The year is almost coming to an end. With just a few more months left, it is high time we prepare ourselves for the top content marketing trends in 2020 that could change how our content performs. The advancements in technology and the changing search engine algorithms give a new direction to content marketers every passing year.
So as we close in on 2020, all content marketers and businesses must up their game. There will be new content marketing trends to look out for, while some trends from this year will continue to rule the market.
Here are our top 15 picks for the content marketing trends in 2020 that you should buck up for:
- Data driven content marketing will give customers a personalized experience
- Mobile friendly marketing will be a necessity for any business
- Omni-channel content marketing will help provide a consistent user experience across platforms
- Creating content for the modern search will be imperative for SEO
- Video content marketing will be top of the agenda for marketers
- Podcasts will begin a new revolution in the digital marketing arena
- Interactive content will drive more traffic to web pages
- Use of AI in content marketing will see new developments
- Collaborative marketing can be a smart way of offering rich content in 2020
- Influencers as part of content team will be great for getting valuable content
- Banking in on micro-moments will be essential for FAQs and short content
- Customers as brand ambassadors will continue to be a valuable asset
- Localizing for more diverse markets will be a top priority
- Community content marketing will change how you interact with online groups
- Conversational content marketing will keep audiences engaged
Let’s see how these content marketing trends for 2020 will affect the world of marketing.
1. Data driven content marketing will give customers a personalized experience
Consumers today are more aware than ever before. Feeding them content based on vague ideas and irrelevant opinions is no longer an option. Facts and figures are going to be crucial for content marketing on 2020.
Fact based content that shows correct statistics, obtained by diligent research and study, will sell in 2020. Data collection is going to be far more important than we thought. Like all other areas of business, content marketing will also be driven by data and statistics.
Data driven marketing will also prove to be a great way of personalizing content for your customers. In the competitive market, addressing as many customers as you can, personally, is becoming extremely crucial. Collecting valid customer data and analysing it can give you the scope to create personalized content for individual customers. Technology like Customer Data Platform (CDP) enables you to create a unified customer database that is accessible to all other marketing systems. So you can create a completely customized suite for an individual customer using this customer profiling.
In this regard, AI and machine learning can also be of great use. From a customer’s historical data and search preferences, the AI system can navigate people to relevant pages. Returning visitors to your website can view personalized content streams based on identity tags assigned by the system. New prospective customers can enjoy response-based next content suggestions.
2. Mobile friendly marketing will be a necessity for any business
The world has shifted from the desktop into the palm of our hands, with mobile technology. People are using their mobile phones more than their computers to search for content online today. In such a scenario, it has become more than important to optimize your website’s content to be compatible with mobile phone screens.
A mobile-friendly web page no longer refers to a responsive, quick loading page that Google acknowledges. What is more important is how user friendly the mobile site is. A mobile-friendly site in the true sense, is one in which the content is optimized for mobile devices. Everything, from the text to the images and videos used must be optimized for the mobile device screens.
People read content differently on a mobile screen and a desktop screen. So, it is important to know how the content must be structured to make it more attractive on a mobile screen. Short chunks of content work better for mobiles, instead of long paragraphs. More visual aids, like self-explanatory images or charts can help keep the content short and interesting.
Find out what works best for mobile screens because you will be needing it for successful content marketing in 2020. You can also use Google’s tool to preview and optimize your mobile site for better performance
3. Omni-channel content marketing will help provide a consistent user experience across platforms
Your customers are no longer confined to just one channel for their digital content consumption. Traditionally, any content creation was done keeping in mind a single channel of marketing. So you could create content for desktop viewing alone or mobile viewing alone. But customers today are accessing your content across different platforms and different devices.
This content marketing trend in 2020 will require you to provide a seamless experience to the customer across all channels. This is what omni-channel marketing is about. Irrespective of whether your customers are viewing the content on a website, a mobile app or a social media page; whether it is on a laptop, a mobile phone or a tablet – the user experience should be consistent and uniform.
It is important to know the challenges involved and the best practices in omni-channel marketing if you want your content to sell.
4. Creating content for the modern search will be imperative for SEO
The visibility of your content on search engine results pages is very important. This is one thing that is not going to change for years to come. Optimizing your content to follow Google’s search quality rating guidelines is sure to get your web page better rankings.
Google’s latest algorithms lay emphasis on certain key features that were not considered too important earlier. But content marketing trends in 2020 are sure to revolve around these key points.
a. Priority to long tail keywords
Long tail keywords are keywords or phrases that are longer than the usual one- or two-word keywords that we use. These are much more specific though. Long tail keywords account for nearly 70% of all searches and they help people land on the exact page they need. Which is why, it is a great way of gradually drawing traffic to your website or blog.
People using long tail keywords for searches are usually looking for specific information or are searching with the intention of buying a product. So those who land on your web page, that is optimized with long tail keywords, are there with a purpose. This will be more beneficial to you than catering to people who are just carrying out a general search with short keywords. In fact, the search engines are also prioritizing long tail keywords for their page rankings. This is because that’s how people usually search online – in the form of complete questions.
b. Long-form content and topic cluster
Long form content refers to articles that are longer than a certain number of words. This limit is considered to be 700 words by some while others say it should be longer than 1800 words. On an average, an article that is longer than about 1000 words may be considered as long form content. More than 2000 words, even better.
It goes without saying that a longer article can accommodate more information. Which is why long form content is considered to be more valuable. These articles usually share more relevant and useful information than shorter snippets.
Sites that use long form content tend to get more return traffic as well as direct traffic, as people generally get what they’re looking for. More user engagement is seen with the use of long form content.
Another great way to go is to write a number of articles around a particular topic or theme. This is called topic cluster. This helps you gain some loyal following of people who find these articles helpful and keep coming back for more.
Even search engines rank pages with long form content and topic cluster higher than others. These pages are considered to be more valuable. But of course, to retain the traffic that is flowing in, quality will matter just as much as quantity.
c. Voice search
Your customers, both existing and prospective, are all gradually evolving from keyboard searches to voice searches. Voice search is more common now than you think. With voice assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, people find it more convenient to search through voice commands now.
This poses a challenge for content marketers though. For long content has only been optimized for keyword and typed-in queries. The way people ask the same queries over voice search is different. Voice queries are more conversational and longer. So now you need to optimize your content to appear invoice search results as well. Just because your page is ranking high on Google’s typed searches, does not necessarily mean it will also appear in voice searches.
This is one trend that is already taking over the SEO market and your content marketing strategy for 2020 must include this.
5. Video content marketing will be top of the agenda for marketers
Until a few years ago, video marketing and content marketing may have been two different fields. But not any more. It has been seen over the past years that video content is a very crucial marketing tool for all kinds of businesses. Videos tend to get more views than other forms of content.
Integrating videos with your content is one marketing trend in 2020 you cannot ignore. Multimedia content is bound to get more traffic and also more shares. The good thing about incorporating a video in your content is that a short 2 minute video can explain a major portion of the message you’re trying to convey. This can help generate interest in the viewer and many who like the video will end up reading the content too.
Another huge advantage is that the videos are usually shared more than other content. So there is every chance that your page might go viral overnight with the right kind of video content.
6. Podcasts will begin a new revolution in the digital marketing arena
Podcasts may have long been neglected but this content marketing trend in 2020 is going to be a revolution of sorts. From the current scenario it is evident that podcasts are gaining popularity among a section of audiences.
Podcasts are a convenient way of listening to content while on the go. Technological advancements like connected car audio systems, in car dashboards and smart speakers have brought about this affinity towards podcasts.
What’s even more important here is that Google has gradually started adding playable podcasts to its search results. So when users search online, they will be seeing relevant podcasts among the search results as well, alongside other content.
There cannot be a better time to invest in this content marketing strategy.
7. Interactive content will drive more traffic to web pages
The content you publish has to evolve as the market and the competition evolve. One way of engaging your audience in the coming year is by involving them in interaction. Interactive content requires the users active participation, rather than focusing on just reading or listening.
Including quizzes, polls, surveys, games,interactive videos and animation in your content can help keep the audience engaged and generate more interest. This also helps websites generate more traffic and gain popularity sooner. This content marketing trend for 2020 must be followed if you want to stay relevant in this ever changing world of marketing.
8. Use of AI in content marketing will see new developments
Use of AI in marketing is not a novel concept anymore. But it is surely one trend that will see huge growth in the coming years. AI is growing by leaps and bounds and its importance in marketing cannot be stressed enough.
The use of chat bots working on AI is already an important tool being used in customer service. Chat bots and intelligent assistants are are being widely used as the consumer numbers continue to grow.
AI can also be used to automate tasks in content marketing. Tasks like proofreading or timely publishing of articles from a queue are already using the the help of AI.
AI can be a great tool when it comes to answering some common questions in content marketing. These could include providing quick answers to FAQs, or using chatbots as search tools to direct customers to the right part of an article.
9. Collaborative marketing can be a smart way of offering rich content in 2020
Business isn’t always just about competition. There are always other brands in the market that are complementary to yours. Both brands may target the same audience but with different propositions. This can be used to add value to each other’s strategies.
You can use collaborative marketing to reach a larger audience. Writing blog posts, e-books or guides co-authored by two brands can be a very valuable piece for the reader. It will definitely have more credible and rich information.
10. Influencers as part of content team will be great for getting valuable content
Influencer marketing has lately become a business buzzword. But going by the looks of it,it is going to be more than just a buzzword in the near future.
Many businesses have already started using influencers as a medium to convey their message. From the content marketing point of view, a reverse approach to this would be a great way to gather some momentum. That is, instead of asking influencers to endorse your business, you could ask them to create content to be displayed on your page.
Influencers who have knowledge in your field could write guest posts or testimonials for your page. With the amount of attention that influencers are getting these days, this content marketing trend is surely going to be a big hit in 2020.
11. Banking in on micro-moments will be essential for FAQs and short content
Micro-moments according to Google, are certain moments when a consumer is looking for something very specific through the search. These are categorized into:
- I-want-to-know moments
- I-want-to-go moments
- I-want-to-do moments
- I-want-to-buy moments
Content marketing trends in 2020 will emphasize on fruitfully using these moments to drive traffic to web pages. Answering these queries in short and concise formats, either through the FAQs page, Facebook or Instagram stories or audio and videos as flash briefing, could be very useful.
The basic idea behind using these micro-moments to your benefit is to answer people’s queries as briefly as possible. The more time you spend answering a question, the less time a user would spend on your page during these micro-moments.
So find out how and where you can use this to your advantage.
12. Customers as brand ambassadors will continue to be a valuable asset
It is quite obvious that people will tend to trust someone who is speaking from experience. As a content marketing strategy in 2020, you could let your customers do the talking for you.
Customer testimonials can help you build trust among a prospective customer base. Positive product reviews can also be good content and this is something every prospective customer looks for before buying a new product.
Use your customers’ goodwill to your advantage.
13. Localizing for more diverse markets will be a top priority
Businesses are getting more accessible to their customers worldwide, thanks to the internet. But this also means that businesses have the opportunity to venture into new, more diverse markets. The same marketing strategies may not always work on these diverse markets.
This is why the focus is shifting from globalizing to localizing. It is becoming increasingly important to localize your content to cater to the varied audiences across the different markets you operate in.
Content marketing trends in 2020 will stress on having dedicated pages for each region that shares content relevant to it, instead of just one universal page for all markets.
14. Community content marketing will change how you interact with online groups
There are online communities that share similar interests or belong to the same age group or are looking for the same thing. These communities are a way for consumers to find relevant information on specific subjects. As a content marketer, you can use these communities as a medium for propagating your content.
Community content marketing is all about providing real time answers to queries without actually endorsing your products or services. These communities are generally more localized and your content has to be able to cater to their specific needs. No matter how big a brand is globally, this kind of small scale, localized content marketing is going to be essential for all businesses.
15. Conversational content marketing will keep audiences engaged
Consumers are tired of tedious form-fills and long reads in order to arrive at an answer for their queries. Content marketing in 2020 will be focused on being more conversational, keeping prospective customers engaged and interested for longer.
Conversational content marketing will also require the help of AI and chat bots. Intelligent content recommendations written by AI systems can take over the tedious process of navigating through numerous pages. Chat bots can offer answers to queries, with a more human touch keeping the user involved. The need to design such AI systems will be on the rise in the years to come.
This list of 15 content marketing trends that are most likely to rule the marketing world in 2020, are a cue for you to get up and get going. The new year is anticipating some great content from you.
