The Future of Content Marketing: Trends and Predictions

 Content marketing has become an essential strategy for businesses looking to attract and retain customers in the digital age. As technology continues to evolve rapidly, so do the tactics and best practices of content marketing. Looking ahead, several key trends and predictions will shape the future of content marketing.

Personalization at Scale

Personalization has been a buzzword in marketing for years, but the ability to truly customize content and experiences for each customer has remained elusive for most businesses. Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are making large-scale personalization achievable for more companies. Analyzing data and behaviors, AI can segment audiences into more finely-tuned groups to receive tailored messages. Chatbots and recommendation engines also provide opportunities to deliver individualized interactions. Personalized content performs better across metrics, so expect to see every facet of content marketing become more individually relevant.

Focus on Video and Interactive Content

Video consumption has been growing rapidly, with 80% of internet traffic expected to come from video by 2021. Creative video content generates strong engagement across platforms. Similarly, interactive content like questionnaires, assessments, calculators, and configurators allow audiences to engage brands more actively compared to static content. Brands that have not prioritized rich and interactive content will need to expand their content mediums. Short-form vertical videos for platforms like Instagram Stories or TikTok also provide more bite-sized ways to capture audience attention.

Audio and Voice Search Content Gain Traction

The rise of smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home is fueling an expansion into audio content and optimization for voice search. Podcasting has seen tremendous growth recently, doubling listenership from 2014 to 2018. Brands have an opportunity to engage audiences through audio content and storytelling as consumers connect more through voice-activated devices. Developing capabilities in voice search optimization also lets brands improve discovery and answer audience questions verbally.

Influencer Marketing Matures

Influencer marketing surpassed $5 billion in 2017 and continues to grow year over year. Brands have increased their influencer budgets to generate more authentic connections with target audiences. Data plays an increasingly important role - brands can accurately track conversions and measure ROI from influencer efforts. Companies also use consumer data to identify and vet the best influencers for campaigns based on audience alignment. Regulation in disclosure guidelines and fraud prevention has moved influencer marketing into more maturity to become a scalable program for brands’ content strategies.

Content Gets More Interactive and Shoppable

Interactive content improves engagement and data collection from audiences, while shoppable content provides a seamless path to conversion. Their powers combined present exciting possibilities in streamlining click-through to sale. For example, a brand could create a quiz or design tool to help guide customers to the perfect product fit. Embedded cues then allow them to effortlessly click to complete the purchase right within the content experience. Similarly, live video shopping allows audiences to shop for products within video streams - in China, Taobao essentially turned its site into a giant shopping channel through the use of live videos. More disruptive tools can integrate content and shopping in innovative ways.

Micro-communities Change Social Strategy

Facebook groups now number over 1 billion, showing the collective shift to more private online communities. Smaller niche communities organized around shared interests, lifestyles, and values have become a coveted but challenging audience to nurture. Many groups ban promotional content or sales pitches, favoring an educational and value-first approach. Brands still considering broad-based audience strategies on social media need to prioritize these micro-communities that crave trust and intimacy. Useful and creative content tailored to each group can foster authentic connections and loyalty.

Value Exchange Becomes More Reciprocal

The traditional content marketing formula has been to offer free valuable content to capture audience attention, generate leads, and eventually convert sales. However, younger generations increasingly demand more direct value in exchange for their time and information. Whether through discounts, points, rewards, or access, brands may need to incorporate more transactional "pay gates" for premium content. Finding the right reciprocal value that still captures audiences and moves them into the sales funnel will be important. Cryptocurrency rewards coded through blockchain could emerge as one new option.

Content Production Scales with Automation

Ambitious content marketing requires consistently producing large volumes of content, but not all processes can be manual. Automated content creation using artificial intelligence and machine learning has grown more sophisticated. AI content generators from companies like Automated Insights can turn data into written narratives - for example converting sales reports into news stories. Other options like Wibbitz let brands auto create videos from the text in bulk. These AI tools still require a human touch in oversight and quality control, but they enable faster content output to match rising audience appetites.

Cross-Platform Measurement Solves Attribution

Understanding content effectiveness across multiple digital platforms has been an ongoing challenge for marketers. However, machine learning and AI tools are emerging to advance multi-touch attribution. Software solutions can track detailed consumer journeys across channels to quantify both direct and assist conversions driven by content. As analytics grow more precise in parsing campaign contributions and sales impact from holistic data, they empower the optimization of budgets and strategies. This attribution revolution liberally applies to all digital content, including video which has previously lacked robust analytics compared to other mediums.

Content Marketing and Advertising Converge

The lines between branded content and traditional advertising have become very blurred in recent years. More advertisers pair paid campaigns with organic content plays through custom publishing and branded entertainment. At the same time, platforms like Facebook increasingly favor branded content within native ad formats. Both sides essentially try to borrow credibility and relationship-building from the other amid increasing consumer skepticism. Smooth transparency and shifting between ‘church’ and ‘state’ will define the successful convergence of content marketing and advertising.