The holiday season is just a little more than a month away, which means the new year is just around the corner. As you begin to think about the big picture for 2017 — especially your content marketing strategy — it’s helpful to identify a few key emerging trends and consider how they might influence the way you generate and share content.
A recent blog post and podcast from the content marketing strategists at Convince & Convert featured five predictions and likely trends to keep an eye on as we head into the next 12 months. Whether you’re connecting with your audience through a simple blog or taking advantage of the very latest social media channels, these insights are worth remembering as you think through what’s best for your long-term content marketing strategy:
“Brands will get more creative with format.” The importance of visual content will continue to grow as search engine technology improves — not necessarily eclipsing written content, but making it a very significant piece of the puzzle.
“Messaging will become more niche.” This is all about fine-tuning your message. What are you really trying to communicate to your audience? Instead of painting with a broad brush, look for ways to specialize and dig deeper on more specific areas of interest.
“Video will reign supreme.” The Convince & Convert strategists quoted a recent projection from the Thai-based digital marketing firm Syndacast that nearly three-fourths of all traffic in 2017 will be video, making platforms like Facebook and YouTube more critical than ever to a comprehensive content marketing strategy.
“Content marketing will outshine traditional advertising.” While this may not be true across the board quite yet, there’s no denying that content marketing is extremely cost-effective — making it more important than ever for companies to accurately value their content marketing efforts.
“Consistent engagement will prove vital.” This one’s simple: what good is it to attract new readers and users if you’re doing nothing to retain them? Keeping existing audiences engaged and excited requires a proactive strategy and a watchful eye.
These predictions are just educated guesses, of course. What specific areas will you focus on as you develop a winning content marketing strategy for 2017? How do you see content marketing strategies evolving in the year ahead?
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