Content marketing plays an important role in the business marketing mix. Major changes in consumers’ behaviour and needs for information, thanks to the pandemic, have catapulted content marketing trends and opportunities. In the past, content marketing revolved around using the right platforms for promotion, creating ads, and collecting data.
In 2023, it will be about creating an effective brand through compelling storytelling and measuring the success of that story by not only collecting but analysing data as well. With compelling findings from the Search Engine Journal, we’ve rounded up 4 trends to incorporate into your plan to enhance your content strategy next year.
- Understanding consumer intent
- Data-driven content planning
- Balancing authentic storytelling with automation
- Strategic content formats
Understanding consumer intent in Content Marketing
Get to know the intent behind your consumers’ searches. Understanding what people are searching for and why is essential in planning and crafting content that speaks directly to their needs. Being hyper-focused on just keywords and their performance may not be as prevalent in 2022 as in 2021. In 2022 the importance will be put on connecting with your audience in a more meaningful way.
Tips on how to approach this are:
- Tapping into real-time search insights to understand what motivates your prospects.
- Working through your customer’s journey for content gaps.
- Using keywords and data to inform the content that better meets each searcher’s intent.
Data-driven content marketing and planning
There are currently more touchpoints and interactions online than marketers can track and analyse on their own. Try not to aim for a perfect content strategy by the beginning of the year. Rather design your strategy to include people, processes, and tools that analyse and incorporate data to inform content throughout the year.
If you don’t have data-driven creatives in-house or as freelancers yet, start working on either up-skilling employees or outsourcing specialists to get the job done.
Balancing authentic storytelling with automation
Automation in content and SEO has been a big trend in 2021 and will continue growing in 2022. But, creativity and human connection are still the most important factors of content. Try to capitalise on the intelligence and efficiency of machine learning and AI without sacrificing emotive connections with your audience. Machines are important for data analysis from various touch-points and once it’s been collected, creating well-crafted stories from these insights needs a real human touch.
Related: The Guide to 2022’s Most Important Trends for SMEs
Strategic content marketing formats
Voice, video, and visuals via mobile & social will continue to be a big trend! Establish which ones will be the best mix for presenting your information to your audience. In 2022, challenge your team to think about how your stories and information are being presented.
Could your stories be more compelling as videos? Or could a podcast better work for your audience? Research your consumers’ online behaviour, observe your competitors, and get insights on your industry trends, then see which content formats are trending and meet your audience there.
On mobile and across social channels, consumers are craving interactive, short-form, entertaining content. Be the brand that meets them there.
Apply for Bridging Finance with Lulalend
We have solutions that offer your business a cash flow boost when you need access to funds sooner rather than later. We offer bridging finance that is unsecured, and easily accessible within 24 hours. We also offer the option to settle early without having to worry about penalty fees.
