Our Content Marketing Predictions for 2017

The phrase “Content is King” has domineered the online marketing world since Bill Gates coined the phrase in 1996, since then it has become a staple baseline for any marketer to work from.

Over the past twenty years, marketers have pushed for high quality, keyword rich content so much so that it has become an integrated part of digital marketing.

With a digital world that is constantly evolving, some people have questioned whether or not content is still king. Well, we at mtc believe that it is.

Content is still king, but what we describe as content has changed and advanced a fair bit since 1996, and will continue to do so in 2017.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what we can expect from the year ahead!

1. Content designed for mobile users

With more and more people using mobile devices over desktops, the traditional written content is losing favourability. People rarely want to read content that they have to scroll and scroll and scroll down.

By looking at analytics, we can determine where customers are coming from. In recent years, we have seen a rise in people who are accessing content through a mobile device.

Now we aren’t saying that written content is no longer relevant. People are still using desktop for many sites, so desktop focused content is still needed in your marketing strategy. But you must think about how your customers and readers are accessing your site. 2017 will see a rise in content being designed specifically for mobile users, and this will take precedent over desktop content.

2. More visual content

Images are a popular visual for many websites and search engines are getting better at recognising and analysing images special for reustorant business to establish what a site is about.

Infographics have been growing in popularity, and we can expect this trend to continue in 2017. We expect to see more of an increase in interactive infographics which allow users to engage with the content.

Gifs saw a rise in use last year, with many websites using them to add reactions to statements or points in the text – Buzzfeed, we’re looking at you! Gifs are a fun way to convey emotions, or emphasise a point without taking up too much of your word count. They can say a lot in one little moving photo.

3. Video

Video content marketing sees a lot of ROI. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are cashing in on this trend by optimising user experience and improving the newsfeeds. From a marketing perspective, video content will greatly improve your SEO as YouTube is owned by Google, so favours YouTube videos in search results.

Video content is a fantastic way to promote your services or products. Videos prove to be an effective tool to provide context and explanations to your customers. You can advertise your products in a video review. While you can also use videos to explain the importance of a particular service you offer or create “how to” style tutorials. 

4. Keep content short & sweet

Ebooks, blogs and traditional written content have all proved to be successful in generating traffic, conversions and email subscription sign ups. However, not everyone wants to read hundreds or thousands of words.

In fact, a 2013 study by Microsoft found that the human attention span has dwindled from 12 seconds in 200 to just 8 seconds. For those wondering where that puts us in terms of other species, the attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds. Yes, you read that right. We have shorter attention spans than goldfish.

Once you can wrap your head around that fact you understand that it is more and more important for the content you produce to be short, sweet and to the point. That doesn’t mean cutting words and information. In fact, aim for between 250-300 words per post. Break it up with sub heading, white space and features like lists or bullet points.

And skimmable content can easily incorporate all of the above points! It can include video, audio and visual content while keeping the mobile user in mind.

So folks, that is what we reckon are going to be big trends to watch out for in content marketing in 2017. Get in touch today to find out more about our content marketing services.