Content Marketing Trends For 2020
I don’t have to remind you of the drastic changes that are happening in the world. Content marketing is changing too because the way we interact online is changing. Needless to say, adaptability and agility are two of the most important components of success in digital marketing.
The adaptive content is the way to your customer’s heart. People come to social media to be inspired and discover things they care about. Content marketing can take many forms. The key to success is to identify what is effective for your business. Stay creative, test, learn, and adapt something new to your content strategy.
Let’s take a look at the 4 hottest content marketing trends for 2020:
1. Video and live-stream
Videos are more engaging, more memorable, and more popular than any other type of content. Video as a means of storytelling and advertising is no longer a nice option — it’s a necessity. If you want to increase conversion and exposure, a video marketing strategy is the only way to go. Live video removes the aura of fake that permeates pre-created content and gives users a chance to really dig deep and connect with brands on an emotional level.
2. Conversational marketing
Conversational marketing is a new, personalized approach to doing business online. It moves buyers through marketing and sales funnels by using the power of one at a time questions, a lot like a real-time conversation. Conversational marketing is nothing more than a conversation with your potential client.
The popularity of conversational marketing has a lot to do with the rise of instant messaging as a communication form. This is a great way to communicate with the younger generation. For example, generation Z expect from brands to engage in real-time at a personal level.
A survey by Oracle found that 80% of brands plan to use chatbots by the end of 2020, while a Ubisent study found that 35% of consumers want to see more companies using chatbots, which is interesting considering the practice is still quite new.
3. Podcasts
Podcasts are versatile, powerful, and informative. Podcasting allows brands to communicate to a captive audience. With lifestyle on-the-go, the power to have the podcasting on demand allows companies and brands to tell their story anywhere at any time, which helps to establish authority in your industry and create advocates brand along the way.
Podcast marketing can work for a variety of businesses — usually, as an educational tool for their target market. For example, if you sell marketing software as a B2B business, you can create a marketing podcast teaching your audience how to perform certain marketing tactics, or discussing marketing tactics with relevant thought leaders and influencers.
4. Voice search
Whether you’re a Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana, or Alexa user, you’re familiar with how your voice assistant delivers answers to your questions. Users want businesses to focus on voice search. In a recent survey, more than 50 percent of voice-enabled speaker owners said they’d like to receive updates about deals, promotions, and sales from brands.
The rapidly rising adoption rate of digital voice assistants across the world has obviously made a significant impact on search trends and SEO. Just a couple years ago, voice search accounted for an incredibly small fraction of total searches worldwide. Today, we’re seeing more than 20 percent of all mobile searches being done by voice, with many predicting that half of all searches will be performed using voice search by the end of 2020.
Understanding the nuances of the slight difference between a search that is typed and a search that is spoken can enable you to craft more effective headlines and focus on more specific long-tail keywords within your content.
Adopting a voice search strategy isn’t just about remaining relevant — it’s also about creating a unique and optimized customer experience that will foster relationships and build brand loyalty.
I need to end with one final — but crucial — piece of advice. Remember that value of whatever content you produce is zero unless it is seen and shared. Create exceptional content and build your audience. But if your content isn’t being shared through your audience and beyond, you are literally getting nowhere with your content marketing. And vice versa, when a customer is happy with their brand, they’ll want to share their experience with their friends and family.
