Marketing has always been and remains the cornerstone of business success in 2021. Whatever the scope and niche of your business, it is marketing that helps it connect with current and potential customers and generate benefits.
Today, marketing is a well-developed and large industry that covers a large number of tactics and tools. The best results can only be achieved through a comprehensive and consistent approach that includes a combination of all available marketing tools. However, some marketing flows are more important than others, such as content marketing, or content marketing.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing can be defined simply as the process of consistently publishing high value-added content, whatever it is (blog posts, newsletters, white papers, videos, social media posts, etc.) that the public wants to consume. This implies that brands act more like publishers and create content on a platform that is preferably theirs, like a website .
Content marketing is customer-centric and aims to answer consumers’ essential questions, as well as their needs and issues. It enables businesses to reach, engage and convert customers by creating content they consume on your own website.
So, content marketing perfectly bridges the gap between what you produce as a business and what your audience is looking for. This leads to substantial business value.
Content Marketing: Importance and Challenges
According to statistics, over 50% of marketing teams consider content creation a top priority. Why ? There are many reasons for the importance and value of content marketing in the overall success of a business. The content indeed fulfills a range of important functions:
- It helps build trust between your brand and your audience
- He answers your audience’s questions
- It provides information about your brand, products and services
- It helps increase conversions
- It generates leads and facilitates the work of your sales team
- Etc.
The importance of content marketing is indisputable, but are there some real challenges that can prevent you from creating and implementing the best possible content strategy?
In fact, there are a few:
- Regular changes in the search and referencing algorithms of major search engines, such as Google or Bing.
- Algorithm updates from major social networks and video platforms like Facebook or YouTube
- The regulations concerning the confidentiality of data and personal information
- Constant changes in key marketing trends and tactics
- Etc.
Thus, most of the challenges that marketers face when developing their content strategies relate directly or indirectly to an ever-changing environment. Mastering your content marketing strategy is never easy, as the demand for content is increasing all the time and new digital trends are evolving at a rapid pace.
So how do you overcome these challenges and best prepare for the coming New Year?
To prepare your content strategy by 2022 and beyond, let’s see the trends that your business should analyze, regardless of its category – start-up, SME, B2B, B2C, etc. – and its sector of activity.
The trends your business should know for its content marketing strategy in 2022
– Remote work and consumption become a new norm
Looking back twenty years, it’s hard to believe how much it is possible to do today without leaving your home. We can purchase products and services and even attend events directly from home. Students can study, train, and graduate without going anywhere, and businesses can set up full online services both on their website and mobile support. The health crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this process and it seems that “everything from a distance” is becoming the new normal.
Working from home is a big trend not only in content marketing but in many other industries as well. While it is neither new nor uncommon for businesses to delegate different content marketing tasks to remote workers, you can expect this phenomenon to increase further in this end of the year and into 2022.
And this for many reasons. First of all, this trend greatly helps marketing teams to ensure the continuity of their operations whatever the external circumstances, and without hampering communication within companies thanks to tools such as Slack, Google Drive or even Skype. Second, this major shift to a remote working format will help businesses dramatically reduce their content creation and marketing costs.
– The rise of AI
Artificial intelligence, its development and potential applications in all areas of daily life, science and business are among the most exciting topics of the past 10 years. This technology is developing rapidly and has the potential to change the way businesses sell and communicate, as well as the way consumers view their shopping. So it’s no wonder that artificial intelligence is among the underlying trends in multiple industries, and content marketing is no exception.
In terms of content marketing, AI can have multiple uses. It can be used to create better user experiences, for example by integrating predictive intelligence to collect essential information and data, or by deploying chatbots capable of interacting with customers. AI is even today capable of generating content and sending emails automatically.
AI has been of interest to content marketing teams for several years. Today, marketers already have many tools to take advantage of this technology for greater efficiency in their strategy. AI is expected to continue to develop and grow, making it a big trend to watch for 2022.
– Interactivity is the key
Another trend to watch in 2022 is interactivity. A significant change in content is to be expected, and traditional formats will give way to interactive content.
In today’s highly competitive environment, it becomes more and more difficult to grab the attention of users and stand out from the competition. That’s why experts predict that in the years to come, marketers will focus on generating content that users can actually interact with.
The main reason for the trend towards interactivity is that users’ attention spans decrease and it becomes more difficult to involve them in the buying journey. This is where interactivity can be used to your advantage, as an interactive content type can help users get more information about your brand, product, or service in a more engaging way.
– Natural referencing
Natural referencing, or SEO, is not a new concept in marketing, and it comes up in the trends to watch every year. But it will become even more essential in the near future.
Needless to say, having a business website in 2022 is crucial in attracting potential customers. However, just starting your own website or online store is not enough. In order to stay ahead of the competition and ensure their success, companies must invest heavily in SEO.
Currently, almost 55% of internet traffic comes from organic search. In other words, if your business is not using SEO and SEO optimization techniques to rank in the top search engine results, you may be missing more than half of internet traffic, and therefore necessarily missing internet traffic. potential customers. This fact explains why SEO remains one of the main marketing trends and the demand for better website optimization will increase further in 2022.
– Voice search
When voice search technology emerged a few years ago, it was quickly realized that it was going to become one of the key elements that would shape the future of content marketing. Today, more than 70% of users prefer to use voice search rather than entering their queries.
While the statistics for voice search are already pretty impressive, this technology is still evolving and will continue to grow in 2022 and beyond.
What does this mean in terms of content? In short, this technology is reshaping the whole concept of content creation. As the popularity of voice queries increases, the style and tone of content undergo major changes, and copywriters are adopting a writing style that is closer to conversation that matches the natural voice queries that users may make. .
Conclusion
The evolution of content marketing is endless. Each year, it is necessary to face new challenges taking into account consumer behaviors, digital marketing trends and the advancement of technology. To optimize your SEO, your social networks and your online presence, you will also need to embark on the path of engaging, empathetic and relevant content if you want to stand out.