Whether you freelance or not, these hot trends will affect how you work in 2016.

By Rieva Lesonsky

As the largest freelancing site, Upwork (formerly Elance and oDesk) is witness to a lot of trends in the freelance marketplace. It put together a “What’s Hot & What’s Not” list based on insights from the more than $1 billion of freelance project work it deals with every year.

These trends have implications for many small businesses, so I decided to share three of the top ones. Here are some trends Upwork predicts are on the way in—or out—in 2016.

Prediction #1: 
Hot: Virtual Teams
Not: Traditional Teams
Point: More businesses will be built as remote-first versus remote-friendly.
Proof: According to a recent study, 34 percent of the U.S. workforce freelanced last year, and 60 percent of freelancers choose this lifestyle more out of preference than necessity.

Prediction #2:
Hot: Video
Not: Infographics
Point: The evolution of content marketing and the growth of new ad formats will create a race for high-quality video. As powerful platforms like Snapchat and Instagram build their video ad offerings, marketers will be hiring video producers to create high-quality content quickly.
Proof: There was a significant increase in the amount of money businesses spent hiring for video-related skills such as Adobe After Effects (+115 percent), Video Production (+36 percent) and Motion Graphics (+117 percent).

Prediction #3:
Hot: Content Marketing
Not: Traditional Advertising
Point: Businesses will reallocate dollars spent on traditional advertising towards content marketing efforts in order to drive sales. As marketing teams aim to “travel at the speed of content,” they will turn to freelance writers and agencies to keep pace. By supplementing their core team with skilled writers, marketing teams will be able to rapidly generate original content that captivates and keeps audiences engaged.
Proof: Content Writing is the most in-demand skill out of 250+ writing-related skills on Upwork, and there was an 11 percent increase in the number of job posts requiring that skill.