Learn the hottest content marketing trends of 2024 so far. Learn what you should be implementing to see a strong finish to the year.
Harnessing the hottest content marketing trends will help you compete in the marketplace. Some of the trends are new and others are ongoing that will sound familiar from years past. Here’s a look at what you should be doing in 2024 to stay relevant and compete regardless of your industry.
Now that we’re more than halfway through the year, it’s clear what trends are here to stay for the year and which ones were only temporary. Here’s a look at the strategies you should be implementing to attract and retain customers.
Voice search is more than a decade old, dating back to 2012. But each year, it becomes a little more prevalent as consumer’s search habits change.
Optimizing content for voice search is an essential element of any 2024 content marketing plan. Spend some time learning the nuances of how people search content via voice instead of typed language.
125.2 million people used voice search at some point in 2023. And that number is likely to grow for 2024. Be ready for it with optimization tactics.
Whether you like AI or not, it’s a part of content marketing. It can help you scale your content marketing efforts when used appropriately. You still want to ensure your content has the right voice to connect with your target audience. Never discredit the benefits that a human being has when interacting with other humans. But also recognize that keeping up with social media, blogging, website content and more is time-consuming and AI can help you achieve your goals.
You can train AI to provide insights into your customer data or analyze your content for gaps to help make your content efforts more valuable. Or use it to write social content since social media content won’t impact your SEO. Get a head start on your email marketing journeys with AI and then make them a bit more personal with your voice.
With the right oversight, AI can help make your content marketing goals a reality despite limited resources.
People only have so much time and they don’t want to be mentally bogged down with reading content. Short videos that are vertical will resonate with them. That’s because most video consumption is from mobile devices. Vertical videos better meet the needs of your customers.
The most popular places to post videos is on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Consider how vertical videos could be part of your advertising strategy on social media, display ads and more. Video has truly reshaped how we view content because it helps people feel connected to one another in a unique way.
People are constantly on the go. As such, they need a way to consume content that integrates with their busy lives. Podcasts have been the answer to that lifestyle need.
Podcasts help you share your content and ideas with customers as they mow the lawn, commute to work or clean their houses. It’s easy to follow podcasts and auto-download them once a new one is ready, providing you a seamless way to stay in contact with your customers.
It also gives your customers options for how to consume your content. That way you have visual content in your blogs and videos and audible content from your podcasts. You can even repurpose your video content to audio-only in some cases to help maximize the effort you put into your content.
Data helps inform decision-making and tell you more about your customers. But consumers also have a right to privacy and to know that you’re protecting their data. A data breach could harm your relationship with your customers immensely.
Only collect data you need and ensure you’re storing it securely. Use data ethically to build stronger relationships with your customers and showcase what they mean to your business.
This is one you’ve likely seen on lists for years now. Yes, storytelling is nothing new. You’ll be doing it for years to come.
But every year’s content marketing plan is an opportunity to evaluate how well you’re doing at storytelling and where you can improve. Constantly look for opportunities to tell stories about your customers, with their approval of course. Or allow your customers to tell their own stories with user-generated content.
Writing blogs is a time-intensive activity. You should ensure you’re getting the most from your efforts. Repurpose your content across various channels and outlets.
Review your website statistics to find your highest-performing content. Then find ways to share those messages in your videos and podcasts as well. Make sure you’re pulling pieces of the content out for social media and sharing the full blog link on relevant channels that allow for that.
Build your best blog content into your email marketing customer journeys to get it in front of your customers and know that they are seeing your best content.
One-way communication is a thing of the past. Today, you can connect with customers on a deeper level using interactive content. Move away from speaking at your customers and instead speak with them. Give them the chance to respond and give you something to work with.
Static content is a thing of the past. It only shares your ideas and doesn’t give your audience a chance to provide their insights as well. Focus on building conversations in your content.
Some ways of doing this is creating interactive pulls and quizzes. You could also create games and live events that you customers can participate in.
Here’s another one you’ve been hearing about for years now. Automation can help you do more with less resources and respond to customers in the right moment. The more you can automate meaningful messages with your customers based on their interactions with your brand, the more you’ll show you understand their needs and are there to help them.
Consider how you can make your interactions with your customers more meaningful through automation. And free up time for your sales team to have one-on-one interactions with your customers instead of handling transactional messages. Your sales team can instead put their efforts toward the most qualified leads to ensure they get the attention they deserve at a crucial moment.
If your content marketing plan is not part of a larger SEO plan, you’re doing something wrong. You need to ensure you are using both content and SEO to bring organic traffic to your website. SEO can elevate your website’s visibility. And without it, your content efforts will keep targeting the same customers you’re already reaching on your email list and social channels.
As you work through your SEO plan, consider search intent and look at the topics you have authority to cover so that your content is more likely to rank.
If you’ve made it this far into the year and are finding that your content marketing efforts are not paying off, it’s time to bring in the experts. New Light Digital will build a content marketing plan that brings together your website, SEO, social media, blogging and other efforts to get the most from every word, sound bite and time you put into messaging with your customers. Schedule your free consultation now to get started.
Further reading:
Learn what interactive content marketing is and why you need it to engage your audience in 2024. Implement these elements in your marketing.
Want to get more value from your blog content? Follow these 10 steps to craft engaging blog content and resonate with your audience.
Find a digital marketing services price list that can help inform budgeting for 2024 while achieving your goals. See real prices for services.
