The new year is fast approaching and it’s a perfect time to not only look back on 2018, but also to look forward to 2019 in order to stay ahead of the competition. The following five predictions about content marketing can give you a huge edge if you work hard to incorporate them into your content strategy in the coming year.
According to Facebook, people are three times more likely to watch a video being broadcast live than a video that was recorded prior to being uploaded. But there’s a discrepancy between supply and demand since only 28% of marketers report using live video in their marketing strategy. Perhaps the hesitance comes because people are worried about putting something out there without the chance to edit and perfect it. Let 2019 be the year your brand let’s go of that fear. Live video is an opportunity for brands to show their authentic and spontaneous side and it’s a proven effective marketing tool that consumers want to see more of in the coming year.
People use language differently when they’re speaking the words rather than writing them. With the growing popularity of digital assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, more and more internet searches will come in the form of voice search. Already, 55% of teens and 41% of adults say they use voice search functionality daily. If you’re using the same keyword research for traditional search and voice search, you’re not going to be as effective in 2019 and beyond because voice search is more likely to emphasize location and long-tail keywords.
Demand for original content is growing and brands that can deliver that original content to consumers will have an advantage in 2018. Keep in mind that content consumers will come from all stages of the buying process–some will know little to nothing about your brand and what it offers and they may not even know that they need or want it. Others may be aware but still considering, and others will be on the fence to buy but looking for reasons. Publishing original content targeting the audience in each stage of the buying process must be a big priority next year.
The days of winging it and hoping for the best are over when it comes to content marketing. There’s simply too much content being published daily for brands to expect to be noticed just for putting content out there. Content marketing today needs data-driven decisions and a slew of tools spanning all of the platforms that brands are using to disperse content. Make it a goal for 2019 to invest more into analytics and make it a goal to adjust your content strategy as needed based on what that data you’re investing in is telling you.
Content marketing used to be synonymous with having a blog on your company website. Today brands use Youtube, social media, email, and many other channels to distribute content to consumers. That trend will continue into 2019 with an even great emphasis on multi-channel content marketing. It isn’t enough to just use one or two channels for publishing content. Not only should you be adding more channels, you need to make sure that all of these channels are working together to drive results.
Think outside the box when it comes to content marketing in 2019. Micro content in the form of tweets and texts messages is growing in popularity and use of less traditional content marketing channels may be just what’s needed to stand out in 2019 which will be the biggest yet for the content marketing industry.
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