2019 Top Content Marketing Trends
Content marketing will become even more influential and powerful for small and medium-sized business. 2018 had the whole industry pushing content out faster than ever before. The trend in 2019 will be to polish and further narrow in the strategies that can make you stand out from the crowd. Web consumers in 2019 want a better user experience with more interactive content and will only spend their highly touted screen time with brands that are personal and authentic.
Chatbots saw a significant rise in 2018 in some industry verticals, but look for that to expand significantly in 2019 with higher user familiarity. Others will see videos and podcasts as a way to differentiate themselves from the pack with compelling and convenient parcels of content available when the customer wants to consume it. It should be another exciting year for content marketing.
Here are some of the top content marketing trends for 2019:
1. Mobile First
The transformative concept of the century is “mobile.” The consumption of everything, everywhere, anytime. This concept must continue to be at the forefront of every marketer and business.
Several studies predict that the smartphone will replace the PC as the most important way of accessing the internet. In the US, per Statistica, the last two years have seen an all-time high in mobile wireless subscriber connections. In 2017, there were 133 mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the US.
Any and every content created should be designed for mobile first — particularly video marketing since it is by far out consumed on mobile devices opposed to PCs.
2. User Experience (UX)
Continuing from the “mobile first” priorities above, in 2019 commanding a user experience to convert on different screens to win trust and create a positive personal image of your brand will above all be expected, not just desired by the consumer. Consider consumable content as the third most important attribute of your company’s product or service, behind price and quality in 2019.
You have to look no further than the behemoths Google, Facebook, and Instagram to see a near every-minute optimization of their algorithms to improve their user’s experience on their search and newsfeeds to attract and prolong user consumption. Greater user interaction simply means your content will stay relevant and more widely spread on channels for more users to consume.
With the rise of voice search over traditional text search, content keywords and phrases change. Voice allows for more complex sentences or even full questions, which is extremely important for content marketing managers to focus on SEO and web search in 2019.
3. Micro Moments
A new term in the content marketing industry, Micro Moments are already here and flushing, whether we know it or not. They are the short moments in which the customer looks to answer a question and turns to their device, how many times have you been there today?
Where is the nearest shoe store? What are the trending colors for 2019 fashion? How to arrange a vase of flower stems? What is the price for porcelain flooring? Being relevant and the fastest to offer a click help in the most suitable format will be the winners of these micro-moments.
However, how do you become ready to offer choices and engage with the customer during these micro-moments?
- Be present and available: understand and create longevity in the customer’s search and buying journey.
- Be helpful and authentic: whether your user wants to know more, visit in person, learn how to do, or has purchase questions, focusing on the user’s well-being first will lead to more brand recognition and trust.
- Be fast: Provide your offer faster than your competition.
This mobile marketing tactic offers small pieces of information that directly answer typed or spoken questions with short, well-structured information segment on the topic.
4. Premium Long-Form Content
Search engines are not the ones that love long-form content; users indicated significant consumption growth of long-form content in 2018. With such compelling charts rising, you can best bet that the top of each market/industry will be dedicating more resources to better researched, well-structured content. These in-depth pieces require substantially more research and time than the standard sub-1000-1500 word articles.
The premium aspect of this trend sits with the better than the average structure of paragraphs, headings, and topic understanding. The ability to answer the user’s questions quickly, accurately with supplemental questions they didn’t know they wanted, will be the measuring stick.
Search engines are learning faster than ever about the real intent of the user’s search. This understanding is changing the way search engines rank pages and content. If you subconsciously create content with the benefiting the end user the most, not trying to sell your product or service, you will end up selling more of your product or service.
For 2019, your content calendar should consistently focus on fewer, well thought out articles with far greater researched information to authenticly benefit your end-users.
5. Video Marketing
Another huge potential for local small and medium-sized business in 2019 is the utilization of video marketing. Studies show that 64% of customers made a purchase after watching a branded video on Facebook. It has proven to be the most convenient way for users to get to learn more about a subject or company while on the web in 2018. It is the future of content marketing.
6. Social Media
Everyone is one. Every company is thinking about it…or dreading it…
Facebook is still the elephant in the room for mature, experienced consumers (72% of consumers age 50-64 and 62% of consumers 65+ are users of Facebook). However, the short-lived audiovisual content consumed on Instagram and WhatsApp is nothing you can ignore if your audience is sub 30 years old. Influencers are a huge help on these channels for most traditional businesses.
So in other words, if you are a high-end kitchen and bath remodeler looking for an experienced buyer that is going to stay in their home for many years and has the disposable income to make a significant investment in their home, Facebook is going to be one of the best social media options for you.
Regardless of your platform, to perform well, your content must be authentic and personable. In most cases,
7. Chatbots & AI (Artificial Intelligence)
As the evolution of conversational online chatbots and interactive voice response technologies rapidly improve, your company’s ability to answer your potential customer’s questions faster and more completely has never been more attainable. Answering questions and sharing information are only the beginning. Customer service centers can soon look very outdated for companies willing to invest in this technology.
While most users rather speak to a person on the phone, getting fast and accurate information from a chatbot online, is more important than knowing that it is from someone sitting at a keyboard in an on-shore or off-shore location. Cost-effective, never annoyed or snarky, never impatient or in a hurry, chatbots offer full service around the clock.
8. Cross-Team Marketing
No longer is the creation of
This technique yields from the understanding that each department and employee deal with customers in a different way and at various stages of the customer journey. Each step of the process should be acknowledged and optimized to understand the customer’s needs, pains, and requirements at each specific moment of the journey process.
9. Content Collaboration
Two complimentary brands collaborating to create new content can extend each brands target audience while offering more value to the end user. A great example of this is the collaboration of Uber and Spotify to offer Uber’s riders their personalized Spotify playlist while traveling to their next destination.
10. Podcasts
The year of the Pig, 2019, could also be labeled the year of the Podcasts. One of the slower starts in the content marketing world, the upside to podcasts could end up being far more significant than initially realized. Informative and entertaining small bite-sized audio clips could help your company stay on the cutting edge of consumable digital content. Some predict that regular subscriptions to a list podcasts will replace radio talk shows altogether, customizing the user’s experience with content they choose, available any time of the day, to fast forward, rewind, and pause at will.
Final Conclusions
Content marketing of 2019 will be thoroughly intertwined with new and expanding technology and refined user experiences of the end-users. Companies that can adapt to the expectation of their customers in 2019 will see growth success.
Setting the market leaders apart in 2019:
- Focused, personalized communication with the customer when they want it.
- Available content that the customer genuinely values on all channels.
- Fresh and authentic video/audio content in bite-sized formats designed for mobile devices.
- Premium, comprehensive long-form text content.
- Cross department involvement of content creation.
- Cooperation with complementary services/companies or influencers.
- Polished User Experience and Micro Moments development.