6 Things We Love About Content Marketing Right Now
Undeniably, content marketing has revolutionized how companies reach their customers. The ways and means of the operation may have changed through the years, but one thing remains true until this day — content marketing provides the "heart" of advertising.
Take a look at this scenario; a week before your daughter's birthday, you realize that you have not prepared a gift yet for your precious princess. You instantly dive into a spiral of bleak scenarios in your head where your daughter hates you forever. Then you realize that it is not yet too late. You pick up your phone and do a quick Google search on "best birthday gifts for a girl's fifth birthday." You come across a blog post that lists the top ten gifts, and while scrolling, you saw that stuffed animals are a sure-fire hit. You click the link in the blog post, which directs you to a website where you can find a great collection of stuffed animals. You immediately hit the checkout button and give out a sigh of relief because you know that your daughter will still love you.
Content marketing has been in play in that imaginary — but very likely to happen — scenario. A skilled content writer for a toy store carefully crafted an article that was made to attract customers. It is incredible to think that a content writer could make a purchaser buy from the store without forcing or convincing them to do such. That is the magic of content marketing: it is not about plastering ads in a potential customer's face, but instead, it is all about subtly guiding a shopper towards the product.
In today's world, where 85% of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase online, content marketing is a strategy that every company must never take for granted. In this article, we list six things that we love about content marketing in 2022. After reading this write-up, you may also get some insights on trends on content marketing as it moves forward and some heads-up for possible bumps that content marketing may encounter along the road.
1. Content Made for All
Content marketers must realize that the internet is a community composed of EVERYONE from around the world. People from east to west rely on the internet for their daily needs. Most online community members may speak English, but not all can. As a content marketer, it would be wise to cater to the needs of non-English speakers.
According to Statista.com, English is the most common language used online by internet users. Surprisingly, it only garnered 25.9%, and the Chinese language came second with 19.4%. This shows that if marketers only create content using English, a considerable chunk of the population is out of their reach.
Thus, making content available in different languages would increase the number of people you can reach and introduce your content to a whole new community. This makes your content available to all; the more, the merrier, right? Neil Patel's team surveyed marketers regarding the most significant contributors to their companies' increased traffic gains, and the top answer was the translation of their content.
Content marketing in 2022 is starting to become more inclusive. This step towards encouraging everyone to be on board in progress. It does not just extend a company's reach, but it also shows that everyone is welcome in the online community.
2. Watch and Learn
Nowadays, it is getting harder to get noticed by netizens. Relying on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media would not be enough to attract potential customers. As a content marketer, it is best to know what the trends are.
In a survey by YouGovAmerica, they found that 72% of consumers prefer videos to learn about products or services. Knowing this statistic can already hint that it is high time to switch from text-based content to video productions. After all, marketing is rooted in knowing what the people want and need.
This development in the preference of netizens is reflected in the 12th annual B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends research of the Content Marketing Institute (CMI). Based on their study, the top content marketing investment in 2022 is in videos. This shift from mostly readable content to watchable videos is an excellent help to people who are always on the go nowadays.
A good way to make the most out of this shift in preference is by reimagining your content. A blog post made for your company can be transformed into short or long video content in order to accommodate the taste of the current generation. This does not only help you be in line with the trend, but it also adds more content at your disposal. This availability of options is an opportunity made available by the affordances that today's technology brings.
3. Old is Still Gold
With petabytes worth of online content, you can bet that writers have already covered almost everything under the sun in the internet realm. With such, it would not be easy to keep on pumping new materials every single day. The key to this dilemma is mining old content you have made and turning it into gold.
Updating content gained almost the same statistics as videos in Neil Patel's survey on what has led to some companies' most significant traffic gains. This trend in content marketing shows that people are more enticed by relevant content and not just by novelty. You may want to look at the 2015 version of this article through this link. Visiting the web page can give you a point for comparison to see the trends' changes over time.
In addition, coming up with fresh ideas for content has always been one of the most significant challenges for a writer. Being able to improve rather than start all over again is a welcome change in the content marketing trend for us writers at any time.
4. Free tools? Thank you!
As the innovation landscape changes, technology becomes more accessible to everyone. This change includes the advent of free SEO tools. Though there may be some things that you will need to note, it cannot be disregarded that these tools can help content marketing a lot.
Gaining more traffic is equivalent to increasing profit. Therefore, knowing how to achieve such can totally improve your content marketing game. CMI suggests that 83% of B2B organizations involved in their study use analytics tools to assist content marketing. Thus, tools are definitely necessary for the trade.
In terms of keyword research, Google offers two valuable tools, one of which is Google Trends. This tool does not only show you what is hot, but it also tells you if an industry is getting less search volume or more over time. The second available tool provided by Google is their Keyword Planner. This gives you suggestions and Cost Per Click (CPC) data and click estimates. Ubersuggest is also an excellent go-to option. One of the valuable features of the tool is it helps you see how competitive a term is and at the same time tells you how many links the average ranking website contains.
Google Analytics can surely lend you a helping hand in content marketing in itself. You cannot ignore the information that this tool provides, since virtually all the actionable and vital data about site visitors, traffic, and more comes from this critical source. On the other hand, Google Search Console can help identify what drives traffic, making it easy for you to modify your content to gain more traffic. It is essential to observe changes to SEO or search algorithms as this is seen as an area that would be most important to B2B organizations in 2021/2022 by 62% of the participants in CMI's study.
There are a lot of other free SEO tools available out in the wild, and with just a few clicks, you can quickly gain access to them. In 2022, this advancement in technology makes content marketing more sophisticated and helps in understanding potential customers better. Indeed, as time moves forward, more opportunities are made available to make life better.
5. Content Marketing is as Social as Ever
When the pandemic hit us last 2019, people started to stop meeting each other in person. That did not stop socialization, though. In times like these, the wits of content marketers are tested.
To continue the quest of extending a company's reach, content marketers turned to mostly digital events. CMI's research tells us that the content asset that produced the best results in the last 12 months during their study were virtual events, webinars, and online courses. Indeed, content marketing will always be a peoples' game, so socialization is a must if you want to reach a wider audience.
Although in-person events have significantly dropped for the last two years due to the pandemic — 73% as compared to 19% — it is expected that people will soon be meeting each other face-to-face as most people around the world get vaccinated. Regarding budgeting, 52% of CMI's respondents expect to allocate funds for in-person events, and 39% go for hybrid events.
6. Content Marketers Now Provide Content Which Is More Human
Content marketing is indeed built upon a relationship or bond made between a company and its customers. It aims to capture the hearts of people. The marketers involved in CMI's study report have achieved the following successfully in 12 months: create brand awareness, build credibility or trust, educate audiences, and build loyalty with existing clients or customers.
This personal connection made between customers is what makes content marketing more human. Content marketers nowadays must talk to clients as people rather than just prospects. This is even more important during the pandemic as people would always appreciate a bit of heart in everything.
"It re-emphasized the need for authentic relationships, and to not take anyone for granted," which has been one of the responses which summarize the views of the marketers on their perceived post-pandemic impact. It is easy to say that one will be more caring, but it may be a bit more challenging to do. So how can one's content become more human?
As Sitecore's Jill Grozalsky Robertson tells us, "It takes a 10th of a second to form an impression, so there's very little room for error when it comes to catching a consumer's eye… In that short time, consumers cannot form a logical opinion about a brand. But they can have an emotional reaction". This highlights that impressions matter when dealing with customers. To build a good image, she suggests four helpful tips: do not do all the talking, be mindful of your tone, "dress" for success, and treat the customer like they are your one and only.
Will all this effort on focusing on clients pay off, though? The answer is yes. In CMI's study, 87% found great success when prioritizing the audience's informational needs over their organization's sales or promotional message. This shows that even if you set aside your sales or promotional message, everything will still work as long as you reach your audience.
Empathy has indeed changed content marketing. As marketers started making their content more human, it became more than just about business. This evolution in the content marketing landscape is truly a blessing in disguise brought about by the pandemic.
Conclusion
Content marketing has come a long way since it first started. When Benjamin Franklin promoted his printing publication through his Poor Richard's Almanack to today's marketers' use of YouTube, content marketing has indeed changed its form from print to text. Change is inevitable, and that is true in any field.
However, what did not change was that people remained the center of content marketing. Centuries may pass, but it will stay true that the core of content marketing is reaching out to people's hearts. In 2022, it's even more evident than ever before.
Translating content, understanding people's preferences, considering the social nature of content marketing, and ensuring that content is more human; all of these points out that marketers make content for the people. In a nutshell, what makes content marketing special nowadays is the intimacy that it holds. That is what makes content marketing lovable.
Based on CMI's study, accessing subject matter experts to create content seems to be one of the B2B organizations' current content marketing challenges. If you share the same sentiment and you're not sure where to start, Scripted can connect you with writers who can help you write great content for your social media platforms. Order social media posts perfect for your brand from Scripted's professional writers.
