Keeping pace with internet marketing trends can feel like a never-ending race that you can’t win. In a sense, that’s true. Digital trends change quickly, with newly formed tech companies popping up all the time and causing a stir. Take Pinterest, for example. A relative content marketing newbie, Pinterest has quickly grown in the number of users on the site, and how the visual platform has influenced marketing in general.
Most businesses know that content marketing should comprise at least a portion of their strategy to market their business. That perception holds true across the country, with the majority of businesses already focusing beyond whether or not to do content marketing. Now, marketers are turning their attention to the “how-to” of content marketing, figuring out steps like scaling content creation and targeting the right audience.
No matter where you are on this spectrum, it’s helpful to know content marketing trends for the upcoming year. Who knows? Some of these trends may give your company the guidance it needs to stay current.
Here’s what the experts are saying.
According to Hubspot, a marketing software company, scaling content and measuring ROI are two important content marketing trends. With businesses green-lighting content marketing strategies, the focus will shift to proving ROI. Hubspot believes that “getting the initial pitch [to company execs] right and setting the correct expectations are fundamental to making your content plans successful,” because content marketing takes time—longer than pay per click or SEO, for example.
To scale content, and make content marketing doable and successful over the long haul, it’s important to create a plan for generating content without sacrificing quality. With more companies creating content, the deluge of content on the web will make the quality of the pieces one of the deciding factors in whether anyone pays attention to it.
Forbes featured an end-of-year article promoting seven content marketing trends for 2014. Of note are its expectations for mobile marketing’s takeover, prompting desktop use to take a huge hit. The article also confirmed the importance of quality production at scale, cautioning businesses to put the power of content marketing to work with a “personal and customer-focused approach.” Another trend for 2014, location-based content marketing will piggy back on the rise of mobile device use, giving brick-and-mortar businesses a distinct edge.
Social Media Today, an online news source for all things social, confirms a much-needed component for content marketing’s ultimate success and longevity. Yahoo has acquired Katie Couric, a leading broadcaster, to act as Yahoo’s Global Anchor. This move brings credibility and authenticity to online content, confirmation that the quality of content matters, whether you’re a news source, business or non-profit organization.
Perhaps Andrew Davies, co-founder of idio, says it best in his article “2014: The year content marketing finally grows up?” Davies says, “Content marketing has the potential to utterly revolutionize how we communicate with customers but if we don’t start honestly looking at new ways to put our content to good use, it won’t be a ‘happy’ new year for your customers or for your [business].
What’s your plan for putting content marketing trends to the test in the coming year?