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The expansion of content marketing has continued to grow throughout 2015, following the 2014 predictions that half of all companies planned to increase their budgets. Expansion in content marketing has the possibility to both be natural or complex, but the necessity of innovation has forecasted a need for continued growth through 2016. The growing rate of change means that digital marketing is an ever-evolving landscape, which has led us back to how and why the demands are shifting.
The expansion of content marketing into 2016 is one that will feature innovation that has been previously unseen. With Facebook set to challenge YouTube and Google, social media sites will soon be offering new publishing mediums. Google are introducing an answer to Facebook’s own ‘Instant Articles’, so we can expect to see social publishing spread content marketing into a new variety of digital mediums. With all these new changes set to be introduced in the new year, revisiting of the content marketing take-aways of 2015 that we will be set to build on for the following year, is an essential way to stay ahead. Here are our top content marketing take-ways.
Search Engine Optimization
The acknowledgement of the importance of SEO (search engine optimization) has become the foundation on which digital marketing is being built upon. It is regarded as one of the most instrumental parts of any marketing strategy, with the factor of how easily people can find you online effecting businesses on an ever-increasing scale. As Bulldog SEO Manchester say, ‘Put simply SEO is a process where using certain techniques you are able to move your site above other sites on the natural, non-paid for listings across the major Search Engines.’
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is the latest marketing trend promising to revolutionize content marketing. It provides a new channel for incorporating immersive content into all of your future marketing campaigns. This, of course, opens up all new opportunities for business owners and marketing professionals. It allows you to immerse customers in your content, so that you can use some of the best experiential marketing strategies. Stay ahead of the content marketing trends curve by capitalizing on virtual reality marketing strategies right away.
Social Media
The ability to connect directly with consumers and promote brand awareness through social media is one that should not be undervalued. From LinkedIn for corporate clients to Instagram for cult brand followings, the ways in which social media can work alongside content marketing are unfounded. Also, social recruiting efforts are catching on to attract employees too.
Customer Experience
The demand for improved customer experience is adding a new dynamic that is only set to grow within content marketing. Customer experience was predicted to be the top innovation for 2015, with the directive only set to grow in the future.
Video Marketing
It’s no secret that online marketing videos are predicted to become the future of content marketing. The number of businesses using content marketing is ever expanding, with marketers adding to the 300 minutes of video that is uploaded to YouTube every hour. Being able to offer you audience video content is something that is increasingly being regarded as essential for content marketing. Video has the ability to quickly inform an audience, fostering engagement and decreased drop off rates, which makes it an essential part of content marketing.
Webinars
If you are already doing video marketing, then you are half way to hosting your own webinars. Webinars are a strong content marketing tactic that is catching on fast. By using existing content and knowledge, you can offer constructive webinars to your audience that helps them solve problems, improve processes and establish yourself as the leading company in the industry. In addition, you can use free webinar software to get started easily. Certainly, enterprise webinars are underutilized and will not be for long.
Software
The latest CMO spend guide has reported that businesses allocate a high percentage of funding for new software. The ever-expanding tool set for content marketers is promoting and creating a wealth of new ways to optimize for both individuals and teams. Here is kissmetrics’ list of 50 tools to jump start your content marketing.
