Many YouTubers pull in more views than entire cable organizations on a regular basis, creating a fertile advertisement base for those who market online.
This year has been a year of change, and that’s putting it lightly. Content marketing has been on the rise since the invention of the internet anyways and has continued to evolve as the medium has reached its adolescence. For over two decades now, content creators have had the unparalleled ability to put their products and/or service in front of interested parties, and the social upheaval of 2020 has only seen more people rely on the internet and internet-based content than ever before.
This presents many new opportunities for content marketers as the industry continues to evolve going forward. With all of this in mind, we think it’s the best time to take stock of marketing trends, both ongoing and emerging, so savvy marketers know which area to keep an eye on for content promotion opportunities.
We’ll start by going through about nine of these trends, explaining what they are and how you can implement them in your own business. We’ll then finish with twenty-five shorthand content marketing stats that every marketer should keep in mind. If you’re interested in further reading, we’ve included references to where we’ve aggregated all of this information from.
Video and Livestream Content Dominates
This one shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. It’s a slow-cooking trend that has been in play since the internet first became mainstream and is largely based on the meteoric rise of platforms like YouTube.
There has been a consistent, drastic shift in how younger people consume content, with many preferring online content over cable.[2] Many YouTubers pull in more views than entire cable organizations on a regular basis, creating a fertile advertisement base for those who market online. A big exception is streaming services, where traditional TV shows and movie entertainment is consumed by the younger demographics more than cable.
Videos often stay up on their platforms for long periods of time, too, allowing them to circulate so that more people can see them, which is why there is a growing trend of advertisements being buried within the video itself.
With all of this in mind, it seems that brands are expected to produce video content of some form.[3] Failing this, live stream content has also become more popular. It’s become popular in many communities online, particularly through video gaming, but where brands are concerned, over 80% of consumers would rather see a live feed from a company over a static blog post.[4]
This means that companies should focus on video-format user-generated content, whether that’s live or pre-recorded, to garner interest online. These can be reviews of your product or service, including testimonials and demonstrations, as well as Q&A sessions and other interactive content that engages the audience and shows them that show what your brand is about.
Target video-hosting platforms and social media, from Facebook and Vimeo to Facebook and Snapchat. Having your own site that you can also host this content on, and link to it when your content is featured on other platforms is a plus. If you have more traditional avenues of marketing, you’ll be happy to know that it’s quite easy to convert video content into either written copy or audio-based content, speaking of which…
Podcast Listeners Continue to Soar
Audio-based content, in the form of podcasts, has also seen an increase alongside video-based content. In the last decade, the number of people who have engaged with podcasting content has doubled.[5] This number is only predicted to grow, especially as more recognize the trend and jump in on the action themselves.
It’s an especially accessible medium for those on the go, with many using podcasts as background listening whilst they work or perform other tasks. A larger listenership is one thing, but it also seems that the nature of the engagement itself has changed with audiences becoming more likely to engage with the content connected to the podcasts they’re interested in.[6]
As we explained above, it’s pretty easy to transform video-based content into audio-based content, so it’s worth doing if you’re already producing videos. There still should be intentionality behind your podcasts, however. The worst podcasts are those that are unplanned and not full of content. If you don’t think your business warrants a podcast, you can identify other podcasts within your industry and appear on those for an episode instead.
Smart Devices and Voice Searches Influence Content Creation
Continuing on in the theme of marketing trends brought about by the advancement and democratization of technology, the advent of voice search and other smart device functions have opened a new and intuitive avenue that consumers use to find new content.
The use of voice chat is only going to become more prevalent as the years go on, so it’s a smart move for marketers to start targeting voice search results.[7] There’s still some improvement here, as anyone who’s had experience with voice searches no doubt knows, as they answer correctly about 60% of the time.
So, how do you optimize your marketing for voice searches? It begins with first understanding how these searches take place, since they’re quite different from text-based searches. Much like how older consumers will tend to type full questions into search engines instead of targeting specific keywords, it’s necessary to do this for voice searching. You can’t just bark specific words at the machine and expect them to know what you mean. Understanding the nuance that comes with these spoken questions is the key to targeting just the right audiences.
It also provides a wealth of marketing information if they’re using the voice search regularly, which is likely with how convenient it is. This means you can have more surveillance, so to speak, in how your content should be tailored to hit the right groups.
These continuing innovations only reinforce that you should have multiple marketing channels. Platform-agnostic marketing content will be able to find more people in more places, to the benefit of your business.
There is so much more to learn and we hope you will click here or on the image above for “the rest of the story.”
LegalReader thanks our friends at The Guerrilla Agency for permission to publish an excerpt of this informative article.
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