- Advancement in AI and Tech tools
- Short-form video is here to stay
- Keep your eyes on the latest trends
- Value-driven and customer-centric content
- User-generated content remains a crucial strategy
- Quality over quantity
- Consistency still matters
- Go where the data leads you
- Refine your methods and strategies
- Keep your search smarts up-to-date
- Podcast remains a steady climb
- Prioritize interactive content
- Leverage creative SEO
- Prioritize customer experience
- Diversify your content
Like any other marketing trend, content marketing is ever-evolving, so it is imperative to stay current on the latest updates to get ahead of your competition.
Virtual Assistant Talent is not your ordinary virtual assistance company. We are here to walk with you every step of the way.
In this guide, we will give you 15 content marketing trends this 2023 and some practical tips so you can recalibrate your current marketing strategy and finish the year strong.
1. Advancement in AI and Tech tools
Content marketing in 2023 is the intermarriage of two trends: artificial intelligence and behavioral science. AI will swiftly analyze reams of data to determine who the target audience is and where and when to locate them. Subsequently, behavioral science enables creators to develop material that appeals to the brain that increases engagement and response.
The beauty of technological advancement is it allows marketers to gather vast amounts of data to personalize content and boost the results.
However, as you embrace these advancements, it is vital to understand that using AI-generated content should not be your primary means of creating original content. It should only be used to assist creators in creating content.
Although technology and customer experience may shift, content marketing will still have a successful year this 2023. Brands should refocus their efforts on humanizing the digital experience.
2. Short-form video is here to stay 
Using videos as media for marketing is not a new trend; marketers were aware of its value long before.
For B2B marketing, the most effective tool is using videos, particularly short-form videos, which have continuously increased in popularity. Because of consumers’ decreasing attention span, social media channels such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube advocate for short, attention-grabbing, and solidly-packed video content that encourages audience engagement and allows brands to create more content in less time.
Expert Tip:
This 2023, brands must limit their video content to 10 minutes (which is still pretty long) or less. Take a hint from TikTok. Keep your videos to under a minute. This will help you save time. Or you can record a longer video and cut it into shorter segments.
Hire a social media manager with us today!
3. Keep your eyes on the latest trends 
Social media has played a crucial role in disrupting the conventional flow of the marketing funnel.
Marketers need to begin to let go of conventional funnel concepts. Consumers nowadays are less stage-oriented and more erratic in their buying behavior because of social media.
Also, focus on relevant data points. You need not go over each metric. Ensure that the insights you glean are actionable and vital for your business.
4. Value-driven and customer-centric content 
We are already in the age of information. Thus, content should equate with value.
By 2023, the material must satisfy consumer needs and enhance user experience.
Nowadays, users don’t have ample time to rummage through poor content. This means that the more beneficial the information is, the more they will engage with it, and to be able to achieve this, brands must leverage data.
Expert tips:
- Personalize. Tailor your content according to the needs of specific customers. This will ensure that your material will be served to audiences who will value it the most.
- Use CRM or data solutions. These tools will help you monitor your audience’s behavior so you can create content strategies based on the issues that matter to them the most.
5. User-generated content remains a crucial strategy 
Did you know that approximately 80% of consumers trust content made by other users?
That is why it is imperative that brands should take advantage of this fact by encouraging consumers or users of your product or services to create their own content and share it on your site.
What’s more is that you reap tons of benefits out of it, which include the following:
- It will create a positive impression on (website) newcomers
- It will make your users feel seen and heard.
- It builds a community
- It will provide you with free content
UGC encourages visitors to stay on your website longer by providing them with fresh content that is valuable and trustworthy. In addition, if individuals establish connections and conversations on your website, they’ll go back to their friends and learn more about what they have to say.
How to future-proof your organic traffic this 2023? Leverage Google’s helpful content updates. But, what is this exactly?
Helpful content update is a part of Google’s broader effort to ensure that people see genuine and useful content written by people for people in search results. The key to unlocking this is to focus on people’s first content.
As a content marketer, use the questions below as a guide in creating your content:
- Do you mainly use automation to create content across a variety of topics?
- Are you only summarizing other people’s thoughts or inputs without giving or adding more value?
- Does your content motivate readers to double-check and browse other resources for more accurate information?
If the answer to all of these questions is yes, then Google won’t be as pleased as you thought it would be.
Below are some steps you can do to future-proof your organic traffic and make your content more inclusive:
Expert tips:
- Be intentional. When writing, always consider your intended audience, and ask yourself if the information you present will be helpful to your users.
- Be original. Don’t just summarize. Always, always consider your brand’s unique perspective by creating 10X content–meaning, it should be 10 times as good as the existing ranking content for a given topic or keyword. Do better!
- Focus on your users. Create a connection between humans and digital experience. Stop writing for machines; write for people.
- Always consider diversity, equity, and inclusion. People want their cultures to be represented. Always aim to be inclusive in your content, branding, messaging, and overall marketing efforts (unless it is intended for a specific group only).
- Tell a story. Storytelling is still an effective method to draw people’s attention, and you can do it in so many ways, which we will discuss in-depth in the next trend.
6. Quality over quantity
As mentioned earlier, we live in the information age, and as advantageous as it can be, there is still a caveat.
Misleading news and misinformation are also predominant.
For such a reason, more and more people are craving well-researched and high-quality content.
Expert Tip:
Make use of your in-house resources. If you want your material to stand out, use your company’s (data) resources. This will build your authority and boost your SEO efforts as more sites will link to your research as a resource.
7. Consistency still matters 
In 2023, consistency still matters, and nothing has changed.
You do not need to upload something every day. You can still achieve the desired results if you stay committed to quality content and upload regularly.
At the very least, publish a few times per month. This would ensure the content quality while staying on top of the minds of potential consumers. Try a faster cadence if your content team can handle and manage it. However, be careful not to burn out your team or saturate your audience with information.
Remember, it’s all about balance.
8. Go where the data leads you 
The function of marketing has expanded to include gathering, leveraging first-party data, and creating data sets and your audience that support future strategies and approaches.
It is vital for content marketers to consider enlarging their strategic horizons and evaluating how their methods and technologies can help them achieve this goal.
In 2023, Google Analytics will change. Ensure that you understand Universal Analytics’ essential elements, such as goals, events, conversions, and more.
This will be your basis for effectively transitioning to the new GA4 platform. Your first step to overcoming this new challenge–create a new property, explore and get yourself accustomed to the platform.
Consequently, as more people become aware of how much data is being gathered about them and how it is used to capture their wants and needs (or buying behavior), persuading them to hand it over will become a challenge.
Expert tip:
Stop using buzzwords. Focus on creating content that is informative, engaging, and intelligent.
9. Refine your methods and strategies 
The continuously morphing and advancing technologies will be gladly embraced by brands this 2023, particularly microfencing.
Microfencing is a proximity marketing technology that works similarly to a GPS. It is capable of detecting a more granular location with greater accuracy. Several brands adapt to this innovation as it generates first-party data from mobile user activity with laser-focused precision.
Businesses with mobile apps have a remarkable potential to use accurate location data to understand and meet the consumers’ demand for timely and relevant information.
Customer loyalty, financial rewards, and comprehensive first-party data are the benefits that brands will get and enjoy if they deliver valuable and relevant location-based content while protecting consumer trust and privacy.
10. Keep your search smarts up-to-date 
Every year, Google launches new features and almost always aims to narrow down to the most engaging, visual, and satisfying content for visitors.
Expert Tips:
- Carefully examine the search results page before choosing a target keyphrase, especially if it has a lot of visual noise.
- Build content on YouTube as they can excel in searches.
- Ensure that your content strategy is concentrated on providing in-depth and comprehensive responses to various questions.
11. Podcast remains a steady climb 
Podcasts are steadily growing each year.
Did you know American consumers have listened to 15 billion hours of podcasts since 2021? It has also been a powerful way of driving sales, as 60% of listeners say they search for the product after hearing about it on a podcast.
It is also critical to view podcasts as a means to provide value for your audience, just like any other content marketing trend.
Expert tip:
Focus on giving interesting or valuable content to keep your audience engaged.
12. Prioritize interactive content 
In this information age, it has become more challenging for brands to connect and engage with consumers due primarily to its abundance and the decreasing attention span of users. Thus, several brands use interactive content to leave a lasting impression on their target audience and increase engagement.
In a nutshell, interactive content is a two-way conversation that enables the audience to engage actively with the content rather than passively ingesting it. In addition, it allows customers to get individualized answers or insights on a subject they are interested in. Examples of interactive content include quizzes, polls, surveys, and tests.
Aside from providing entertainment to its users, interactive content effectively engages with visitors. More importantly, you can learn more about their online behavior, which can help you in your future lead generation and optimization efforts.
13. Leverage creative SEO 
Forward thinkers have done what seemed to be once impossible.
Creativity and SEO are two mutually exclusive disciplines that do not seem to intertwine. However, forward thinkers have figured out how to combine these two for client campaigns.
Creative SEO has now become a new subfield in SEO that aims to combine creativity with technical expertise. As time passes, more and more creative campaigns will incorporate SEO elements to improve outcomes.
14. Prioritize customer experience
With more remarkable advancement in technology comes greater customer expectations.
Simply put, consumers today have higher expectations than ever. No matter if you have the best content in the world, if your website is not optimized for user experience, it won’t perform as you expected.
Expert tips:
- Prioritize and optimize the following factors to provide your users with a positive experience:
- Page speed
- Mobile-friendliness
- Cohesive brand style and voice
- Image quality
- Image placement.
- Personalize. Whenever you offer content that solves their most significant pain points, they will more likely have a positive experience.
- Try split testing. If you are unsure of what UX adjustments are most important, try A/B testing. Use one variable at a time to determine what features your audiences prefer.
15. Diversify your content 
You can use so many types of media to keep up with your users’ needs, like infographics, galleries, videos, podcasts, and more. Diversifying how you present your content will reduce or eliminate the work you need to do to create new content.
This works well because every user has a different way of consuming media. Some favor text, others audio or video. Once you diversify your content, most won’t even know they have seen such material. Furthermore, those who already have won’t mind that much since the content is being presented in a new manner.
Expert Tip:
Repurpose. Take content that has proven to be successful in one medium, recreate it into a different media form, update it, and then publish it.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know the latest content marketing trends, it’s time to recalibrate your efforts and concentrate on strategies that provide results.
While short-form videos, UGC, and interactive content are still dominant this 2023, there is still a significant focus on data-led content that is high-quality and more targeted.
You may also leverage AI technology to automate and improve the process relevant to your content marketing efforts. Lastly, ensure that you keep yourself abreast of the latest marketing trends.
If you want to step up your game this year, Virtual Assistant Talent offers various digital marketing assistant services for your business needs. We are only one call away! Talk to one of our consultants today!
References:
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/google-helpful-content-update
https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-trends/#12
https://the-cma.com/content-marketing-trends/
https://influencermarketinghub.com/content-marketing-trends/#toc-5
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/articles/content-marketing-trends-success
