With a New Year comes new lists of trends that we predict will take over or at least be relevant in the coming year. Here are 5 content marketing trends that need to be at the forefront of everyone’s strategy:

Video will continue to reign

For years now video has been the ultimate king of content marketing and that trend continues. According to Cisco, more than 80% of all consumer web traffic will be video by 2020. YouTube has 1.5 billion monthly active users watching a ridiculous amount of content every day. Internet speeds continue to increase and so do the quality of videos being uploaded. Streaming services like Netflix ensure all video content is consumed online.

This is nothing new. So in order to rise above the noise, you need to figure out how to use video to do something new and different for your brand. If you have used video before, see what worked and what didn’t. Accordingly, figure out how best to be creative through the medium. Live videos are a great example. The concept is still new as Facebook and Instagram have only just recently opened up the option of going Live to brands. This gives you a unique opportunity to be a creative early adopter.

Anyone can be an influencer

Influencer marketing has evolved in the last year and will continue to do so with a new terminology called micro-influencers. These are people who have a consistent reach across a few thousand followers rather than hundreds of thousands or millions of followers where the legitimacy of that follower base is difficult to verify. Micro-influencers are just normal folk who don’t mind making an extra buck through their profiles rather than traditional influencers becoming businesses thanks to their huge follower numbers.

These micro-influencers can easily become brand advocates for your product or services and reach out to your target audience through their posts. It’s likely a lot of their followers are exactly like them so the ripple effect of your content works great for your brand.

A dedicated team creating content

This is a trend at least 2 years old but still hasn’t hit ubiquity. 2018 may finally be the year businesses begin to hire dedicated teams to devise a content strategy and create it for them. Be it in-house or external, depending on the business requirement, this has become crucial to be successful in this competitive market. It doesn’t even matter if a business is B2C or B2B anymore.

You need to find the right team to identify your specific content needs, create them, choose the right channels and continue a consistent stream of relevant content. This ensures your customers are kept aware of what is going on with your slate of products or services.

Off-Screen content and interaction

Most of your marketing content in 2018 will be delivered through a screen, there are no two ways about it. However, technology has made it possible to deliver content without a mobile device or desktop. Siri and Alexa are ideal examples of this trend. Voice search is one of tech’s latest frontiers that will be fleshed out this year thanks to Google and Apple following pioneers Amazon into the field.

People have begun adopting a connected lifestyle with the advent of smart home technology. This is making it possible for brands to interact with customers through a brand new medium.

Be personal and transparent

Ask any small business about how important personal touch and transparency with their end customer is. Although this gets forgotten when you’re talking to your audience. In this scenario, your customer is someone who walks into your shop and is about to make a purchase as opposed to your social media followers or website visitors.

With extensive competition, it has never been more important to give your brand’s communication a truly personal voice and focus on being transparent. Let your audience believe your communication is genuine and you’re out to educate them on your products and services instead of just blindly selling it to them.

Our social media management Dubai and digital marketing mavens truly feel this is where content marketing in 2018 is headed and we’re buckling down with our clients to ensure our strategies are on track.

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