Content Marketing Trends for 2013 – Part 1

2012 was proclaimed, “The Year of Content and Content Strategy.” 2013 is the year marketers and executives realize content marketing isn’t a flash in the pan. Content marketing is here to stay. With the rise of quality content and the need to constantly deliver fresh and engaging material, content marketing is driving a variety of trends. Here are the first 5 of the top 10 content marketing trends to watch for this year.

1. Use Gamification. Content marketers are seeing increased engagement with content that offers incentives for interaction, such as entertainment, reward and learning opportunities. This is Gamification. It is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems. An example of gamification is LinkedIn’s progression bar; by constantly telling you how far you still have to go to complete your profile it spurs you onto greater lengths to complete it. Look out for more gamification type content.
2. Content Quality is King. One of the biggest challenges of all for marketers is getting clients to understand that content is not just “stuff.” If you really want to engage your target audience, your focus has to be on quality. Anyone can produce “stuff,” but there is a world of difference between well thought out, strategically developed content that absolutely tells stories about brands, as opposed to material (such as video, audio and text) that is produced without a thought for quality, understanding or strategy. Marketers know this, which is why it is a key reason why brands should seek out companies experienced in creating properly thought out content to help their marketing activities.
3. Data: Go Big or Go Home! Big data provides vast amounts of information to organizations. As content marketing becomes much more prominent in the marketing mix, it is going to become equally important that these same companies have the tools and technologies in place to deal with the data they have coming in. This includes visitor behavior, posts on social media sites, digital pictures, videos, purchase transaction records and location-based information. By integrating their data sources, brands and retailers will be able to hone and guide their marketing efforts.
4. A Personal Touch. Providing a personal touch will become a prerequisite for companies who want to keep online visitors from content hopping. Like any good relationship, customer-brand online relationships are built on trust. To build trust and loyalty, brands will have to focus on smaller stories with their overall content strategy to show value to the customer right up front.
5. Keep Moving Mobile. Smartphones now comprise 50% of mobile phones purchased and mobile devices are set to continue their explosive growth into 2013 and beyond. So making sure that content displays correctly on mobile platforms will be a key focus for content marketers moving forward. The consequences to companies and websites that don’t capitalize on this growth is that they are potentially losing visibility in a massive market place.

Come back next week when we take a look at the next 5 content marketing trends of 2013, which include link building and more community content.

Special Offer:

Sign up for a complimentary consultation during December and receive an Annual Marketing Planning Guide valued at $475!  We offer a 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO, and can answer your questions and discuss your specific marketing needs - no strings attached. Call 408-218-2391 or contact us today to arrange your consultation!