7 Content Marketing Trends for Businesses in 2019

Content marketing has come a long way, and in some ways is still in its infancy. More and more businesses have now seen what content marketing can achieve, for both branding and generating results, and so we have seen many changes and trends in the content marketing space. Content marketing in 2019 is sure to have a large range of new formats and trends that businesses need to keep an eye on.

Content marketing is normalised

Content marketing is no longer a marketing channel in itself. Wherever and however you market, it’s likely you’re using content in some form. Whether it is a blog post, a downloadable PDF, a video ad or otherwise – it’s all content. Content marketing has become marketing in itself. It’s no longer a choice – it’s likely you will be needing to create some form of content in order to promote your brand and grow your business. Content helps build your brand, earn trust, create traffic and generate leads.

Content strategy is more critical than ever

It’s not enough to simply be pushing out content as and when you fancy. Content needs a structured plan in general, and specific campaigns around targeted pieces of content tend to be the best. As more businesses become experts in generating and promoting content, it’s never been more important to have a well-thought-out strategy or funnel with high quality content involved. In order to ensure you are getting the most out of your content, your strategy should consider the goals you are trying to achieve, and in what ways your brand is uniquely positioned to appeal to audiences.

Higher content production

Content marketing has been key to many small businesses growing in size – and that’s sure to stay the same. However, the level and quality of content you can create has risen. And this means the competition is more fierce both in quatity and quality.

Content libraries

Having a content funnel is always a good recommendation – it helps push leads down the funnel. But in the future, it’s likely that it will become even more normal to have a library of high quality of content available for download. This means you can promote new pieces of content to existing customers, and cross-market specific pieces of content to people who have consumed other related pieces. This helps build trust in your brand, and get seen as a genuine though leader, rather than just a provider of a specific product or service. That kind of thinking can really turn around how your business is perceived, and the interest you get from potential customers.

Long form content

It’s been the case for a while, but search engines such as Google prefer lengthier content. As more businesses realise the power of content marketing as a channel to help generate business, more businesses create lengthier content. Which means you have to up your game in order to stay on top of the competitors. In general, 2,000 words is considered to be “long-form”. Not only does this help your content rank, but it also lends itself to shareability and helps cement your brand as an expert in the space you are writing on. However, writing poor quality but long content isn’t in your best interest. Readers will see your content is poor quality, which means search engines will see readers are not engaging with your content. Which means it will rank poorly, no matter how long it is.

Live video

Video has been a popular format to engage with customers, but live video is still a fairly recent phenomenon that brands are yet to use to its full potential. In fact, Facebook claim that users spend 3x longer watching live video over videos which are no longer live. Live video is creeping onto many different platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and is sure to make a bigger stir in 2019 and beyond.

Voice search

2018 alone has seen a big rise in the sale and popularity of smart speakers, which means more people will be using voice-activated assistants, and voice search. Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant and Apple’s Siri will all help users search simply by speaking to them – so the question becomes, what does this mean for SEO? You will have to think about how potential search queries will change for your brand and the terms you wish to rank for. What questions would people ask, or what statements would they use, when speaking aloud in order to find your product or service?

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Content marketing has changed a lot just this year, and 2019 is sure to accelerate this trend in itself. Content marketing has become the norm – content is everywhere. Marketing that traditionally wasn’t content-focused has now become very content-centric. You only have to look at the recent adverts that go viral and sweep the nation – it’s all based around a story, and people genuinely enjoy the story. It’s just content that promotes a particular brand. Whereas 10 or 15 years ago, it would usually be an advert pushing a promotion or a product. Much more straight forward. That means brands and marketers need to get more creative, and think how they can use content to stay ahead of the competition.