Are you ready to align your content marketing efforts with the ever-changing content marketing trends in 2022? Let’s find out what trends and technologies are likely to make the most impact down the road and what you should do to stay effective and relevant.
We understand that marketing trends keep changing with emerging technologies. One idea or marketing practice relevant today will become obsolete tomorrow. So you have to stay updated with all the changes happening in the marketing industry. It’s wise to evaluate everything at the end of every year to see what worked for you and what needs to change.
If we talk about content marketing, high-quality content is at the center of what businesses or content marketers do. However, how we put our content in front of our audience keeps changing. Just imagine a blog website created 20 years ago and compare it with some modern, highly successful website. You’ll find out a lot has changed and that old strategies don’t work anymore.
In this post, I am not going to identify what has worked in the past for content marketers. Rather, I will highlight trends and strategies that are likely to create wonderful results for businesses in 2022. Before I talk about the trends, let me quickly explain content marketing for beginners.
Table of Contents
I’ve been using Cloudways since January 2016 for this blog. I happily recommend Cloudways to my readers because I am a proud customer.
What is content marketing?
Here is how the Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing:
“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
Creating great content is one thing, marketing it to the right audience is another. Content marketing is all about crafting valuable content and then using the right tools and strategies to present it online.
Today, you have a variety of online platforms to get your message across. From your own blog to emerging platforms like Clubhouse, you can present your content in so many different forms and formats.
Looking for a high-performance yet affordable managed cloud host for your website? According to our experience, Cloudways is the best cloud hosting solution for anyone who is looking hassle-free web hosting with great speeds. I happily recommend Cloudways to my readers because I am a proud customer. Check out our reader exclusive Cloudways discount here.
Content Marketing Trends 2022
Over the last couple of decades, we have witnessed how quickly the marketing industry evolves. It’s high time for you to stay ahead of the curve with the most crucial content marketing trends in 2022. Make sure to pay due attention to the following trends:
1. The use of niche, long-tail keywords
Long-form content has been the prime focus of so many successful marketers and bloggers for a long time. If you have been creating long-form content to engage your audience, you should take a step back and explore new things. For example, you can focus more on niche, long-tail keywords instead of lengthy posts. Especially if you’re a beginner and struggling to beat your competition.
Long-tail keywords help you target highly specific problems. Besides, these keywords have less competition. So, it becomes slightly easier to rank your content higher on SERPs. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create long-form content. It’s a good idea to focus on specific content ideas and produce thorough content around them.
Let me give you a quick example of how long-tail keywords connect you with the right people. Let’s say you’re a blogger and you run a real estate business. Now, instead of using keywords like “real estate”, use long-tail keywords like “2-bed real estate in Naples”.
Narrow down your target audience and then create highly specific content that addresses their specific problems. If you’re not sure how to find the right long-tail keywords, try tools like SEMrush and Moz.com. When doing your keywords research, consider things like the “people also searched for” feature on Google.
2. Audio-based content
Audio content will be a key part of marketing campaigns down the road. The last few years have seen unprecedented growth in audio-based content. Apps like Clubhouse and Facebook Live Audio Rooms, therefore, should be a part of your strategy.
Whether you’re an influencer, advertiser, or publisher, audio content is surely going to be an essential component of your media mix. Why? Because digital audio content accounts for 11.7% of total media time per day in 2021. It may seem a little ambitious but audio is the future of content.
People are developing a new habit of consuming audio content on a daily basis. The clubhouse is a good example of how businesses and influencers use audio content to build their communities and make money.
You might be thinking that audio articles are not as fancy and effective as podcasts. It’s true to some extent but the audio is a convenient way for listeners to seek information. You can listen to your favorite content while driving or doing house chores. This is exactly why listening has increased over the last six years.
So, be sure to consider creating some awesome audio content for your audience. It could be a live session on some audio social app or a simple audio guide.
3. Visual storytelling
The next on our list is visual storytelling which is reshaping the future of communication. An increasing number of marketers use visual assets in their social media campaigns. Visual storytelling is all around us from short videos to interactive video games characters. Augmented reality is a crucial part of how big brands create stories for their customers.
If you’re a blogger and you love to write, you should enrich your content with images, animations, and other visual effects to turn text-based information into interesting stories. While video content is dominating the content marketing landscape, you need to present everything in the form of a story.
For example, your website should be a good display of visual storytelling. Add more visuals and interactive features to your online assets. When you present your content in the form of visuals, your audience would be able to consume and retain your message faster. If you really want your audience to remember your brand, get rid of monotony from your content marketing strategy. Create stories around your customer experiences.
4. Rise of AI-powered tools
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also reshaping the way brands communicate their message to the online world. Content marketers can’t afford to miss out on opportunities AI has created in the last few years. Here are some of the most popular AI-based tools for content creators and marketers:
- Grammarly
- Yoast
- Chatbots
If we talk about content creation, Grammarly is a must-have tool for everyone. It is an amazing, AI-enabled writing assistant that helps you create error-free content with more clarity and structure.
Some content marketing experts are of the opinion that AI will completely take over the content marketing processes in the future. However, it’s time for you to take advantage of AI-based tools to create better content. It’s not about letting a bot create content for you but simplifying the whole process.
When it comes to frequently asked questions and queries of your customers or readers, you can implement an AI-based chatbot to deliver quick answers without your intervention. However, be sure to offer personalized content wherever needed. In 2022 and beyond, we will see a sharp increase in the use of smart tools.
5. Podcasts
Podcasts are not a new thing. Brands have been using podcasts to connect with their audience since its inception. As of now, many businesses are setting up podcasts for their content marketing strategies. Entrepreneurs and large-scale enterprises use this medium to empower their overall marketing efforts. If the podcast is an important part of your content marketing strategy, make sure to try new things to create the maximum impact:
The adoption of podcasts is notable during the pandemic when most of us do our listening at home. According to stats, 37% of Americans listen to at least one podcast each month in 2020. Most podcast lovers are young people who like to adopt technology early. But that doesn’t mean old people don’t like podcasts. If you want to target a young audience, try creating great podcast content in 2022.
Here are five popular podcast trends for 2022:
- Chat shows
- Love podcasting
- Global news
- Audio drama
- Podcast apps
6. Short videos
Short videos can be seen everywhere on the internet. Platforms like YouTube Shorts and TikTok continue to inspire brands and content creators. An increasing number of marketers are now investing in short-form videos as they produce promising results. Short videos dominate social media because everyone loves to watch them.
You must consider joining the short-form video action if you want to grow your business in 2022 and beyond. Short videos can be anywhere from 15 seconds to a couple of minutes. On TikTok, you can create up to 3-minute long videos. Reels allows its user to create 60-seconds videos.
While people still love long-form videos on YouTube, try short videos to tell your short stories. Let your cool videos generate business for you. All you need to do is come up with valuable and entertaining content. Be sure to follow the trend culture and join in on the fun.
7. Personalization/targeted content marketing
Is it easy to grab your audience’s attention using generic, meaningless content? I don’t think so. The internet is a highly competitive place where businesses are trying hard to get their share of attention. If your online presence is unable to attract more readers and customers, start using personalized content for your content marketing campaigns.
Wondering what is personalized content? Personalized or targeted content is when you use specific information about customers to create a unique experience. For example, if you use email marketing, you need to create and send emails in a way that doesn’t sound generic or robotic. You need to make your audience think that the content they’re receiving is created only for them.
Personalization is what your audience wants. People are more likely to buy products or services when they get personalized offers and recommendations. So, get ready to target the interest of your shoppers or readers.
8. SEO best practices to conquer search results
The importance of SEO keeps increasing with the growing online competition. As I mentioned at the start, creating great content is one thing, putting it in front of your audience is another.
Why should Google rank your content high on top so that you drive plenty of organic traffic to your site? This is where you need to adopt SEO best practices to convince search engines that your content deserves attention.
SEO is essential for your content marketing because users only view the first page of search results. If your blog post, product page, or website is not on the first page, your chances of getting organic traffic are minimal.
First of all, your content should be persuasive, unique, and solution-oriented. Second, you need to have a solid SEO strategy in place that optimizes your content. Keyword research and the use of right keywords in content is a major part of any SEO strategy. In short, SEO is all about helping search engines understand your content.
Here are some recommended SEO tools that will take your SEO strategy to the next level in 2022.
9. Voice search
Voice search is another content marketing trend you need to watch out for in 2022. The growing popularity of Siri and Amazon’s Alexa indicates that businesses need to optimize their content for voice search. Increasing demand for smart devices that feature voice search capabilities is driving progressive content marketers to add voice search to their overall marketing strategy.
The following are some valuable voice search optimization recommendations:
- Conduct keyword research for voice search
- Optimize your content for voice search
- Restructure your content and make it more conversational
- Target long-tail keywords
- Improve content readability
10. Impeccable user experience
The final trend on our content marketing trends list for 2022 is user experience. User experience defines how easy or difficult it is for your users to find their solutions on your website. If your website is off-putting, your visitors will not hesitate for a moment and leave. But your objective should be to keep your users engaged so they spend more time exploring your content. Focus on these elements to ensure an incredible user experience:
- Website architecture
- Navigation
- Performance
- Design
- Content
Over to you
I hope these content marketing trends will help you learn and implement new tools and tactics. The intensity of competition for attention is surely going to increase in 2022. So, don’t miss a chance to stay ahead of the curve.
