Content marketing, so what's next? - 25 Biggest Trends

Check out our 2023 content marketing trends! 

Content drives brand awareness, demand and revenue when it’s done right. So how can you do content right? Take note of these trends which will shift the way businesses tackle content marketing in the future.

Here are the top 25 content marketing trends you need to look out for:

Bonus guide: The ultimate growth marketing playbook

The exact 41 strategies we used to grow from 4-figure to 6-figure traffic in one year.

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1. Topical authority will replace keyword research

How well do you know the subjects you speak about on your website?

Google will be placing more emphasis on depth of expertise compared to other factors such as link building. Back-linking was once the primary factor when it came to building authority in the SEO landscape but now expertise is growing even more in importance.

As Eduard Klein explains:

“When marketers talk about authority, they talk about building backlinks. This is still the case, but as google gets smarter about semantics, link relevancy will likely decrease over time. Organizations that cover a topic with the most depth will own the future traffic flow for related queries.”

(Eduard Klein quote)

Google doesn’t reward your ability to just create content for one keyword, but instead focuses on how well that content fits into the context of your site.

The reason why Google is expected to reward depth of expertise has to with emphasis on the E-A-T and YMYL guidelines. Josh Brown of Helpjuice provides some more details:

“You can see Google is trying to go in this direction with E-A-T (Expertise-Authoritativeness-Trustworthiness) for websites that fall into verticals that cover topics within Your-Money-Your-Life (YMYL - health, finances, state of mind). Even though it's not a direct ranking factor, there are secondary signals that Google's algorithm is able to qualify to help with determining how information aligns with E-A-T.”

(Josh Brown quote)

What to do

Showcase how well you know a topic by publishing long-form content on your website. Instead of publishing content on a whim, instead build your content around pillar pages.

These pillar pages can offer the foundation for expertise on a specific topic and then you can augment these posts with other content pieces that build from that.

Also collaborate with subject matter experts (SMEs) when producing content to have them weigh in on things. The value of a SME extends beyond the content they can help you create but also enables you to repurpose content into other formats and eventually build a community.

Moz’s long-long-form blog post on the machine learning revolution is a great example of extra-long content that doesn’t bore the reader. They conveyed their expertise not only through words but through well-presented research and illustrations that help readers understand the limitations of machine learning algorithms at the time of writing.

(Algorithm respresentation diagram)

2. Value-driven content will rise to the top

Customers are bombarded with different types of content every day, meaning that they will become more picky when choosing where their attention goes.

Josh Spiker of Growth Content believes this can have an impact on how brands distribute content

“Hopefully we'll see the end of gated content for everything but the best and most original research. The cycle of giving away emails for bad ebooks and guides over.”

(Josh Spiker quote)

People will be unwilling to share their information in exchange for mediocre content so brands need to showcase their value immediately.

Kevin Jiang of Nonda.us explains what value-driven content marketing can do.

“Brands should think about new ways of bringing value to their consumers apart from the product itself, and content marketing serves the purpose perfectly. If you can change the underlying perception of a potential user towards your brand to a more value-driven, preferably in a monetary term, you'd have a better chance converting them down the road.”

(Kevin Jiang quote)

What to do

Creating valuable content requires you to understand the needs of the customer and why they might want to interact with your brand in the first place.

Offer practical suggestions in your content instead of simply showcasing what your product can do, showcase how it can help to solve their problems.

If you’re a D2C brand that sells fitness gear, you can produce content that highlights not only how using your product can help achieve more success in the gym, but also how exercise can produce benefits such as stress reduction.

(Fitbit Instagram post 'daily check-up')

Spiker also offers another way for brands with a SaaS-style product:

“Offer a more useful tool like a Chrome extension or a freemium version of the product if your goal is sign-ups. Otherwise, lean heavily into education and brand awareness content.”

Always think of the end-consumer when producing content and how the content will benefit them in the long run, not just grow the reputation of your brand or help you meet specific quotas.

3. Original research and studies will be popular

With the internet being a sea of content currently, it can be difficult for brands to stand out by producing content on their own. Jeremy Moser of uSERP explains the challenges which thought leadership has created and how original research can help.

“Original research/studies (much like this!). Content marketing is incredibly saturated with "thought leaders" and "influencers" however, they aren't exactly helpful in determining what works and what doesn't in an ever-evolving digital landscape. On the contrary, original research gives you deep insights into what industry professionals and startups alike are doing; good or bad.”

(Jeremy Moser quote)

As companies seek out ways to help their customers, they can reach out to them as well as established leaders in their industry to help create content.

What to do

The goal of any research study is to discover more about a problem and crowdfund answers to either understand it better or come up with a solution.

Research starts by having some curiosity, either to confirm or deny your suspicions about a certain hypothesis or to uncover what the market thinks about a specific issue.

Start by issuing surveys and studies to your audience or experts to gain their insights into a problem.

(Core dna's COVID form)

Next, publish that research and share it with your audience or community. The great thing about research as Moser points out is that it can be repurposed in a number of ways. Graphs, charts and quotes can become social posts, summaries can be put into video format and more.

4. Content will become more interactive, engaging, and (hopefully) fun

Content needs to catch the user’s attention, otherwise they won’t consume it, and it won’t be beneficial for anyone. Interactive content does that quite well.

Don’t believe me? Well, 96% of consumers who start BuzzFeed contests actually finish them.

How’s that for engaging?

We want to smile, laugh and relish in aha moments when we’ve suddenly found the answer to a problem we’ve been having. In 2022, this will be even more critical, especially as B2B brands continue to adopt marketing practices typically reserved for the B2C space.

The Hustle, a vastly popular business trends email newsletter, is another example of fun and engaging content. The tone of their business-related content is already jovial, but throw in some GIFs and memes here and there, and you’ve got yourself a Hustle-level engaged audience.

(The Hustle's Zuckerberg digital newsletter)

What to do

One way of making content more interactive is by using different formats. Things like quizzes, short-form videos and infographics are great ways to get the message across without boring your audience.

Adrien Lemaire of RingCentral also suggests creaking snackable content to cope with the decreasing attention spans people have in the modern, smartphone-driven age.

“The average span time of 8 seconds leaves very little time to catch people's attention. As it is easy to read at a glance, snackable content is a nice way to stand out. You can use multiple formats to attract your audience: short videos, infographics, GIFs, visuals... “

He continues, “B2B can also take inspiration from B2C, where stories and short video clips are skyrocketing in popularity. Of course, there will always be the need for in-depth content in B2B marketing. Snackable content is a nice way to complement long-form content and to make your audience lives' easier!”

(Adrien Lemaire quote)

You don’t need to turn your entire content strategy upside down to be more interactive. Adding new content types to your strategy is a good starting point.

5. Increased adoption of AI

Experts have been saying for quite some time that robots will be doing more human jobs as advancements in technology continue. Massimo Chieruzzi of AdEspresso believes that we’re moving one step closer to that being a reality.

“OpenAI's GPT3 has already proven to be capable of writing decent quality content at scale. While this content is clearly not enough for high-quality blog posts, the lower end of the market and SEO spammers will start adopting it massively for content production increasing the noise in the SERP.”

(Massimo Chieruzzi quote)

According to a McKinsey survey, a small group of respondents coming from a variety of industries attribute 20% or more of their organizations’ earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to AI. That’s a significant indicator about the impact and growth of AI in 2022 and beyond.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be altering the game in several industries, simply because computers are changing the way they think as James Chadwick of Pencil explains:

“With classical programming and systems, you input rules and data, and you get answers. With ML you input data and answers, and it learns the rules.”

(James Chadwick quote)

What to do

Brands are already using AI and ML in content marketing for tasks such as content analysis, optimization and A/B testing.

Creating high-quality in-depth content that establishes your brand at the top of your industry won’t be possible with the current capabilities of things like GT3.

However, several SaaS tools are available that can help you to create better content for your users and many of them use artificial intelligence in some capacity.

SparkToro is a new(ish) tool by Rand Fishkin (Ex Moz) that helps you find any audience's sources of influence: who+what they follow, visit, read, watch, & listen-to.

('SEO' overview on SparkToro)

Clearscope is an AI-powered keyword research and content optimization tool that helps you create the best and the most comprehensive content.

(Clearscope Overview)

Bonus guide: The ultimate growth marketing playbook

The exact 41 strategies we used to grow from 4-figure to 6-figure traffic in one year.

Send me the guide 

6. User experience will be the differentiator

When creating content, especially SEO content, many marketers have been known to focus on catering to Google. But Google will be catering much more to its users.

Rather than just optimizing for keywords, Google will focus on the overall user experience with the goal of creating a more delightful web. While this will include things such as the UX design, site load time and more, how content gets delivered to users will also be critical.

The best information will still be given priority but if that information is just as in-depth and presented better somewhere else, except that somewhere else to be higher in the rankings.

What to do

While focusing on creating high-quality content should be a priority, don’t neglect things such as how fast your page loads, the positioning of images and the mobile responsiveness of your pages.

Another thing to consider is making your content as personalized as possible. Personalization has been shown to have a positive impact on UX.

One way of taking personalization beyond the design stage is through conversational marketing. Adriana Stein of IDI says

“People want to feel heard and appreciated as an individual and they have the power to ask for that, because there is so much market saturation. Mass media marketing is dead. People want communication at a 1 to 1 level in a manner that's relevant for them. Especially due to COVID-19, empathy plays a strong role in making sure that customers are satisfied with your marketing and communication strategy.”

(Adriana Stein quote)

Cater to your users instead of just catering to algorithms and you’re likely to see improved benefits.

7. Content templates will thrive

Before doing anything, we humans like to take a look at how others have done it before us.

D2C brands focus on using explainer videos and how-to-guides for their products. B2B companies use demo showcases. Another way is to use template libraries.

Hiba Amin of Soapbox explains the value of a template library.

“For businesses that are able to create product-related templates, this is a no-brainer. That's because search intent tends to be stronger, which will ultimately drive more relevant traffic to your website and increase your overall conversion and acquisition rates.”

(Hiba Amin quote)

What to do

Create examples of how to use your product in certain scenarios and then share them with your audience. Once you have enough examples then you can build a library.

For example, Soapbox has created template libraries for goal setting and meeting agendas.

(Soapbox template libraries)

Meanwhile, Trello has created Trello board templates for business users and tech teams, including this one for a company overview.

(Trello board templates)

8. Machine-generated content will be a thing

Another facet of AI is what is known as machine-generated content and it’s pretty self-explanatory. Content that has been created by a machine.

We’ve briefly mentioned that using this content for writing high-quality blog posts is still somewhat far off but there are other uses as James Chadwick explains:

“MGC (Machine Generated Content) will start to be industrialized, starting on Facebook and Instagram. MGC will impact all creative fields, but it will be sharpened first on Facebook and Instagram. The ad auction is nearing a $100 Billion marketplace, powered by testing tools and fast, granular signal. By incorporating most of the data/ML into its own native tools, creative is now one of the few levers Facebook still wants businesses to pull.”

What to do

Invest in tools that can help you pick up the slack in areas where your team may not be as versed in creating content.

• Pencil can help you to create ads using AI. Simply provide raw materials you have to work with such as your brand guidelines, images, video and let Pencil do the work generating an ad.
• Rasa simplifies the newsletter creation process by pulling content from your blog and other designated sources. The AI also personalizes each newsletter based on the content your readers previously consumed.

AI provides an excellent way for content creators to keep producing large amounts of content by helping them save time and resources.

9. The advent of content atomization

Getting content out there will be a bit different in 2022 as social distancing will become the “new normal” and businesses still getting used to the post-COVID content creation process.

The solution?

Content atomization.

According to Contensify’s Vanhishikha Bhargava, content atomization means that you “take one piece of content, preferably a huge, in-depth piece on a topic and break it down into eight or more smaller pieces of content.”

(Vanhishka Bhargava quote)

Or in the words of Ivan Gomez of Department of The Future,

“Reimagining and repurposing as a primary form of content creation.”

There’s really nothing new under the sun, so your job is to repurpose something old, reimagine something that’s already familiar and present it in a new way, new angle or new place.

So, if you've created an eBook or a white paper, you can turn each lesson into a separate blog post, then you can turn the whole content piece into an email course.

Content production will be a key focus for businesses as we go forward. As businesses search for ways to make sure that their content is valuable, fun and engaging for their audience, focusing on one piece of content and then breaking it down into smaller pieces will allow them to extract more out of it.

What to do

A prime example of content atomization is what Gary Vaynerchuck did with his DailyVee series on YouTube.

Constantly filming his day-to-day activities provided not only a key source of content that helped to grow his brand exponentially through a YouTube video series, but it was also broken down into blog posts, social media captions and podcast clips.

(DailyVee's Veecap series)

Re-purpose your larger content pieces into smaller parts and different formats. As Vanhishikha suggested, ebooks can be broken down into blog posts. Also, snippets can be extracted for social media and you can dive deeper into one of the topics mentioned through video.

10. The arrival of Google’s Core Web Vitals

Google’s focus on user experience will extend to more than just making changes to their algorithm and hoping you will adapt. Now, Core Web Vitals will have a greater impact on search results. As Jakub Rudnik of Shortlister predicts:

“Google is constantly refining its algorithm and ranking criteria, and it has already announced that these are coming, likely in 2022. Overall, Google wants pages to load, become interactive, and stabilize quickly. A user from anywhere, on any device, should get a quick, crisp loading experience with your page. If not, your organic rankings will quickly take a hit.”

(Jakub Rudnik quote)

What to do

Core Web Vitals reports are available in Google Search Console and per Google, “it shows how your pages perform based on real-world usage data (sometimes called field data).”

Use these reports to direct your team on the areas of your website which need to be fixed so that you’re adequately prepared once the changes are rolled out.

Google constantly makes updates to its algorithm but with these reports, companies have a way of continually monitoring what’s happening instead of just relying on traffic reports, or waiting until traffic has taken a huge dip.

11. Write for aspirations not needs, what they want to be and where they want to go

Meeting your customer's needs is essential, and you should display how your product or service meets their needs in your content. However, focusing on aspirations can take it to the next level and create an even more significant connection with the customer. 

Aspiration is defined as a longing or hope to achieve something. In 2022, more businesses will engage with customers by focusing on aspirations rather than needs. Aim to create content that not only describes how your product or service meets an immediate need but also shows how it will help customers achieve their end goals.

12. Do one thing great

Content will play a major role in attracting an audience and customers this year. Great content is better than good content. Sounds simple enough, right? However, focusing on too many types of content creation efforts can take your focus away from creating truly great content that separates you as an industry expert. On the other hand, if you focus on doing one thing great, potential customers will continue coming back to consume your content.

13. One key audience one mission for the content

Personalization is vital in 2022. More than ever, people want personalized content. Finding your target audience and tailoring your content to that audience is the key to content marketing success. After all, how can you create content without knowing your audience? While it is true that great content can automatically attract an audience. It doesn't mean they'll be the greatest audience for your brand. Instead, you want to tailor your content to one target audience so they will connect your content to your product and buy your product because of the content.

14. One thing consistently everyday

Content creation is hard. Over a third (36%) of content creators admit that it is a challenge. Diving headfirst into the content creation world and focusing on too many things at once will probably overwhelm you and lead to burnout. In 2022, content creators will prevent this by doing one thing consistently every day. Whether that be sharing on LinkedIn, writing a small article (200-500 words), or working on graphics, you will come out on top in the long run if you practice this technique. 

15. Fill a need or want

Customers are interested in products because they either solve a want or a need. This has been a trend and is an ongoing trend for 2022. Through content creation, show potential customers how your product solves that want or need and let that shine through your content. The trick is to do this without sounding too much like a salesperson. Instead, focus on educating customers with data and information. If you are the one who gives good information about how a product fills the need or want, then you start the trust process, which leads to sales.

16. Consistency is key

According to Inside View, companies who moderately blog 1-2 times per month have 67% more sales opportunities than companies that do not blog. Companies will focus on consistency this year to gain customers. With consistent blogging and content creation, you create more opportunities for your business to be seen by potential leads, and you increase your SEO efforts. Also, you become a knowledge base that customers can come back to for consistent, reliable information about an industry, product, or service.

17. Be human, find your voice

There is so much content out there. How do you make your content stand out amongst the rest? Many companies will find success with their content in 2022 by adding the human touch. Finding your voice means creating a brand voice that is unique, engaging, recognizable, and emotionally in tune with potential and current customers. Audiences want to see that real people are behind the brand.

18. Have a point of view, emotion and bluntness

In content marking, it's all about how you make people feel. Your content can evoke powerful emotions in your audience, causing them to take action. In 2022, great writing will be emotional, blunt, and share a point of view. This type of writing can make something mundane sing or make something simple appear grand and significant. Sharing a point of view in content marketing creates conversation and brand interest, leading to more sales. 

19. No sales speak

Certain words and phrases can automatically turn a customer off, and there will be a push to avoid this in 2022. While talking with customers or creating content, you shouldn’t come off as only having one goal - to sell a product. Instead, use content creation as an opportunity to engage with a customer, answer the questions, and tell the story of your brand. Make sure your content shows the value of your product without being overly direct.

20. Be best of breed content

The digital world is saturated with content, and there is much more content to come in the next year. The average person spends around 6 hours a day online consuming content, and businesses will focus on creating content that stands out and grabs the attention of potential customers. Here are just a few tips: 

• Understand your buyer and their needs.
• Practice storytelling with your brand to emotionally engage with consumers.
• Include informative graphics that are intriguing.
• Make sure your material is readily sharable.

21. Use mixed Content types

Companies of all sizes are now recognizing the importance of using various content types like articles, blogs, newsletters, FAQs, and videos to share information about a product. Around 70% of consumers choose articles or blog posts over conventional advertisements to learn about a company. Whether to boost search engine rankings or connect with new customers, blogging can be a vital tool in your marketing strategy.

22. Grow one audience on one channel and then expand

In 2022, it will be important to focus on gathering an audience on one channel before expanding your content into other channels. Doing so allows you to focus on engaging with the audience on the single channel first to develop a loyal audience. Most importantly, it keeps you consistent while building your channel and adjusting to content creation. Lack of time is cited as a difficulty and barrier in developing content by almost half of entrepreneurs (49%). When you garner an audience that will follow you on other channels, it will help new channels grow faster and will help keep you on track with developing content.

23. Create top quality audio and video-based production

The biggest key to success in content creations is, well, creating good content. This is an ongoing trend that we will continue to see in 2022. If you produce audio or video content, it needs to be of good quality. Good quality content makes your business look more professional and shows that you put time and effort into telling your brand's story. Audacity’s Levelator tool adjusts the audio levels in audio segments by using traditional discrete compression, normalization, and limiting processing. Using Levelator saves you time while ensuring your audio and video-based content is top quality.

24. Consistent Bi monthly newsletters

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to share information with potential and past clients, and we will see more of it in the next year. It’s an inexpensive way to reach people who are interested in your services or products. A newsletter is a collection of messages that you regularly send to prospects and customers. You can use newsletters for different purposes, such as sharing industry news, new products, or special offers. Newsletters are a great way to stay top-of-mind with current and prospective customers, so it’s essential to have one that drives results.

25. Free writing for emotion and experience

Freewriting will be a hot topic in 2022. Freewriting is a technique used to get thoughts and feelings out on the page without worrying about grammatical errors or spelling. Sometimes, trying to write with perfect syntax gets in the way of getting good ideas out of your head. You can use your freewriting to create a rough draft of something that you'll eventually edit or just as a way to release ideas that you can organize later. The critical step is to mark the passages that are meaningful when you are done. This technique is great for writing in a way that focuses on emotion and experiences and will help you connect with your target customer.