Content marketing is evolving at a fast pace. For marketers, keeping up with the latest trends should be a priority.
The transformation of our digital environment is accelerating. Between the rise of AI and the development of new interactive experiences, we’re seeing a more immersive and engaging environment emerge.
For content marketers, keeping up with the latest trends is crucial for staying relevant. Those who innovate and deliver new experiences will capture more market shares. Here are the leading content marketing trends for 2024.
Rise of interactive and immersive content
Interactive content gives users an active role. Instead of merely consuming content, users are in charge of their experiences.
Interactive content can support several goals:
- Letting users choose their experiences improves personalization.
- Performing actions is good for engagement and time spent on a page.
- These actions generate valuable data you can use to learn more about your audience.
Live videos are emerging as a popular format with 163.4 million viewers in 2024, but you can also use quizzes, polls, forms, or mobile apps.
AI-powered personalization
Marketers have been prioritizing personalization for years. In fact, 71% of consumers expect it.
AI is unlocking new possibilities in this area. AI-powered personalization drives evolving content marketing trends, such as delivering highly targeted content.
Brands are moving away from traditional segmentation strategies that use demographic data. With AI, marketers can target users based on personal factors like sentiment analysis.
Some brands are also using AI-enhanced content to scale content creation. This cost-effective approach makes it possible to publish content that targets the interests of a handful of users for a highly personalized experience.
AI-powered chatbots are another helpful tool for personalization. These chatbots are engaging and can give personalized answers.
Harnessing user-generated content (UGC)
User-Generated Content establishes social proof. It helps with trust, engagement, and loyalty. A large amount of quality UGC will support word-of-mouth marketing and help you grow.
Consumers put trust in what others say about brands and products. This type of content feels more genuine than branded messages and plays a pivotal role in purchase decisions.
Successful brands encourage, share, and curate UGC. Here’s how you can incorporate UGC into your content marketing strategy:
- Send an email asking for a review or rating after a purchase.
- Be active on social media and respond to users.
- Launch brand hashtags.
- Keep users engaged with contests.
- Partner with your top customers to create testimonials.
- Look into developing an influencer or affiliate marketing program.
Optimizing for voice search
The natural language process is powering the rise of voice search. Devices like smart TVs, smart speakers, and smartphones now deliver hands-free search experiences with contextual and engaging responses.
There are now 110 million virtual assistant users in the U.S. Voice search is playing an important role in content discovery, and it’s one of the top content marketing strategies to adopt in 2024.
You can get started by optimizing your content for voice search:
- Target conversational searches with long-tail keywords and questions.
- Understand what your audience wants to accomplish with voice search. Develop personas and create content that supports their voice search tasks.
- Target Google snippets with short answers. Add summaries and use a Q&A content format.
- Optimize your mobile content since many of these searches happen on smartphones.
The power of video marketing
Video is a preferred format among internet users. In 2022, Americans watched 19 hours of online video content a week.
Video marketing has several advantages:
- It associates a human voice with your brand.
- Visual content is eye-catching. It’s an effective way of grabbing a user’s attention.
- Video is an excellent format for storytelling. Good stories are memorable and create an emotional connection.
- Short videos are ideal for bite-sized learning, while video series can result in repeat engagement.
- Showing your product in use or having customers share their testimonials on video can make your value proposition feel concrete.
Using video for content marketing is easier than you think. Here’s how you can get started:
- Invest in simple equipment to create product demos, unboxing videos, interviews, and other accessible formats.
- Have a clear takeaway for each video.
- Tell users how the video will deliver value initially so they keep watching.
- Optimize your videos with an engaging title and description for organic traffic.
- Share your videos on your site, email list, social media pages, and other successful publication channels.
- Use data to measure engagement. Look at clicks, conversions, and watch time.
- Look into investing in paid video ads to drive engagement on social media.
Embracing sustainability in content marketing
Consumers are increasingly aware of environmental and social issues. Products marketed as sustainable typically grow 2.7 times faster compared to other options.
Your content marketing strategies can support your social and environmental values:
- Create content that starts a conversation on important issues for your industry. Present solutions or acknowledge what needs to change.
- Be transparent about your practices. Tell your audience how you’re working on building a greener business.
If you’re not sure where to start with sustainability, there are a few ideas you can explore:
- Partner with non-profits. You can donate products or launch a volunteering program for your employees.
- Rethink how you ship and package your products.
- Switch to a green hosting solution for your website.
You probably saw the Hellmann’s Mayonnaise spot if you watched Superbowl LVII. The ad feels like a fun Superbowl spot filled with celebrity cameos, but it has a strong message against food waste and offers actionable advice by presenting the brand’s product as a solution.
The Body Shop’s donation page is another excellent example. The health and beauty brand regularly donates hygiene products to shelters and retirement communities. This page fosters transparency by listing data points and showing pictures of employees donating products.
Data-driven insights and analytics
Analytics gives you more visibility than ever over your content marketing efforts. The most successful brands are leveraging advanced analytics to learn and adapt:
- Data can reveal new trends and show how your audience changes.
- Key metrics can tell you which content marketing strategies are working.
- You can also identify where your marketing effort needs to meet your expectations.
Create a modern content marketing process by incorporating analytics and using data to optimize your approach:
- Start by identifying the sources you can use to collect quality data.
- Pick the right KPIs for tracking the goals that matter to you.
- Make analytics accessible across your organization. Letting different marketing teams work with data can promote innovation.
- Adopt a transparent process for reviewing analytics reports and using data to inform changes to your marketing efforts.
Testing is another critical aspect of working with data. Developing experiments that use A/B testing, user testing, or incrementality testing can provide you with valuable insights before launching a campaign on a broader scale.
Adapting to evolving social media algorithms
Social media platforms work hard to keep their users engaged. They achieve this goal by continuously improving algorithms that recommend entertaining or valuable content.
Social media is a powerful channel for brands. These platforms can increase awareness through search features, support content discovery, and allow you to interact with your audience.
Marketers need to adjust to evolving algorithms to keep reaping these benefits:
- Use analytics. Track engagement over time to see what kind of content performs well.
- Remember that quality drives engagement. Regardless of algorithm changes, sharing quality content remains the best way to connect with users.
- Experiment with different content formats, post lengths, and keywords.
- Optimize each social media platform separately.
- Use market research to understand better what your audience wants to see on social media.
- Follow trends. Using a popular hashtag for your niche can help with content discovery.
Keeping up with the latest content marketing trends for 2024
The most successful brands have a proactive and flexible approach to content marketing. They’re willing to experiment and always look ahead to new trends.
You can build effective content marketing strategies for 2024 by incorporating these trends:
- Experiment with new formats, including interactive content, videos, and voice search.
- Learn about new technologies like AI, advanced analytics, and enhanced algorithms.
- Keep authenticity at the core of what you do. Put your audience first, leverage UGC, and focus on essential values like sustainability.
Tempesta Media can help update your content marketing strategy. As a managed services provider, we can develop a full-service approach that leverages the latest digital marketing trends while focusing on systems that make sense for your unique goals.
Our initial Prova assessment looks at over 90 data points and can reveal which trends you’re overlooking. Contact us now to get started.
