In recent years, content marketing is growing beyond our wildest imagination. Content is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and you could even say that we are witnessing its golden age. It is consumed like never before, on devices of all shapes and sizes. The game is constantly changing, though, and the competition is rising at a rapid pace, which means that success does not come easy.
The next level
Like it or not, to ignore content marketing today is to risk falling behind the competition. Believe it or not, the tech giant Apple is planning to invest around $1 billion. Google is purchasing content from brand and media companies, while Facebook ramps up original video production.
But, many startups and small business are also making leaps and bounds in the field of content marketing, propelled by much smaller funds. According to a recent study, more and more businesses (40%) are using a strategic approach to content marketing. What does this all tell us?
Well, that content marketing is huge, but also that it shows no signs of cooling down. Moreover, in the light of the efforts of big corporations as well as Google algorithm changes, the consistent, attention-arresting, and unique content has come into the spotlight.
Reaping benefits
There is hardly a better way than offering great content to stand out and spark the attention of the large audience. It gives you an invaluable chance to earn people’s trust and build a loyal audience.
Unlike traditional advertising, content marketing establishes meaningful relationships, ones that stand the test of time. For business organizations, this enables something that every entrepreneur dreams of: Repeat purchases and steady revenue streams.
Of course, there is no direct causality between investment and profit, but the correlation is strong. Also, there are many steps you can take in order to make the most of the content marketing and monetize your efforts. Likewise, it has never been easier to measure the content marketing ROI and ensure that you get the most bang for your buck.
Winds of change
The dynamic content ecosystem brings forth many exciting trends. First off, rich, visual-heavy content seems to be the new king. We are talking about videos, infographics, HTML5 and responsive web. It is clear that user preferences are leaning towards interactive and immersive experience, which is infused with programmatic flow and logic.
Furthermore, websites are still the cornerstone of content marketing. Social media hubs accommodate much of the content discovery, consumption, and production, but that is already old news. At the same time, new pillars arise as well because marketers are figuring out new ways of attracting the audience.
One of the prominent trends is the production of interactive marketing apps, such as capability graders. Namely, modern software platforms are capable of gathering immense amounts of data and even uncovering the user intent, which is the obsession of search engines as well.
Along the similar lines, we are witnessing the surge in the area of personalization tools that recommend content. That way, consumers are offered only the relevant content tailored to their wants and needs, one that is also served in “edible” chunks.
Optimum performance
SEO is still the key to achieving higher visibility and volume of traffic. However, this is not to say that content should be over-stuffed with links and keywords. On the contrary: Only delivering real quality and original value cuts it.
After all, Google is determined to squash manipulative practices and its algorithms are getting more sophisticated and suited for that task. So, find a suitable SEO tool to evaluate how your pages hold up and see where the room for improvement is.
Finally, bear in mind that mobile consumer use continues to grow, which means that optimizing content to smaller screen sizes poses a top priority. Nowadays, more traffic comes from mobile devices than from desktops, while the aforementioned apps capture an increasing number of users.
Hence, it is highly advisable to run a full-fledged audit to see how well your company is communicating with the mobile audience.
The list does not end here, but we leave it to you to dive deeper into content strategies and make strides towards you goals.
Ahead of the pack
As content marketing evolves and becomes more successful, it also requires more budget dollars and other resources. Thus, it is high time to step up and delight the users with stellar content production. Come up with a sound strategy, and fill out your editorial plan. Strive to stay on top of emerging and you should be able to tap into one of the most important growth channels of today.
