Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
– Seth Godin
Let’s face it, marketers understand what good content can do. As the year draws to an end, 2017 is going to see some shift in content marketing tactics. This means that you will have to unlearn, relearn, modify, and even work with existing content strategies. Smart marketers realize this and are already working towards gradually shifting their content strategy.
Let’s take a look at what enterprise marketers are calling the biggest content marketing trends for 2017:
Mobile First…Just Like Last Year
72% of the US population owns a smartphone, says a research by Pew Research Center. Mobile is going to reign supreme just like [insert year]. Since the inception of the modern smartphone, each year has been called the year of mobile by marketers. Just like 2016, your focus in 2017 should be on creating content that is easily digestible on a mobile phone. Optimizing your content for at least one untethered device would be a good approach to follow. Mobile friendly web content also gets you better SEO.
Visual Content FTW
If you are still skeptical about videos, it’s time to change. This year Snapchat recorded 10 billion views, and this is going to keep on increasing. Like it or not, visual content is here to stay and 2017 will see it become more powerful. So don’t forget to incorporate videos in your content strategy.
Fewer Winners…but Bigger Payouts
The next year is going to be tough for content marketing. Marketing Gurus like Jay Baer predict that there will be fewer winners, mainly due to the sheer number of businesses vying for attention, especially on social media channels. But the silver lining is the bigger payouts. Successful businesses will see an increase in revenue, profitability, and customers. So expect 2017 to be a challenging year for content marketing.
No More Generic Content
Content marketers will have to get down into the nitty-gritty of things in 2017. With attention of prospects becoming fragmented, marketers will have to make their messaging niche. Consumers want content that speaks to them. Hyper-personalization would become the only way to stand out in this ever-growing pool of content marketers.
Blogs Would Still Remain Most Critical
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 52% of B2B marketers say that blogs will be the most critical to content marketing success in 2017! So, no, blogs aren’t done to death, and you should still include them in your content strategy. This, followed by email newsletters, should still take precedence over other things in your strategy.