Content marketing continues to evolve. To stay on the top of
the game, we must go side-by-side with the industry leaders and experts. What
you can definitely expect are a lot of “trends” pieces in the near future. We
will therefore try to dive a bit deeper and give a more thorough account of
what content marketing will look like in 2017.
Content Marketing Spreads Across More Departments
So far, content marketing has usually only been a part of a
company’s overall marketing strategy. Lately, other departments have started to
realize its potential and how they can utilize it. When done consistently and
professionally, content marketing can engage an audience that is interested
exactly in what your department does.
The HR department is among the first ones that will reap the
benefits of content marketing. Recruiting becomes much more efficient because
we can use content marketing to attract top talent the same way we use it to
attract and nurture leads.
Marketing teams that have implemented content marketing in
their strategies and proved its ROI can now borrow their strategies to other
departments as well. The department that deals with stakeholders and investors will be next in line.
Campaigns Become Humanized
Thought leadership and personal branding were once restricted
to the PR department alone. However, as an increasing number of companies start
to realize the potential and value of these practices, they are beginning to
fall under the jurisdiction of the marketing department. According to the
experts at FourDots,
marketers should focus on creating content their audience will adore.
Consequently, there will be more than just a couple of
employees within a company that deal with thought leadership and personal
branding. Since these practices are so useful in humanizing a brand, more
employees will become thought leaders and in that way connect, interact and
personalize their brand so that people can feel a greater and a more meaningful
connection.
Community Members as Brand Amplifiers
Creating a strong community around your brand takes a lot of
time and effort, but it certainly does pay off. Companies such as Inc., EY, and
Forbes have created impressive communities by delivering top notch content and
staying updated with the cutting edge developments across multiple industries.
Content marketing will be at the core of such communities. The
most important thing to note is that you must always provide fresh and engaging
content. Some communities have gone so far as to let the members provide their
own content. Through processes of editing and moderation, this user- generated
type of content can be extremely useful when it comes to engagement.
When you have a strong community, each member acts as your
brand's ambassador, amplifying your brand with each interaction. By doing so,
your content reaches people that are outside of the community, allowing it to
grow on a daily basis.
Influencer Marketing Connects Content Marketing and PR
According to Joe Pulizzi, influencer marketing has become
extremely important over the last 6 months. Companies and their marketing teams
are starting to realize this as well. Therefore, they will use influencer
marketing to bridge the gap between content marketing and
traditional PR.
With so many influencers that are now contributing to major
publications, companies have realized the potential of direct influencer
outreach. This is why content marketing and PR now work closely together to
outreach and provide valuable content to influencers who will promote in to the
industry leaders.
Native Advertising Becomes More Valuable to Users
As branded and sponsored content becomes increasingly
insightful, useful, and informative, user tend to like it more than they did in
the past. Of course, a lot of sponsored content is lacking actionable
information, but companies are working hard to change that.
As native advertising becomes more user- centric, community
sites, editorials, and online publications are starting to incorporate it into
their content streams. By creating useful branded content, companies will see a
greater ROI and emergence of loyal customers and potentially the forming of
industry- specific communities.
Content Marketing is Here to Stay
As time goes by, content marketing evolves. It hasn’t declined,
rather it is on a steady rise. Content becomes more personalized, humanized and
most importantly useful. As long as companies continue to create user- friendly
content, content marketing will be something that is desirable for both
parties.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oscar is a writer and a senior editor at Bizzmarkblog. He enjoys writing about the latest developments in technology, business, and marketing. You can follow Oscar on Twitter to keep up with his latest posts.
0 comments:
Post a Comment