The traditional in-your-face selling long ago gave way to a more holistic and subtle form of marketing, known as content marketing. This art of doling out consistent, relevant and valuable information to the audience without seeming like an over-the-top sales cry caught on with consumers with the spawning of the internet and social media.
The connection with the audience is not, however, just a matter of a click (pun intended). A lot more goes into seamlessly building a brand loyalty within the accepted folds of the consumer’s intelligence. The changing face of technology and consumer behavior has necessitated the need for thecontent marketing strategists to put on their thinking caps to keep pace with the current trends or even think ahead to set newer trends.
Trends indicate what is in store and what can be expected: a phenomenon that is watched out by the trendsetters and the followers alike. We take you through the top five content marketing trends that we think will stand out amongst the rest for the year 2016.
- User-generated content
The content is definitely the king and will be the one that calls the shots in thisever-changing world of advertising;a content that focuses on the audience rather than on the brand. User-generated content (UGC) is widelygaining traction as users increasingly seek information from sources other than the company website. Consumers like to hear from other real people about the reviews of a product or an experience. Social media and mobile applications make it easy and simple for the users to express and share their views.
UGC with newer publishing options:
The audience is out there building content using Social media, Blogs, videos, images, Instagram, and many more. The social media is revolutionizing the concept of publishing articles in quicker and innovative ways with Facebook and Google each coming up with their versions.
So, as UGC trends high for 2016, it is up to a shrewd company to make use of the newer platforms to creatively engage with their customers and push their product.
- Short is out, long is in
Contrary to the popular belief (floated with the advent of mobile phones and smaller screens) that satisfiedthe shorter attention span of the audience, the verdict now suggests the opposite. Long-form of content is definitely topping the SEO charts and the user prefers to have a detailed explanation rather than an abridged version.
Google’s Knowledge Graph is about building a database that can be easily accessed when people search online. Google relies on the content generated online to build its knowledge bank. A study in 2012 revealed that longer texts on an average generated more backlinks and rankbetter. A longer content, therefore, has a greater chance of making it to the top of the SERP (Search Engine Result Page).
- Don’t ditch the research. The original is always in
In a bid to write lengthy articles, quality should never be given a miss. Research plays a great role in shaping your content and giving it the superior edge. You need to make a mark not by rambling along and filling your content with keywords but by making the content unique, informative and useful for your audience.
- Computer to replace human
Robotic algorithms have arrived and these can now generate automated articles. The articles work basically as a summary of lengthy descriptions on simple topics like sports or weather. While the more complex topics will still require the skills of a human, we might see the algorithms being used in more ways than one in 2016.
More than sounding the death knell for content writers, this is a sort of an alarm bell that signals a changing landscape. In a more realistic scenario, the revolutionary technology could join bits and pieces of information from all over the online world to create an interesting, homogeneous and fluid story. This could well be a future model for content writing.
- Appealing and interactive content
The use of images and videos will propel the content up the popularity charts. With faster connectivity and trend of reading-on-the-go, users want more but faster. A picture is worth a thousand words. A high-quality visual representation of your product will be far more impacting than a long descriptive text.
In the same vein, one can say that a promotional video about a product garners more interest and as far-reaching effects. Users connect better with products that touch their emotional side or tickle their funny bones. Innovative, high-quality videos give companies a chance to engage better with the audience.
As we can see, quality will race quantity and newer forms of technology will bring in a change in the marketing set-up. A company that wishes to remain ahead will need to constantly innovate while embracing change. Do you agree? Share your thoughts with us.
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