The Future of Content Marketing

When there are so many different types of content emerging, such as VR and 360-degree video, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to thinking about a content marketing strategy. With such a variety to choose from, it can be easy to forget the basics.

The future of content marketing is certainly up for discussion when people claim that “the average piece of content that ranks on page one of Google contains 1,890 words.” In the discovery of this, Blacklinko theorised the following:

This correlation could be due to the fact that longer content generates significantly more social shares. Or it could be an inherent preference in Google for longer articles. Another theory is that longer content boosts your page’s topical relevancy, which gives Google a deeper understanding of your content’s topic.”

With all this in mind, what else should people consider when it comes to keeping their content marketing strategy relevant?

Good quality, relevant writing

With so many sites link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs. and trying to boost their page ranking, it’s inevitable that some of these sites won’t have the highest quality of writing. Keeping the writing standard high ensures people won’t bail after reading a poorly slammed together first paragraph. It’s been argued that content really is king and cannot be neglected for the sake of grabbing visitor’s attention quickly. However, Marketing Donut also mentions the following:

Today, effective marketing is all about creating high quality content and sharing this across the web. By quality content we don’t just mean information that is well-written or artfully produced. We mean information that is first and foremost of real value to your particular client base.”

Make it evergreen

With so much content circulating the web, there will be some pages and sites that sink to the bottom faster because of their use-by-date. Content that has expired in relevance will struggle to keep getting seen. Therefore, making a conscious decision to produce content that won’t be irrelevant after a month or two will add to the exposure of your site.

Keeping visitors returning is referred to as generating ‘compound returns.’ Having temporarily relevant news pages, or ‘temporal’ content is absolutely fine, so long as it is balanced with some content that will continue to be evergreen.

Make it uniquely you

Neil Patel suggests that, in order for something to be completely unique, it needs a personal touch. The reason for this is, because so many people are blogging and talking about the same thing, everything becomes homogenised very quickly. This can seem intimidating when you consider that there are over 400 million blogs currently in the ether. Adding your own personal identity, stories and brand to an article separate it from each generic approach.

Embrace video and immersive content

If you have always owned a written blog it can be tempting to shun the more modern forms of content marketing. However, the stats would suggest that this is a naïve decision. Even though it may seem a far-fetched means of content marketing, VR content creates a 17% increased emotional responses compared to 2D experiences. If using augmented reality is far beyond your means, then perhaps investing in video equipment should be considered.

Vidyard reported that large businesses post roughly 33 new videos per month and a whopping 87% of marketers use video in sales strategy. The reason for this is that according to stateofdigital.com – 78% of people watch videos online every week, which can increase conversionA conversion is a desirable result on a website that leads to an action such as completing an order, filling out a form, or simply clicking on a link. rates on a website’s landing page by 80%.

Update your old content

What if your old content could join the future of content marketing? If you have content that previously did well, then updating it with the previously mentioned techniques could help it join contemporary trends. If you had an article that achieved a lot of visitors when it was first released, then updating it with infographics or video will bring it to a younger audience.

Changing the basics, such as titles, internal and external links, media, meta-description and CTA also helps update the information. Letting relevant content fall under the radar by not updating it is wasting potential views and revenue.

On top of all this, it’s good to remember that the fundamentals still apply. Keeping your social media platforms up to date, and breaking up the content with infographics and interesting imagery is more likely to bring people back to your site.

A digital marketing agency, such as Click Intelligence, will be keeping its eye on what lies ahead of the curve for content marketing. Reaching out for advice and some expertise is always recommended when it comes to content marketing effectively.