In the age of the internet, with each minute passing traditional methods of marketing are becoming less and less effective but marketing is still at the core when it comes to promoting your product or organization.
Whether you are a marketer or entrepreneur your business still depends largely on marketing but with old methods counting their last days of life you know there has to be something better and more modern which utilizes the technology’s full potential in reaching the customers.
“Enter Content Marketing”.
“In the simplest of terms Content Marketing is defined as an approach to marketing which focuses on creating the content which is valuable and relevant and then distributing it to the target audience which attracts profitable actions on the behalf of the customers/users.”
In content marketing instead of pitching your product and services to the customers, you help your customers’ issues by creating content which relevant and useful for them.
In an annual research done by the “content marketing institute” it was revealed that today majority of marketersare utilizing the power of content for marketing their products and services.
In fact, many prominent organizations in the world such as P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Netflix and many more are using the content to drive the users in for one simple reason and that is ‘because it works’.
Below are three reasons why content marketing is not only the present but the future as well:
- Increase in Sales
- Large savings in cost
- Attract customer which remain loyal to a brand for a long time
Rapid advances in the technology are heavily influencing content creation, distribution and its consumption which is why it is important for the content marketers to keep them up-to-date with the latest advances in the technology and how they are affecting the content marketing domain.
Below are seven tech technologies which will shake the content marketing platform in 2018.
Social platforms will be new publishing outlets
When it comes to Content distribution various tactics are involved in it and sharing the content on social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is a very common tactic employed by everyone.
But, social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat are slowly becoming publishing platforms in their own right. They are no longer the traditional social media platforms to share links, images, and pictures only.
Besides, it will be more convenient for the users to get all the content on their favorite social platform without having to leave it.
Today, Facebook is the biggest social media platform for all size of businesses and publishers have been using its ‘Instant Article’ feature to distribute their content among their users and readers.
Instagram and Snapchat now have a swipe feature which allows its users to read the article with a simple swipe. Social media channels bring your content before your users/readers and drive them back to your website just like guest blogging or guest publication does.
Machine learning
Bringing your content to the right audience on right time takes a lot more than an educated guess or simply posting multiple times a day and this is where the machine learning comes in.
Machine learning powered tools have the ability to find and curate the best content from the web and can also study how users are engaging with the content in real-time and how is it being pushed and shared across other channels.
Machine learning based tools can also suggest brands which type of content they should create for their audience and how to distribute the content among the audience.
Virtual and Augmented reality will rule the visual content
A lot of people out there are figuring out how VR/AR technologies are changing the game. According to the experts, these technologies are still now in developing phase and will go main stream in 2018.
They also predicted that these technologies have the potential to bring in the revenue worth $150 billion by 2020. One they are mainstream, they will also bring in the new opportunities for the marketers to market and optimize their content according to these technologies.
If, you are not ready yet to bring your content into the virtual reality, then don’t worry; for now, just keep an eye on the trend. Creating interactive info-graphics, videos and apps are some possibilities of the VR/AR technologies which are waiting to be explored.
Advanced technology and personalized content
The content we create today is highly generic in nature. No matter how hard we try to personalize it, the harsh reality is that it still does not cater the need of all.
Even if two people are having the same problem, it is most likely that they will be viewing it from the perspective of their own which presents altogether different sets of possible solutions in each case.In such case content like ’10 actionable SEO tricks’ may be valid for one and not for other and in the worst case, both readers may find it content useless.
But, the advanced technology will help you to take the content personalization to the next level. The importance of creating personalized experience has already been proved by the giants like ‘Google’ and ‘Amazon’ which relies heavily on the specific user persona and in coming years this will also become highly important for the content writer, creators, curators, and marketers as well.
New content opportunities with ‘Live video streaming’
2017 was the year when every major social platform added live video streaming feature.
While the traditional written content is still important, but to ignore, the power of live video streaming for content distribution would be a mistake.
In fact, in a recent survey, it was revealed that more than 80% of the consumers prefer live video over any other type of posts.
Live Video Streaming allows you to share your message with the users/consumers in a more personal and resonating way. It always advantageous for the brands to have a human connection with the followers and live video streaming provided this great opportunity to every brand alike.
Mobile optimization
Days of desktops are long gone and with smartphones and the internet, all of us want things on demand and more importantly, on the go. According to a recent study, more than 65% of the digital media engagement happens via smartphones.
It doesn’t mean that you have to build your own app, but still, optimizing the content for the mobile devices will give you a great advantage over your competitors.
Users of smartphones and other smart devices are only increasing day-by-day and optimizing for mobile devices is a requirement today not a recommendation.
Artificial intelligence will enhance the content
Content creators are already exploring the potential of the AI for the content creation and this technology will revolutionize the content marketing and creation in 2018.
AI tools like natural language processor, predictive analysis will help in creating the content which more efficient and more valuable for the users.
Some of the big name publishers like Associated Press are already using the power of AI to generate the content at great speed and to release it to the audience.
Some experts are saying that in five year time humans will only oversee the editing part of the content creation wherever necessary.
Conclusion
As technology evolves, it also changes the content marketing industry and the industry will shift in ways which are hard to predict now. But by keeping a watch on trends and grabbing the opportunities they present content marketers will have the power to innovate new experiences for the audiences.
