Content marketing is an ever-evolving strategy that brands use to attract and retain customers. As trends change over time, it’s important for content marketers to stay on top of what’s working so they can adapt their strategies accordingly. Here are some of the top content marketing trends that we are leveraging this year to help grow our business.
Short-Form Video
Video content continues to grow in popularity across platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more. But in 2023, we’re seeing shorter videos really taking off as people’s attention spans get even shorter. We’re investing more in quick explainer and “how-to” style videos that teach viewers about our products in an engaging way in 60 seconds or less. These short-form videos are easy to make from our phones and help build brand awareness and credibility efficiently.
We’re also experimenting with fun TikTok-style videos showcasing our company culture and employees. The authentic behind-the-scenes videos perform well at helping humanize our brand. And the short length makes them easy for viewers to consume while scrolling.
Key Takeaway: Short-form video less than 60 seconds long will be a video trend that every brand should leverage in 2023 and beyond.
Interactive Content
Content that goes beyond plain text or static images to allow the audience to engage further works incredibly well. We’re incorporating more interactive elements like quizzes, calculators, configurators, and even augmented reality into our content strategy. These tools grab attention while allowing potential customers to engage further with our products and learn if they are a good fit.
Interactive content holds attention longer while enabling customized experiences, driving greater engagement and conversion potential.
Key Takeaway: Interactive content performs better as it enables customized experiences to demonstrate product value.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing continues to provide excellent ROI compared to other channels. But in 2023, we are being more selective with the influencers we partner with for branded content. Micro-influencers with smaller but highly engaged niches align closest to our target audience. Nano-influencers are also affordable options for partnering.
Provide the influencers creative liberty to highlight your products as it fits organically in their content style.
Diversify beyond standard sponsored posts. Some effective influencer content we’re experimenting with includes TikTok videos, Instagram Reels, Twitch streams, Snapchat highlights, and more.
Key Takeaway: Align with micro and nano-influencers to deliver authentic, creative branded content tailored for their loyal niches.
Purpose-Driven Content
Today’s consumers care more about the “why” behind brands when making purchasing decisions. We are focused on showcasing our company’s purpose, values and philanthropic initiatives through our content efforts.
Key Takeaway: Purpose-driven content spotlights your company mission and social causes, which consumers increasingly favor.
Educational Content
We shifted more of our article and video content to have an educational style versus a hard promotional sales angle. People consume content today to learn something or solve a problem rather than get sold to directly. Providing tutorials, guides, tips and industry insights establishes our team members as subject matter experts.
Educational videos indirectly raise awareness for your product value. But the primary focus is providing our audience with valuable DIY knowledge.
Key Takeaway: Create educational content like “how-to” guides to demonstrate your expertise while showcasing products organically.
Shoppable Content
Shoppable content that enables viewers to quickly purchase products featured directly within social channels will keep accelerating. Digital channels already drive a majority of purchases for many direct-to-consumer brands.
When viewers express intent by engaging with products featured in our content, remove as much friction as possible for them to complete the purchase then and there.
Key Takeaway: Enable frictionless shopping within video and social content to convert intent into sales directly via mobile.
Live Video Streaming
Live video continues to perform exceptionally well across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitch. The real-time engagement allows the audience to directly interact with our product experts in an authentic way.
Key Takeaway: Live video delivers authentic real-time engagement while providing fans with exclusive access and influence.
Podcasting
Podcasting continues its rise with over 30% of US adults listening to podcasts monthly in 2023. We recently launched an educational podcast targeting our niche to establish our team members as industry thought leaders. Not only does long-form audio content build authority, but it also enables driving website traffic, social growth, email subscribers and product sales.
Key Takeaway: Podcasting spotlights your expertise while nurturing leads and sales as loyal listeners engage further with your brand.
Personalization
Many consumers feel marketed to enough already online and on social media platforms. Breaking through that banner blindness requires better personalization in 2024. Through zero-party data collection efforts like surveys and website engagement tracking, you can tailor messaging, offers, and content recommendations to each visitor in real time.
Personalized push notifications also come across better than generalized blasts. We craft custom notifications highlighting products that align with their expressed interests or past purchases.
Key Takeaway: Personalize content recommendations, messaging, offers, and creativity to each customer using zero-party data like surveys to improve results.
User-Generated Content
While branded content and influencer partnerships drive results, user-generated content (UGC) on social media often outperforms both. Actively encourage customers to create TikToks and Instagram Reels reviews that highlight their genuine experience unboxing or using your products.
The authentic content holds more weight in inspiring potential customers on the fence. And UGC costs practically nothing while reaching new audiences as fans actively share across their own channels.
Key Takeaway: Encourage and curate customer social reviews and visual UGC, which converts exceptionally well via third-party social validation.
Recycling Evergreen Content
Creating excellent content takes significant time and effort. So once we complete an effective blog post, video or podcast episode, we want to maximize its total lifespan and value. Our team actively recycles evergreen content across platforms by repurposing it into articles, snippets, quotes, stats, infographics, video clips or audio snippets.
We also give older yet relevant content new life through promotion on emerging channels. For example, a detailed tutorial article may become shortened into multiple TikTok or Instagram Reel videos. This content recycling allows reusing assets continually in new ways.
Key Takeaway: Recycle and repurpose evergreen content across platforms to improve total ROI.
In Conclusion
As consumer attention spans shrink across noisy digital channels, brands must continually evolve content strategies that break through. The trends we covered today like short-form video, shoppable posts, live streams and UGC perform exceptionally well at engaging modern audiences.
They enable showcasing products in helpful or entertaining ways while building authentic connections with fans. Experiment across these content formats while tracking performance data towards actual business objectives.
Stay nimble to double down on what moves the revenue needle specifically for your niche and audience. With consistent testing and optimization, your content will drive measurable results while keeping customers engaged for the long haul.
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