Content Marketing Trends

Not so long ago the digital marketing world was dominated by websites competing to produce the highest volume of content. Today, the focus is on creating quality content that is, first and foremost, of real value to a brand’s target audience. Success – aka a higher ROI – is now determined more by a company’s ability to connect in a meaningful way with its audience across multiple channels. As new technologies appear at a dizzying rate, you’ll need to adapt your own content marketing strategy if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

Current Content Marketing Trends

Today’s marketing environment makes it essential that you keep your target audience at the forefront of your content marketing strategy. Avoid getting crushed in today’s content game by keeping the focus on people, and by leveraging these current trends:

Top Trend: Interactive Content

Marketers are continually looking for creative ways to create engagement with their target audiences. The rapid rise of interactive content techniques like quizzes and games offers a fun way for brands to achieve their marketing goals while continuing to build customer loyalty and referrals. In a direct contrast to passive content, interactive offers a way for brands to better understand the preferences, feelings, and needs of their clients and customers. News sites, sports teams, retailers, and more have all embraced interactive content and have found it to be more effective than static copy.

A study conducted by The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and entitled “Deliver Peak Experiences from Interactive Content” found that 75% of the content marketers surveyed were planning to increase their use of interactive content in 2016. Some of the most interesting statistics the report offers up:

  • 81% of respondents say that interactive content is more effective than static at “grabbing attention” during the engagement stage.
  • 79% agreed with the concept that interactive content further enhances recall of brand messaging.
  • 79% agreed with the idea that interactive content can have re-usable value that results in multiple exposures and repeat visitors.

What may be most telling, though, is that 75% of those surveyed were planning to increase their use of interactive content in 2016. Additional trends include:

  • An increase in live, streaming content. With Facebook launching its own live streaming feature, the savviest marketers will be those who use it to interact with viewers in real time. Brands are able to field questions, listen to feedback, and even check out live reactions to campaigns.
  • Going beyond delivering content that meets the general needs of an audience and providing personalized digital marketing experiences. There is a contrast, though, between using a person’s name when addressing them and tailoring content that is genuinely individualized. The extra effort you make to do the latter can be the difference between a customer feeling a real connection or sensing they’re just one of the crowd.
  • For brands looking to build strong and loyal customers relationships, storytelling will serve as the foundation for all subsequent content plans. Not to be confused with a selling tool, storytelling gives you the opportunity to tap into the most important story of all – the human one. Remember that it’s your audience – not your product or service – that is the main character of any story you choose to tell.
  • To increase customer engagement, more brands will start to employ user-generated content. Not only does it earn your brand higher acquisition and retention rates, it costs you next to nothing to produce.

Conclusion

As the second half of 2016 plays out, marketers will continue to look for tools to help them more quickly reach their audience. They’ll also more aggressively adopt storytelling and interactive, live streaming, and user-generated content in their marketing plans. Highly personalized content will round out their strategy for finding and engaging a captive audience.

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