Writing content involves lots of creativity. Therefore, this is a vital component of digital marketing. If you want to leverage your content for marketing and sales, your strategy should involve a lot of planning before creation of content in order to attract your target audience. The content should lure your audience, create brand awareness, engage them effectively, convince them about your product and bring in revenue.
Content marketing can be done on many platforms and channels. Social media, videos and blogs can be effectively used to bring in more customers. In the current scenario, techniques and trends are constantly evolving and change how businesses reach customers. It is therefore essential to keep track of the landscape of content marketing to keep your brand competitive and drive sales.
Content Marketing Statistics
Marketers say sales, web traffic, and social engagement are the most critical metrics for measuring the effectiveness of their content marketing strategy.
- 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool
- Instagram is used by 65% of social media marketers, just behind Facebook at 67%
- Short articles/posts and videos are the top two content types that B2C marketers used in the last 12+ months
- 22% of marketers say Instagram has the most growth potential in 2023 than any other platform
- Gen Z ranked Instagram as their favorite social media app in 2022
- 50% of Millennials trust product recommendations from influencers
- 44% of marketers say the most significant benefit of working with small influencers is that it's less expensive
SOURCE: Hubspot
In this blog, let us discover how content marketing will evolve in 2023 and what trends to look out for throughout the year to improve sales with this marketing technique. Personalized and interactive content are gaining importance of late and added weightage is given to video and visual content. So, if you want to become a popular brand, invest more in high-quality engaging content that your target audience will latch on to. Also, as a content marketer who wants to drive sales, there is a need to adapt to new strategies and stay ahead of the curve. Social media is gaining a lot of importance and everyday new platforms and technologies are springing up and this has necessitated personalisation of content. This should be optimally distributed to specific audiences.
As content marketing will gain a lot of importance as 2023 progresses, marketers need to plan, create, like, distribute, share and publish content in the form of blogs, websites, podcasts and apps. If need be they should also distribute their ideas through press releases and print publications. All these measures will increase brand awareness, sales, engagement and loyalty.
Importance of Content Marketing
Why give a lot of importance to content marketing? It is very helpful or easy to showcase your products through content marketing. People can easily understand your services and this will boost conversions. It helps to create a sense of community around your brand and helps your audience to surmount their challenges with your products or even your services. An increased loyalty is one of the best outcomes of content marketing. There are different types or ways of content marketing.
Online content marketing: Generally this refers to your webpages. If your online content is strong, you will definitely rank well in SERP. Only those interested in your content will come to you. This draws your right target audience closer. There are many ecommerce home pages which have successfully engaged visitors with their unique content about specific products.
Social media content marketing: Global surveys are of the view that there are over 4.2 billion social media users. It includes platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, Snapchat and so on. You can reach out to your target audience to improve sales by sharing content like photos, videos (which can also be live ones) and stories.
For an alluring content, you have to plan ahead with a social media content calendar. How do you create and manage one? First you have to identify and audit the channels in which you want to post the content. Next step would be about the pathway of your social media content calendar. Once you have done this, plan your postings, review it by having a planned schedule and periodically track your published content. Your calendar will have the date and time of publication of your posts. It is good to add links, tags, images and videos too.
Infographic Content Marketing
Marketing your content with infographics is a great way to communicate iyour brand effectively to your target audience. The infographics are a good combination of humble words and small statements and vibrant images. This combination will hit the nail on the head and draw your audience. Even if your information is complex, it can be simplified with the help of infographics and presented well to the audience.
The visual data can be charts or graphs or diagrams that will effectively drive home a point or concept. This way we can present statistics, research findings and even survey results in a lucid manner. They can be used on the website, in blogs, in social media posts or emails or even in a newsletter. Brand exposure can be easily increased by generating backlinks with its help.
When you begin to work on an infographic, concentrate on a good layout. Incorporate the visual elements in a planned manner. Have one which will create a centrally visual impact. Now move on to selection of fonts, colours of your text and sprinkle all the elements, which are consistent with your brand, in such a way that it will entice your audience. You will know that you have established your brand when the appealing infographics begin to resonate with your audience. Infographics that are of high-quality can engage the audience the right way and also help brands to become thought leaders and win loyalty.
Blog Content Marketing
Blogs are powerful and give room to a lot of creativity. While writing a blog if we add links or social share buttons we can easily support internal and external content. Information about the product can easily be included too. Before jumping into writing, identify the purpose of your blog and its goals. Now you should plan your content and set it up. Once the writing is over, it must be promoted by optimising the content. If you are successful in all these steps, you definitely optimize your blog.
Blogging can increase sales by creating brand awareness and introducing potential customers to your products or services. By providing informative and engaging content on topics related to your business, you can attract people and also establish yourself as an authority in your field. This helps to build trust. Connecting with your audience happens only with blogging. Comments section on social media really helps to build a following who are likely to reach out to you.
Blogging can drive traffic to your website with good SERPs. This way you will have more opportunities to change your visitors into customers. With blogs, promotional offers or discounts can be easily conveyed. By providing exclusive deals to your readers, you can incentivize them to make a purchase. Blogs, thus create opportunities for engagement and promotion.
Podcast Content Marketing
Podcasts are audio content. Once you create an audio content which you feel will resonate well with your audience, begin to distribute it in the form of podcasts to promote your brand, product or a service. Marketing using podcasts are gaining a lot of importance these days as they connect with the audience in an unique way. This is because the information about the product or services can be downloaded for later listening. Sometimes, you can also form a series out of a particular topic and focus on your sales with appropriate content.
Insights related to your brands, stories about your product and information about your services can be used to promote events or shared with experts related to the particular industry. You can even use various channels and email marketing to market your products. You can grow your audience or expand your reach through podcast directories such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Podcast marketing is cost-effective and can be repurposed across blog posts, social media updates and email newsletters. Never forget to focus on high-quality, engaging content that will go well with your target audience. Choose your topics, hosts and guests wisely. Building brand awareness, thought leadership and valuable insights and perspectives are all probable with an effective podcast content marketing strategy.
Video Content Marketing
Your content in the video should be engaging and informative. This will help to convert potential customers into actual customers. It works this way:
- The videos can be product demonstrations. They will help customers to understand your products better and this will build trust and increase the likelihood of a purchase
- Customers who are happy with your products or services can offer testimonials and reviews in a video. This will definitely attract genuine customers towards you
- Videos can be used to provide educational content related to your products. This will help you to establish yourself as an authority in the field and build trust with potential customers
- Offers, discounts on your services or products can be promoted through your videos. You can thus incentivize your customers to make a purchase
- Videos can be shared on social media platforms to reach a wider audience and increase brand visibility. This can lead to more traffic to your website and in turn get more sales
Video marketing can thus increase sales by providing engaging and informative content that can help build trust, establish authority, and incentivize potential customers to make a purchase
Surveys or content marketing trends in 2023 point out that marketers prefer to invest in short –form videos to increase their ROI. The survey also says that 73% of consumers prefer to watch short-form videos to know your product or services
Influencer Marketing
There is bound to be significant growth in influencer marketing in 2023. What is this and why is it so beneficial? It is said that people who go in for investment are often influenced by views of others or they seek advice from reliable sources. Individuals who have a good following are chosen by businesses to advocate their brand or use their social media to promote content about the company’s products. These individuals are called influencers and their help to tighten the bond of the company with the audience.
What can you expect in this arena in 2023? It is said that Nano-influencers will rise this year. They are those who have a small social media following (1000-10,000) but have high engagement rate with their audience. Brands will begin to work with influencers who genuinely believe in their product or service and can communicate its value effectively.
Platforms like TikTok and Insta Reels will take over and create crisp video content that will resonate with the audience to increase sales. With the advancement of AI technology, brands can also leverage data to identify the right influencers to work with , create personalized content for their target audience, and measure the impact of their campaigns in real-time.
Brands and influencers will need to ensure they are transparent about sponsored content and adhere to advertising guidelines to avoid legal issues. So, the key to influencer marketing in 2023 will be to work with authentic influencers who can create engaging video content and leverage AI-powered technology to drive sales while adhering to ethical guidelines. Influencers are not only reliable but they are also update as they are now looking into what their audiences want or need.
SEO is one of the oldest methods in marketing but its role cannot be undermined, especially when it concerns web content. Surveys point out that mostly marketers will be able to increase or at least maintain their ROI in 2023 if they follow a good SEO strategy.
It’s always essential to stay up-to-date on what is happening in your industry. Should you choose to leverage one of these trends in your marketing strategy, ensure that it’s relevant to your business needs and will help you achieve your goals.
