Marketing trends keep on changing, and if you can stay on top of what your customers want, you will be able to stay ahead of the pack. For any business or brand to grow and build the correct audience, content marketing is essential. Increase conversions, enhance sales, create leads, expand an email list, are all much more onerous without it.
According to Statista, content marketing revenue surpassed $42 billion in 2019 and is still rising. Many companies will prioritize their content marketing approach if you don’t, and you will be left behind.
Focus on the latest content marketing trends and use them in your strategy to make 2022 the best year ever for your company. Here are ten content marketing trends to watch in 2022, following a turbulent fiscal year. Some of these may catch you off guard.
1. Put a premium on customer retention
You undoubtedly already know that quality content marketing is critical for attracting new customers, improving search engine rankings, and converting new leads. But few people discuss content tactics for maintaining existing consumers. To help you fix this, there is a list of content-focused strategies that will help you keep customers interested long after you have made a deal.
- Keeping your website up to date adds value to your consumers’ experience, which will persuade them to come back for more.
- If you are sure of your product’s quality, it is time to look at how people engage with it right after they buy it.
- Promotional information, compelling product highlights, and features, news about recent and impending changes, or any discounts that can bring distracted customers back into the fold are all included in email marketing campaigns.
According to statista, Global e-mail users reached four billion in 2020, and are expected to reach 4.6 billion by 2025.
2. Visual storytelling enabled by augmented reality (AR)
When content is conveyed through visuals, the human brain analyzes those visuals faster and retains more data. With this in mind, if you want people to remember and care about your business, you must incorporate outstanding images into your content. You can eliminate monotony from your communications and offer your customers the opportunity to want more.
Examine how augmented reality can be utilized to promote content.
- Create a real presence with your content by incorporating interactive features and introducing your customer to something fresh.
- Connect with your audience in a more personal way.
- Encourage audience engagement before, during, and after their experience.
In the year 2019, 68.7 million people used AR at least once a month.
Taco Bell employed augmented reality to foster a better sense of community by connecting people with live social media content. They promoted their company as a leader in innovation, especially in the fast-food market.
3. Artificial intelligence technology
Many companies start with little resources and they must figure out how to make the most of them. Data processing and investigation are sped up, thanks to AI technology, making decision-making easier. To achieve high productivity and enhance efficiency in business, AI integration with human labor is projected to increase.
Customers want businesses to respond in real-time. Content marketing methods will continue to include AI-powered chatbots. More tools for analyzing data and creating marketing material, such as optimized blog entries, will be available as AI technology advances. This type of automation allows employees to focus on more important responsibilities.
4. More people listening to podcasts
Educational podcasts are in high demand, and many businesses are set to get on board this year. There are already a number of popular podcasts geared toward entrepreneurs and businesses. Podcasts offer listeners great information on a variety of topics and have enormous potential as a content marketing strategy.
According to Podcast Insights, there are approximately two million podcasts and over 48 million podcast episodes as of 2021.
Content marketers can share their tales with the correct podcasting strategy. They can draw attention to the good aspects of products and services among niche consumers. Podcasts also work well with social media pages and can be used to complement blog content for consumers who prefer audio. Podcasts, unlike text content, have a human touch. Various qualities of the voice, such as tone and emotion, can be related to the audience.
The Distance podcast from Basecamp examines what it takes to succeed before spinning funny and inspiring stories from real-life experiences of entrepreneurs whose businesses have lasted a quarter-century or more.
5. High-quality search engine optimization
Consistency is required for SEO and content marketing. Content that is new, distinctive, and creative is quickly indexed and ranks better than content that is low-value and repetitive.
Since 95% of visitors only look at the first page of search results, it is worthwhile to optimize your content. Most visitors will not view your content if it appears on the second or subsequent pages.
Your content should be able to both entice and solve a problem for your customers. By using crucial keywords and focusing on certain visitors, you can create persuasive content. This is the most essential aspect in determining a page’s relevancy and ranking. The key to recognized content is brainstorming unique concepts and incorporating the most important keywords.
Search engine optimization and content marketing are not two separate entities. Both of them, in fact, require one another. Content marketing is only effective if it is SEO-friendly. When SEO and content marketing work together, they are a force to be reckoned with.
6. Documenting your content strategy
Many startups and established organizations have managed to execute content marketing without formal documentation throughout the years. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 41% of content marketers lack documentation for their content strategy.
The requirement for a defined content marketing plan will grow more important as content marketing evolves. It will assist you in remaining organized and efficiently executing your content marketing efforts in order to achieve the desired results in 2022 and the years to come.
Building a content marketing strategy manually, on the other hand, can make it much easier to bring on new team members.
7. More specialized content
One of the most difficult challenges for startups is to raise brand recognition. Thus, it is essential to streamline your content marketing plan so that it focuses on what your company does best and what makes it unique.
Staying informed about current developments that affect your niche is one way to accomplish this. Pay attention to your consumers’ ever-changing demands and supply them with solutions.
This allows you to accomplish three goals. To begin, you can develop content that your target audience is interested in. Secondly, it aids in distinguishing you from your competition and establishing your brand. Lastly, you may demonstrate your knowledge and competence.
8. Using voice search
As evidenced by the popularity of Amazon’s Alexa-enabled devices, demand for voice-activated entertainment is at an all-time high now and is only expected to rise in 2022. Millions of smart speakers have been sold worldwide, with the Google Home Mini speaker accounting for the majority. Because of the convenience of hands-free operations, almost every home today has a smart gadget that includes voice search.
A voice-activated assistant gadget is used by about 36 million Americans.
Every individual may relate to the human voice. As more people use voice search, content marketers are likely to incorporate it into their campaigns. FAQ content is one method to take advantage of the wonderful benefits of voice search. People are always going to have inquiries. FAQ content can be extremely useful if the appropriate keywords are used.
9. Increased individualization
Startups and established organizations may now learn more about their target audience, thanks to data-driven content marketing tactics. Therefore, the information you gather can assist you in creating the correct content to address your target audience’s pain points and goals at each stage of the buying process.
It is now easy to get information about your competitors. You can position your startup to build content to pursue your established marketing goals by carefully researching the types and forms of material they provide, as well as how your target audience reacts to them.
10. ABM becoming the preferred B2B marketing strategy
All B2B marketers used to follow the same sales funnel back in the day. Today, and certainly not in 2022, this is not the case.
Account-based marketing (ABM), rather than throwing a wide net with generic blog posts in the hopes of catching some leads, takes the exact opposite strategy.
Account-based marketing (ABM) uses highly focused, individualized programs to win over specific business accounts rather than depending on broad ads that are supposed to appeal to the entire industry and drive more site visitors.
The importance of quality outreach and relationship-building is emphasized by ABM. Rather than continually publishing blog posts and blasting email lists with generic material developed for a large audience, ABM best practices focus on customizing content and experiences for a specific group of people from certain accounts.
According to the ITSMA study, approximately 85 percent of marketers assessing ROI feel ABM outperforms other marketing efforts, and 41% of B2B marketers worldwide plan to increase their ABM spending. So maybe it is time to boost your ABM game in 2022.
Wrapping up
Businesses have a chance to stay afloat while the pandemic is still a concern. This is achievable with a well-planned content marketing strategy. These 2022 content marketing trends to watch are a great resource for businesses planning their marketing strategies.
Guest author: Jigar Agarwal is a passionate writer at AgencyMat. He wants to unlock the world of technology and social media where every day there is a new possibility as well as innovation. Follow Him on Twitter.