Content Trends

Content Marketing, SEO and Digital Marketing

Top 5 content trends for 2017

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2017 is an exciting year for content. It’s finally the year where you can target each customer so they have a unique experience with your brand.

These 5 content trends are all inter-connected as everything in digital marketing is these days. And using them will make a big difference to your content marketing goals.

#1. Video content

Almost 50% of users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store.
69% of companies report their video marketing budget is increasing.

And 25% of consumers will lose interest in your brand if you don’t have a video explaining your product or service.

Video trends
Creating a video can be simple and inexpensive. Live videos are big now. And brands can use them to get a high level of reach on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, so take full advantage.

Ways to include video content

  • Turn sales materials into video format.
  • Show how customers engage and are helped by your brand every day with customer stories.
  • Have a helpful how-to video about something related to your industry.
  • Engage with customers via live video on Facebook.

#2. Personalization

Nearly three-fourths (74%) of online consumers get frustrated with websites when they see content (e.g. offers, ads, promotions) that has nothing to do with their interests.

Personalization these days is all about data and using it to shape a customer’s experience with your brand.

Maximize your ROI

When you offer your prospects and customers alike only what they have expressed an interest in seeing, you’ll be likely to get higher levels of engagement – and more sales – than you would if you blanketed everybody with the same content.

5 ways you can instantly personalize

  • Location
  • Persona
  • Behavior
  • Device
  • Referral source

What you can do to personalize

  • Use recommendation engines. They show people items they may like based on previous behaviors and other user’s who bought similar things.
  • Ask users in your email lists to specify their topics of interest. Or create special social media pages for separate lines of business.

#3. Cross-channel marketing

According to Econsultancy’s fourth annual Cross-Channel Marketing Report, 73 percent of respondents said that cross-channel marketing had a significant impact on increased conversion rates. But it is only effective if you know your target audience and their consumption habits.

The primary goal of cross-channel marketing is to create a consistent brand presence across multiple channels so that users can move seamlessly between devices and platforms to make a purchase.

3 best ways to use cross-channel marketing

  • Determine what the right message is
  • Find the right time to release it
  • Use the correct channels

High demand but still in early stages
Although there are several tools and resources to help, cross-channel marketing is still in the early stages, even with the widespread adoption of mobile devices. Consumers today are more connected than ever, and the need for quality cross-channel marketing will continue to be in high demand throughout 2017.

#4. Big SEO update – Mobile version of your website is indexed as the primary version

Google is busy rolling out their mobile-first index. Until recently, Google viewed web pages through the eyes of a desktop user, treating mobile pages as important, but secondary to desktop pages. Now, Google is indexing the mobile version as the primary page, with desktop pages being secondary.

Mobile-friendly features Google rolled out recently

  • The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) update allows users to access content almost instantaneously when the protocols are included.
  • App streaming update allows users to preview content within apps they haven’t even downloaded to their mobile devices.
  • Mobilegeddon, Google’s algorithm update from 2015 — it started giving priority to web sites that display well on smartphones and other mobile devices.

What you need to do

  • Make sure your content is optimized for all devices. Here are some tips on how to write for mobile
  • Make sure you use responsive design templates so the site automatically accommodates the device used to access it.
  • Develop an app for your business. Experts are saying that the mobile-first index is paving the way for app favoritism in the near future.

# 5. Content strategy

According to Content Marketing Institute (CMI), only 40% of companies have a documented content strategy. 57% of marketers have a strategy that’s either not documented or they plan to documents their strategy within the next 12 months.

That’s a huge opportunity for marketers and for content marketers. They can increase their insights and show a direct relationship beween content, business goals and profits with a documented content strategy. And it’s an upward trend for 2017.

Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends for 2017 report by CMI and Marketo

5 most important priorities in developing a content strategy

  • A plan to operate content marketing as an ongoing business process
  • A differentiated story value to deliver
  • Well defined business goals for content
  • A process to align with other sales/loyalty objectives
  • A measurement plan to provide insight and progress toward the business goal

Your turn
Have a trend to report that you don’t see here? Or have you used any of these trends and what were your results. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks.