By Alice Jackson
If you are reading this page, chances are that you are searching for fresher and better ways to market your business. And why shouldn’t you? After all, the past two years have almost inevitably changed how content is consumed and published around the globe. To stay put with what is no longer the thing of the future is to unfortunately pull a Nokia: And you certainly don’t want that happening for your firm (A minute of silence for Nokia) Worry not, for; by bringing together some of the most engaging trends for 2017 in one page, we intend to make your life a little bit easier.
Influencer Marketing
“Make them an offer they can’t refuse.” There is no such thing as a jack of all traits. No believe me there isn’t. It is always in the interest of all parties that they create specializations. Those pages on Instagram which have over 50,000 in audience have specifically tailored their page for you, i.e to sell their feed to potential marketers. Make use of it! According to CMI, 92% of people trust brand recommendations from individuals (even if they don’t know them), working with high-profile professionals can enhance enterprise-wide efforts to strengthen your company’s credibility and trustworthiness.
Visually Appealing Content
It’s time you tap into the mass potential of visuals in your content. Infographics, interactive webpages and infinite scrolls are no longer a fad, but the golden key to the future. It not only increases share rates and in doing so; your engagement, but it also makes a statement that you are one to keep up with changing times. And if you were to ask us, this is one sentiment none can fake. Graphics narrate your company story and get more traffic to your product or service. For instance, Oreo knows how to keep their audience engaged through visual marketing. They have used their business logo creatively within the design to make the graphic look more appealing. The brand’s Superbowl (“You can still dunk in the dark”) attracted many.
Virtual Reality
Though the term virtual reality has been ringing in our ears for many years now, never has the technology been closer to our lives. According to Businessinsider, 62% of consumers say they would feel more engaged with a brand that sponsors a VR experience and 71% of consumers think a brand is forward-thinking if it uses virtual reality. Brands use virtual reality as a tool to tell the story of their brands. Having audios and videos is old. The content now should be more immersive such as 360 degree videos. For instance, have a look at how Honor Everywhere uses VR to engage audience.
Multimedia Content On the Rise
Ever noticed the large number of gifs on your Facebook feed? Ever wondered why? Interactive content such as gifs (animated pictures) Live (Celebrities taking to their feed to promote upcoming pictures/ endorsed products/services) draw customer attention like moths to flame. This, plus given the low investment in bringing these to life, they are now the go to choice for marketers, and certainly one of the most ab(used) marketing trends of 2017. They are attracting and effective.
Increasing Paid Promotion
As the amount of content being produced and distrbuted on various platforms is increasing day by day, it isn’t east to stand out from the crowd and attract your target audience. Paid promotions help in distributing the content at the right time to the right person. Though you have to pay, but usually the amount that the sites as fr is not that much plus it is worth it! For instance, brands can promote content on Facebook via its Advertising Platform. The ads show in the Newsfeed and clicking on them takes a user directly to the site.
Resurgence of Print
There is this rising trend of big brands turning into publishers. The magazines that they come out with not only talk about their brand but the whole industry. Printing magazines help brands connect better with their customers and makes them stand out from the crowd. Also, this is a great way of increasing your customers by boosting loyalty. Also, reading a magazine provides a good escapism of your customers from the overloaded digital world. For instance, energy drink brand Red Bull publishes a monthly magazine called The Red Bulletin that has embraced the world of print for years.
More Mobile
The number of people using mobile for their day-to-day activities is increasing day by day. According to Marketingland, there are 3.65 billion unique global mobile users. Therefore, there is all the more need for the companies to “go-mobile” for better engagement and the cost of a website is less for mobile as compared to desktop many of the sites are creating just mobile sites only. Having content that can be accessed everywhere will become standard. Remember, 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. So, it is essential that the content you have is responsive with embedded videos to provide a good experience to the users.
Live Streaming Videos
Whether a big brand or a startup, everyone is using live streaming videos to connect and interact with their target audience. Live streaming gives an opportunity to the businesses to create content with just a click of button without making a hole in your pocket. Since the content that you post is unfiltered, it shows your brand to be authentic and trustworthy. For example, Benefit Cosmetics hosts a series called ‘Tipsy Tricks’ every every week on Facebook Live. They ask their viewers about different make up products they have and what they want to see.
Newsletters Are In!
Despite of several platforms on social media, newsletters have been quite popular amongst brands as well as people. Newsletters allow you to reach your target audience in a more personal and exclusive manner. Moreover, newsletters are interesting and engaging as they are written keeping in mind the needs and taste of people. You can measure your growth with the subscriptions you have as only somebody who finds your product or service (or marketing) interesting will subscribe it.
Purpose-Driven Content Marketing
Purpose-driven marketing is a way of connecting with your target audience based on their needs and It is done in a way that brings benefit to everyone involved. It could be a campaign supporting a cause or a service for the benefit of the masses. For instance, Nestle Crunch’s Let’s Get Her to Camp campaign tells the story of their business and motivates customers to further the story to win a prize.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content will become an increasingly important part of content marketing strategies in 2017. An article published in Nielsen states that 83% of online respondents in 60 countries say they trust the recommendations of friends and family. So, get people talk about your product and service. Let them do the marketing for you! Content marketing is not only about writing but connecting with people. And when other people or influencers talk about your product or service, you will see an upward graph in your business. A brilliant example of UGC is the “Share a Coke” campaign. In this campaign, customers were asked to upload their images with the bottles and post it on social media. Coke attributes this campaign to a 2% increase in revenue.
Interactive Content Will Continue To Rule.
According to Designhill.com, 70% content marketers believe interactive content to be effective at engaging visitors/buyers, indicating that blogs, articles and white papers with one way of presenting a topic could gradually fade away from content marketing scene. You could make your content interactive by n number of ways such as by adding polls, opinions, images, quizzes, galleries, interactive infographics etc. Adding such features keeps the audience engaged. People tend to enjoy more without feeling targeted. For instance, BBC created an interactive infographic that provides personalized results based on your birth date and height. The animated tiles bring the story to life.
Content Distribution Through Social Media Will Rise.
With majority of people always logged in, it is extremely important to develop your social media presence and use it as a platform to increase your followers. According to ibtimes.com, there are almost 1.4 billion users on Facebook and 302 million active users on Twitter. So, distribute as much content as you can on your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts for spreading a word about your product or service. By sharing your content on such sites, you will also be able to get user-generated content which will help to better your writing skills and create better content, something that your audience will love. Marketers have already started using the social media space to initiate conversations on various topics or put their point across. For instance, check out the LinkedIn page of Designhill, a design crowdsourcing company, that calls for discussing the industry trends with it’s audience.
Content Apps – A New Wave!
This is altogether a new chapter in the content marketing world. Till now there were apps for calling a taxi, booking a hotel, ordering a pizza. But a few marketers have started experimenting with content apps too. You can give access to all the content you produce through that app to your target audience. Though it won’t be easy to convince people to download you app, however, the time is not far away when people will seek all the information through apps. In 2015, the Apple Watch stopped supporting Safari, Apple’s own web browser, compelling users to navigate through apps only. An app will add value to the growth of your business. It will be easy for you to send notifications to your customers instantly but make sure that you don’t over do it. Another thing you can experiment with is making the logo design of your company the symbol of your app button for more recognition amongst people.
Rise of Shoppable Content.
This is the age of shoppable content. Customers wish to buy what they see or are reading about. It can be text with images or videos. An article published in Guardian reveals that shoppable ads are the latest manifestation of how the retail experience is being transformed by technology. Imagine you are reading about a product and see a “shop now” button next to it. Wouldn’t it make your buying experience easier. According to Styla.com, 77% of those who viewed the shoppable site found it easier to navigate and 66% of them got enough information to make a purchase decision. For instance, check out the webpage of Grazia shop with with a shop now button in the end.
Alice Jackson is a Blogger and Digital Marketing Consultant at a crowdsourcing company, Designhill. She is a social media enthusiast, online market analyst, amateur designer and an avid author. She has written on several topics including social media marketing, content marketing, designing trends, startup strategies, and e-commerce. When not writing, she loves spending her time reading romantic novels.
