8 Content Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022

Content Marketing Trends:- The power of content is visible in the present scenario. It has the potential of generating a lot of revenue, market, and brand awareness if managed properly and utilized correctly. A successful digital marketing strategy includes using fresh content that can adapt to changing policies and market trends. 

The ongoing Pandemic situation has further changed the way of creation and distribution of content. The year 2021 has brought in fresh concepts and standards for content marketing. Any marketing campaign is incomplete without content which is an essential part of your marketing campaign. 

It is the first gateway for businesses to engage with their customers. Content in the form of text will always be the basis of making a search. Therefore it is essential to make a descriptive website so that it ranks well in search.

Video content marketing will take over others

The impact of video-based content is not hidden by marketers today. Video content marketing plays a huge role in marketing, and as a result it has grown significantly in the last couple of years.

Video content is being consumed on social media platforms like never before. Moreover, 83% of marketers believe that video is becoming more and more essential, thus offering good ROI. This hints at a new trend of more businesses introducing video content in their online marketing strategies, especially B2B.

Video streaming platforms like YouTube have become the hub of searching information after Google. Users search almost everything on YouTube, from DIY (Do It Yourself), how-to, product reviews, recipes, tutorials, etc. Apart from YouTube, video marketing is also popular on other social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. 

Let’s have a look at some of the useful statistics on video marketing-

• 96% of people have viewed an explainer video to gain more knowledge about a product or service.
• 84% of people believe that video on a particular brand has influenced their buying decisions.
• 86% of people prefer viewing more videos from brands.
• Nearly 70% of B2B buyers and analysts consider videos while deciding to make a purchase.

Even after such compelling evidence supporting the power of video content, many businesses are not giving the fair share to video marketing. 

This is due to-

• Lack of technological know-how
• Lack of resources
• Time constraints 
• Adequate  budget  

From Keyword Research To Building Backlinks And Over To Expertise

The ability to convey well-researched content having depth on your website is the key governing factor. Earlier Google emphasized link building or backlinking. Backlinks or one-way links/ inbound links or incoming links are links appearing on a website that directs to another page of a different website. 

Pages with a high number of backlinks have a good organic reach. Backlinks inform search engines that the content carries credibility and quality. More backlinks mean a better ranking in search engines.

But things are changing now since the depth of expertise is becoming more important than other factors when it comes to authority in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Soon the machine learning and AI (Artificial Intelligence) driven algorithms of Google will learn that links bear not much relevancy over well-researched content.

Therefore the critical areas of focus will be-

• Content that fits well into the context of your website.
•  Emphasis on the E-A-T (Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness) and YMYL (Your-Money-Your-Life) rules.
• Skill in terms of well-presented research and graphics that engage readers. 

More Preference to User-Generated Content

Today, UGC (User-Generated Content) is preferred by the audience, be it video content or social media platforms. UGC comprises content in the form of videos, audio, blog posts, images, reviews, etc.  The content is created and published by users like you and me who aren’t paid professionals.

The reason for the huge success of user-created content lies in the power of the masses. This implies that people prefer buying a product recommended by their acquaintances rather than a paid endorser. 

Benefits of User-generated content

• UGC validates your social existence; content like customer feedback, product reviews, testimonials, and shout-outs encourage engagement with your product.
•  It saves time on creating content. 
• Recently, a new way to achieve more UGC is through running contests over social media platforms.
• Such contests offer consumers to promote your brand more realistically.

The year 2021 will experience a surge in hashtag contests run by brands on social media platforms.  The focus will be on the customer and on gaining more product reviews and testimonials.

Adoption of latest technologies- Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The future calls for robotic automation, be it physical or software bots. Robots will do your daily monotonous and time-consuming tasks. If analysts are to be believed, then we are on the threshold of being a fully automated digital market.

The year 2021 points toward rapid growth in AI technology and its corresponding influence on businesses all across the globe. Cutting-edge technologies like ML (Machine Learning) and AI will prove to be game-changers in every industry.

What can AI and ML do for you?

• Creating good-quality content in depth
• Marketers have started to use AI for split testing A/B testing -the process of equating two kinds of web page, email, or other marketing skills and analyzing the variance in performance.
• Analysis of content and optimization. 
• SaaS (Software as a Service) tools are readily available to utilize AI features to the total capacity.

Podcasts will rule the content game

Research on Podcast production and consumption found nearly 2,000,000 podcasts and over 48 million episodes as of July 2021. Weekly podcast viewership has also improved considerably, with famous podcast publishers getting massive streaming and downloads every month.

Few things to keep in mind before creating a podcast-

• Starting a podcast without having intent for it will not yield good results. 
• The best time for shooting a podcast episode is when your team is relaxed and has free time.
• Podcast content needs strategic planning, just like other forms of content marketing. 
• The tone of the episode, except for serious topics, should be cheerful as opposed to critical.

Priority will be given to user experience

The trend till now was that marketers catered to the requirements of Google when creating content. But soon, Google switched its strategy and gave prominence to the users. So, the deciding factor for  Google (for a website) lies in the overall user experience rather than optimized keywords. 

Other factors worth considering-

• Time for loading the website
• Speed
• Personalization -UX design interface
• The way content is delivered the users
• High-quality content 
• Conversational marketing

Content Atomization

The ongoing Pandemic has ushered new concepts and ideas for broadcasting content without compromising on quality and quantity. Moreover, content creation in times of COVID-19 has brought in new methodologies and innovations such as content atomization.

The term Content Atomization is given by Todd Defren, who is a world-renowned social media innovator. The term means -the practice of breaking down a single broad topic or substantial piece of content /theme into smaller, more strategic, and focused content chunks or elements. 

Content atomization is one such means of producing content that catches the user’s attention and ranks well in different forms of marketing platforms. 

Live streaming continues to surge

The journey from video content marketing to live streaming has shown tangible results in user engagement and conversion rates.

Live streaming is not just limited to celebrities or gamers on video streaming platforms like YouTube, etc. Many potential brands are successfully utilizing live streaming since 2016.  It is estimated that the live video streaming market will experience growth from $30.29 billion in 2016 to more than $70 billion through 2021. 

Benefits of live streaming for marketers

• Supports real-time engagement- you can interact with your target audience live, helping you understand their preferences and dislikes.  
• Creates a bond- your audience prefers genuineness as compared to over-the-top branding and superficial campaigns.
• Should generate curiosity- audience appreciates unpredictability and surprises; therefore, live streaming is best suited for this.
• Budget-friendly- you need some basic resources such as a good internet connection and a decent camera topped with confidence.
• Easy to reuse- after recording the live stream, you can post it on different platforms.

Conclusion

Every brand or marketing business eyes the most accessible mode of engagement that is mobiles. Since mobiles are the nearest medium to your user base, soon marketers will think of targeting other mobile gadgets such as wearables and smart devices.

Rest assured, content forms like blogging, email, and text aren’t losing their charm anytime close to the year 2021; there are many expectations from visual content marketing aimed at building E-A-T and high engagement rates.

Giving a personalized experience from digital content without being too pushing will be an essential factor for online businesses. Moreover, exceptional user experience and trustworthy user-generated content would be the deciding factor that separates typical businesses from successful brands.