Let's start with a little satisfaction Content Marketing has never been better in the world as shown by this study published in Forbes. Nearly 90% of marketers in both B2C and B2B find this approach to be a direct path to success. What will be the trend for next year?
In 2017, the significant increase in budgets will allow new trends to emerge, or at least sustain some of them.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
We have already mentioned the fact that the CRO was going to dethrone the SEO.
In fact, it is already no longer just about attracting a maximum amount of traffic by "hoping" that some of it will convert into leads, it is necessary to work in depth on the user experience thanks notably to AB/Testing.
This slideshare by David Lawrence in late October 2016 offers a good perspective on this trend.
Visual content
Did you know that the human brain visualizes visuals 60,000 times faster than text?
Visual content has become so inescapable that social platforms have built up around it, such as Pinterest, Instagram or Snapchat.
From video to infographics to original photos, posting attractive visual content is now essential for effective Content Marketing. This will be even more true in 2017!
In the State of Inbound 2016 conducted by Hubspot, the responses from marketing experts unanimously point in the direction of visual content for their 2017 strategy:
Video content
It is now a certainty, video content appeals enormously to Internet users. On average, the conversion rate of sites that use video content is 4.8% compared to 2.9% for sites that don't use it, which is almost double !
According to the Syndacast site, 74% of total traffic in 2017 will directly or indirectly incorporate video.
Live video streaming
Video viewing hours reach such heights every day 100 million hours viewed per day worldwide !) that companies wishing to invest in Content Marketing cannot ignore it.
Live video broadcasting via social networks (Facebook Live, Periscope) is almost a must to engage fans and capture a significant flow of visitors, while positively working on the brand image (commercial and employer).
Augmented reality and virtual reality
2016 will have been the year of the Pokemon Go phenomenon, which drew many advertisers' attention to the potential of augmented reality.
In 2017, the different approaches of virtual reality and enhanced reality make it possible to consider offering a completely different way of consuming to customers.
For example, your leads would have the opportunity to preview their purchases or interact with them. So these are tools that should definitely be considered in a forward-looking content strategy!
Content personalization
Consumers are now used to getting immediate answers when they go online. They don't want generic answers, they want specific, personalized answers.
We can define 4 types of personalization :
- Personalization according to channels (social networks, emails, mobile),
- Personalization on the buyer persona (attributes, behavior),
- Personalization on the decision cycle (visitor, lead, opportunity, customer),
- Personalization on the terminal (smartphone, tablet, computer).
Advocacy Marketing
We sometimes tend to forget it but the Marketing content that has the best impact is usually not produced by the Marketing department!
Readers especially appreciate getting feedback from business departments, which is widely advocated in Inbound Marketing.
Another key department to integrate into content production: sales. The sales force is by definition on the front line with customers and as such is capable of perceiving trends well before Marketing. You just "need" to give them a voice!
Advocacy Marketing, according to acceptances, also includes user-generated content (UGC) and Influencer Marketing, which are also up for consideration for 2017.
The war for content marketing talent
Here's a little talked about yet crucial trend in Content Marketing 2017: the difficulty of finding resources and especially at a high level of responsibility.
To anticipate this risk, more and more companies are investing in training their executives to prepare them for the new realities of Digital Marketing.
