Creating content that both engages readers and can be crawled and indexed by search engines is no mean feat.
But, when you consider that 70% of consumers are said to want to get to know a company through articles, as opposed to ads, it is well worth a brand´s time to try and strike a balance.
Search marketers have been witnessing a strengthening relationship between content and SEO over the last couple of years, what matters now is how this is being interlaced into their strategies in house; for clients as consultants; and where the shift is heading.
The exponential shift of SEO towards content means strictly content marketers now need to think more positively about SEO, too from a technical perspective as much as anything else. And as Search Engine Watch points out, there´s plenty of developments marketers need to get their heads around. Here are six of them:
1. Consumers are demanding answers
People are not spending their time online to be marketed at, not directly anyway. Brands therefore need to make themselves known in other ways, which is where content marketing comes in. This means dedicating more resources to content which the consumer can see the value in reading.
2. Influencers are becoming more influential
Creating clever, unique content is only half the battle – distributing through the right channels is just as important. This is where influencers come in; giving your content the credence it needs in order to stop your target audience in their tracks to read what you have to say.
3. Social media continues to act as the launch pad
More and more businesses are coming round to the power of social media in terms of amplifying content. This will lead to an increase of organic social media as well as social media paid advertising.
4. Original content to revive email marketing
Email has picked up something of a bad rep over the last decade, leading the medium to steadily decline as spam filters block more email. However, content marketers will seek to revive the flagging platform by adopting a more subtle approach when reaching out to consumers via email.
5. Personalised content will continue to hit the mark
Monitoring tools are allowing brands to gain an awareness of the precise needs and wants of their target customers. This is allowing marketers to put personalised content right under the noses of their readers; allowing the customer-company relationship to really blossom.
6. The growing art of reusing content
Simply presenting an old article with a different intro will not suffice, but brands that manage to rework existing content in new and interesting ways are reaping some fine rewards. It´s pretty cost effective, too but you´ll need to have plenty of good content to work from in the first place.
With the emergence of all these new trends, it is little surprise to find that content marketing budgets will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Have you set aside more for content marketing this year? What other trends do you think will materialise in the next six months?
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