Bill Gates wrote an essay in 1996 entitled “Content is king.” He said that “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” It’s indeed happening now. Content marketing is a necessity for any modern brand. It’s a strategic marketing approach. Creating valuable and relevant content to attract and keep a defined audience. In this way, one educate people to know, like, and trust a business. Ultimately, it aims to drive profit.
What does content marketing mean for your business?
Have you ever wonder how Buffer and Hubspot made a name in the online world? How does Zomato acquire 1.3 million followers? And how the iconic Rolex is rocking Instagram? Every marketer knows that content marketing works. But they are confused about how to measure it. Here are three 2019 statistics to prove it:
- Content marketing is a great way to get your brand known. It helped 86% of marketers increase their brand awareness.
- Online content is the easiest benchmark to educate your clients about your brand. 70% of them prefer to learn a product through written content.
- Well written content wins customer attention and eventually build brand loyalty. 75% of marketers gained credibility and trust using them.
4 Content Marketing Trends to Watch This 2020
There’s a lot of content marketing strategies that exist today. The needs of the audience are constantly changing. It’s up to marketers to take creative chances. Knowing these 4 Content Marketing Trends this year can give you insights on creating more effective content.
Video Content
54% of the audience today wants to see more video content on a brand. Popular video platforms like YouTube, Tiktok, and Twitch continue to gain huge followings. Marketers should include video creation on their strategy. Tiktok, Lasso, and Bytes are some platforms where you can create short clips. They are low-budget but have more organic reach. The easiest way is to try out Facebook Live and Instagram Live. These streaming can better connect one with the audience in real-time. It is important to make sure that videos are properly formatted for each platform. Square videos work well on Facebook, while vertical videos work better on Instagram.
Voice Search
People get more convenience using voice-powered assistants. Voice interactions are becoming a part of daily routine. Microsoft now powers voice search in Windows 10 using Cortana. Amazon’s Echo replied to questions or control home devices using voice command. It’s expected that half of the online search this year will be using voice commands. What people type on Google is different from what they would speak. Marketers should expect the audience to query conversationally. Refocus content based on natural language, longtail keywords, and popular jargon. Search for “near me” business is also popular on voice search. Be sure to update contact numbers and location. It is also best to drop duplicate contents.
Augmented Reality (AR)
Innovative campaigns give way for augmented reality. Users enjoy adding fun visual content to their photos and videos. The augmented shopping experience is now a big hit in the retail industry. An IAB projection showed that there will be 77.7 million AR users this year. AR can be another tool to drive sales. Marketers can use AR to create compelling product demos. The audience can try to make up on or model clothing items using AR scenarios. A virtual tour of a location gives the prospect a clear experience of what’s waiting for them. Through an AR scan code, it will be easy to provide your complete product line and information.
Chatbots
Consumers now have choices on the way they communicate. Most prefer chats to get the answers they need at their most convenient time. 82% of consumers rate “immediate response” as important when they have a question. Nothing’s better than one-on-one human interaction. But marketers now have an easy way to better serve the audience. Using chatbots engage visitors in using relevant and timely context. Find ways to make things easy. Identify the questions most of the audience ask. If they are not sales related, think of ways to answer the query while still showing the value of your brand. Businesses are also using a chatbot in lots of exciting ways. One can request a Lyft ride using messaging apps. Spotify’s bot recommends a playlist depending on one’s mood. There’s a huge opportunity to win a target audience using chatbots.
Conclusion
Marketers need to repurpose towards content marketing trends this 2020. To keep up with competitors, one needs to keep up. Think about how you can take advantage of using video content, voice search, AR, and chatbots. A critical analysis will help you identify where to invest. Knowing these new tools, one can now have options to improve customer experience and lead optimization.
