2017 Content Marketing Trends | What to Look For…

Traditional marketing techniques simply can’t cut it on their own anymore, and marketing professionals across the globe are scrambling to generate valuable, relevant content that engages prospects and customers – aka content marketing.

Content marketing is the backbone of the inbound marketing process; strategies for content marketing traditionally included items like blogs, emails, and ebooks. But, as always, times are changing.

According to Rand Fishkin, founder and wizard of Moz, “In 2017, content marketing is going to be even more challenging than it is today.” Why, you ask? Because, content marketing is MUCH MORE than simply throwing up a blog post on a regular basis. Content marketing is the present – and future – of marketing!

How Will Content Marketing Evolve in 2017?

  1. FORMAT ISN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE
    Visual content will continue to become more important, as search engines get better at reading and analyzing images in order to determine what your site is all about. As such, expect to see more gifs, infographics, and video… everywhere.
  2. EMAIL IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE
    According to the Content Marketing Institute,

    “The Washington Post now has over 75 e-newsletters, while The New York Times has 12 people dedicated to newsletters. While some believe email is dead, the media is telling us that email is a growth area. And, last but not least, our CMI/MarketingProfs B2B study found that email was rated as the No. 1 success metric for measuring content marketing.”

    So, friends, email is not only alive, it’s doing really well. The difference now, though, is a strong focus on making those emails (and e-newsletters) TARGETED and RELEVANT.

  3. CONTENT WILL BECOME MORE NICHE
    The pool of content marketers is becoming so crowded that there is barely enough room to swim. As a result, 2017 will force content marketers to become more concise and targeted with their content – scratching the surface of a topic just doesn’t work anymore.According to Rand Fishkin, founder of Moz, content marketers need to “get more niche – serve smaller and smaller interest groups.”  This means that it’s now necessary to BE SPECIFIC. Ask yourself why people should read your post above others, and use that answer to drive your blog titles and discussion points.
  4. VIDEO IS THE VICTOR
    Why video? It gets you noticed. Marketers agree that video brings the highest return on investment, and according to Syndacast, 74% of all traffic will be video-driven in 2017.Facebook Live? Of course. Instagram Stories? Yes, please. Social media platforms are working hard to optimize their live feeds in order to improve viewer experiences. And, best of all, incorporating video improves SEO (you can thank Google who owns YouTube – thus they favor video in search results). So, if you aren’t yet making use of video, get your cameras out, folks!