple swipe.
This means you may need to think about how you’re publishing – rather than replicating the same thing across your social media platforms, instead think about tailoring your content for specific social media channels.
Video Remains the Winner
If you’ve made a video post or started a live broadcast on Facebook, you’ll notice that engagement is unusually high compared to text posts, images or links. On average, videos get 135% more organic reach than images, status, and link posts. In fact, 82 percent of consumers surveyed for one recent study said they favor live video over other types of social posts.
This part is important: Just like videos are given preference over text and image posts, live videos are given preference over all posts on Facebook. The social media giant explained that the reason for this is that users spend 3 times more time watching live videos than normal videos.
Live video provides a great opportunity to establish close customer relationships; the real-time nature of live video makes people feel intimately involved, even when the video is being broadcast to thousands of people.
Although thinking of making videos makes you shudder because of the time and financial investment, live video won’t cost you anything other than a smart device and a great strategy.
Original Content Wins Every Time
Recently, it became public knowledge that tech giant Apple is planning to invest over $1 billion on original content. Valuable, original programming can help the company grow its audience and keep its current customers satisfied (just like all brands should!).
Google is also purchasing original content from media companies and brands to fill content gaps it has discovered using its search algorithm, and Facebook is investing large amounts of capital on original video. Not to be outdone, online shopping giant Amazon will be perhaps the largest investor of all. While we’re not exactly sure what all of this means yet, we do know that some of the largest brands in the world see original, consistent content as important.
If it holds true for the world’s largest companies, it holds true for small to medium business, too.
A recent study shows that building expertise in content marketing is the number one goal for marketers in the Asia Pacific region. This means that your content marketing must not only be original and of the highest quality, it should also showcase your expertise and knowledge in your field.
Your Content Should be Diverse
You may think that content marketing is just like advertising, but the truth is that it’s very different. Content marketing should be unique and consistently delivered to an audience over a long period of time. Think of content marketing like publishing rather than advertising.
Put simply, only doing one thing will no longer work. Successful organizations are using a spread of content tactics across a wide range of media types and channels. If you look at digital marketing as a whole, there aren’t too many tactics that can stand on their own without content.
Think about the types of marketing the average business does on a daily basis at different levels of the company:
- Social media posts
- Blogs and articles
- Email marketing
- Graphic design like infographics, brochures and hard copy marketing materials
- Videos, both pre-recorded and live feeds
- White papers and e-books
- Lead-nurturing and relationship-building campaigns
- Customer delight and knowledge sharing
- Podcasts
- Landing pages
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Even paid advertising relies on content to drive conversions.
How Will You Embrace the Content Marketing Trends of 2018?
Content marketing will continue to grow as the cornerstone of all marketing, driving strategies into 2018. Content is what catches the attention of your audience and builds trust with your brand.
So how will you implement a content marketing strategy in 2018? A first good step is to determine how much time and money you intend to devote to marketing, knowing that contributing nothing will lead to results that reflect this.