Strategies are never timeless, they evolve with time. Changing times call for changing trends and similarly an evolution in strategies as well. You can’t continue with the same action plan throughout, let it be in terms of marketing, finances, or an organization’s internal growth.
Likewise, a firm’s content marketing strategy needs to evolve with time by observing consumer engagement and purchase behavior patterns. It is also one reason why the conversion rates from content marketing are six times higher than any other marketing technique.
Firms and brands spend more time focusing on the strategies they formulate for their content or outsourcing for it. Almost 61% of consumers finalize their purchase decision after going through a blog or recommendation that they trust.
Keeping this in mind, we’ve enlisted some of the top shifts in content marketing strategies that we have observed over the past year. It doesn’t matter if you’re an SME or a multinational; pacing with these top content strategies is equally important.
Content marketing helps to double the website conversion rates if done correctly. This is why marketers have become extra attentive in focusing on this marketing category over the past few years. Some of the shifts that we have observed as a result of this in the year 2019 are:
Revolutionizing Influencer Marketing
We noticed the number one shift in content marketing strategies in 2019 was evolving from traditional practices to relatively more evolved activities. The conventional influencer marketing practice was to send PRs to influential personalities, and they’d talk about your product or service on their own channel. Firms would have this done in two forms; sponsored content or unbiased review but still paid.
However, it wasn’t until much later that this evolved into having these influential personalities create content for their brand channels. How did brands achieve this? By featuring them in DVCs – which in itself was another evolution that now instead of just movie stars, or chart-hitting singers/musicians, social media influencers (bloggers, and vloggers), were also featured.
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Another way to make this happen was to ask them to make a personalized video and send it over to the brand. They’d then post it on their relevant platforms. Featuring influencers in podcasts and platform takeovers also became common. These were all examples of video-based content and collaborations. Why? Because 8 out of 10 consumers are more likely to purchase or show interest in a product or service after watching a brand’s video.
Since influencers belong to reference groups, and consumers can relate to them better than other forms of celebrities, the chances of purchase become even greater. This evolution of influencer marketing helped increase the reach, credibility of brands, content, products, and services.Â
One Type of Content is Never Enough
The second shift we noticed in the content marketing strategy for 2019 was that brands were no longer settling with just one form of content. It wasn’t a choice anymore as the target consumers had spread massively over various digital platforms, and it had become necessary to capture everyone’s attention. This meant a separate content strategy for each platform. You can’t use the same plan of action across all mediums – consumers respond differently, across varying platforms.
The strategy that is formulated for Facebook can’t be implemented for Instagram, and vice versa. Facebook does own Instagram, but their algorithms work differently, and hence their consumers respond uniquely too. This is just one example! The same is the case for Pinterest, Youtube, Twitter, and other digital platforms.
Brands no longer stuck with just one strategy, just as only focusing on social media marketing. They were now incorporating other forms of content on the side as well, such as email marketing, generating blogs (both on-site and off-site), vlogs, podcasts, and much more. Each of these categories’ content has to be different, keeping in mind the kind of audience they are meant for. The same strategy can’t be followed across all platforms.
Top Content Marketing Strategy Shifts in 2020
The year 2020 has been a year full of surprises, and one of them is the tragic pandemic outbreak of COVID-19. It didn’t only change the entire world and its functions but also brought quite a few shifts to marketing and its various categories.
Some of the shifts that we noticed due to the pandemic, and as a whole in 2020 in content marketing strategies have been listed down below:
Generate Result Focused Content
As much as brands were already focusing on their content marketing strategies, they have become active about it now more than ever. More than 53% of businesses now spend time and resources, specifically on content marketing. This isn’t just because it costs 62% less than traditional marketing, but also because content marketing is able to produce 54% more leads.
Hence, brands have become highly competitive, so they each could stand out through result-focused content, enabling users to get faster results. How did they achieve this? By merely creating filterable list posts. These posts enabled users and readers to read exactly what they want without searching through an extensive list of metrics.
READ: How to generate quality leads on LinkedIn
An excellent example of this is when a reader enters a blog and has to skim through the entire content to get to the part of their interest. However, brands that used filterable list posts have buttons or linked headings of their blog’s various sections. When the user clicks on them, it redirects where they need to be without going through the unnecessary metrics, leading to greater reader retention as well.Â
Conversational Marketing
In short, conversational marketing is asking Q&As to drive buyers deeper in the sales funnel. The concept of chatbots existed before as well, but more brands seem to have introduced it on their websites during the pandemic. Why? Because conversational marketing allows you to engage with customers in a more “real” way, and that too instantly without driving them away.
Brands can converse with their audience and understand each of their customer’s needs, persona, intended goals, and more by directly engaging with them. Another advantage of conversational marketing is that it helps to minimize the time which is required to learn about each of their customer’s needs and the sort of information they are looking for.Â
READ: Why is COVID-19 the best time to use social media for business?
One more example of conversational marketing is how brands have shifted towards live sessions over Facebook and Instagram. This has also been an excellent way for them to engage with their customers, either directly or through influencers, to get feedback from them and answer their queries. It has been one of the most impeccable ways to share exclusive deals, tips, and tricks with people who tuned in.
There have been many other shifts in content marketing and its relevant strategies throughout 2019 and 2020. However, these are the top content strategies that we noticed and shortlisted to share with you. If you haven’t yet incorporated any of these, we highly recommend doing so as they will help you immensely in capturing a greater audience and generate leads.
