4 Content Marketing Trends That Will Impact 2017

The world of content and digital marketing continues to quickly evolve and change.  Here are a few trends that are likely to continue and increase this year.

1) Video

Video has played a role in content marketing and telling stories for years. One of the pioneers in using video to promote and sell a product is BlendTec and they are still going strong with their "Will It Blend" campaigns.

There’s a reason that Google acquired YouTube in an all-stock deal worth about $1.65 billion and the video trend is becoming more and more important regardless of industry. Here are a few key 2016 stats worth noting from an article by Insivia.

• According to a report published by Forrester, including video in an email leads to a whopping 200-300% increase in click-through rate.
• 50% of executives look for more information after seeing a product/service in a video, according to Forbes.
• Including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%.
• 96% of B2B organizations use video in some capacity in their marketing campaigns of which 73% report positive results to their ROI, according to a survey conducted by ReelSEO.

Making video a part of your plan is a must.

The volume and quantity of content are on the rise and will continue to do so throughout 2017. Meanwhile, the quality is decreasing and creating a lot of white noise without much value. Therefore, your marketing plan should focus on quality and depth when creating content. In doing so, your content will rise above the noise, add value to your industry, and position you as an authority. Save your shallow posts and ideas for social sharing.

3) SEO changes and getting the basics right

Google’s algorithms are constantly changing primarily because they now have more data to incorporate into the equation. Just like any service provider, Google wants and needs their search results to remain valuable to the user. Therefore, they are indexing pages in a manner that delivers the best chance for a relevant search result. While it is becoming less about the keywords and more about who’s reading and who’s sharing, keywords both on and off the page are still an important part of the equation.

According to SEMrush, 50 percent of websites are faced with duplicate content issues and 45 percent have missing ALT data.

Using SEO best practices will ensure content ranks well in organic search. It also avoids penalties and allows your website to perform as a whole.

4) Managing a strategic content program

To successfully manage an on-going content strategy takes planning, process, and people.

• The plan is crucial and it must align with your main business objectives. Here’s more on why it’s so important.
• The process allows for efficiency and consistency. A solid plan has a lot of moving parts and the process is key in managing them.
• It's best to have a team that includes: a designer, a writer, a community manager, and a project or account manager. This is why outsourcing makes a lot of sense for many organizations.

A survey by Gatepoint Research and Seismic revealed that nearly 50 percent of marketing executives feel that their content management methods are either average or below average.

When your content program is not managed effectively, it can negatively affect the time used for to prospecting and sales process. However, when done right, it will align with your sales messaging and initiatives, as well as empower your sales team as opposed to distracting them.

Let us know if we can help you make it a successful 2017.