How Effective is Content Marketing in 2019

Today, digital marketing has become a popular yet cost effective medium to drive traffic, boost sales, and achieve ROI. Among the many dimensions of digital marketing, content marketing retains its pre-eminent position. The importance of high quality and relevant content has not ceased; in fact, it is and will continue to grow.

In 2019, content marketing shall witness more personalization and customization. The content marketing services need to utilize various digital channels like the social media, question-answer forums, or image sharing platforms among others, to let their content reach a large number of readers.

To keep up with the dynamic field of content, let us lap up the trends that are likely to rule in the year 2019.

Content marketing trends to rule in the year 2019

BE VISUAL
Till now, content marketing has primarily been all about the text based content as seen on e-books, websites, blogs, articles, social media and more. However, the latest trend is about being visual enough for the audience to take notice. Your readers seek more visual engagement in the form of images, videos, infographics, and presentations. The content marketers need to be more creative with illustrations to be heard through all the noise.

In 2019, video can be crowned the king of content. This is primarily due to the fact that videos drive 10x more engagement than textual content in terms of sharing, commenting and embedding. If statistics are to be considered, around 87% of digital marketing services are expected to use videos as an effective marketing tool in 2019 (Source: Hubspot.) Also, around 74% of marketers who are not using videos until now are expected to start using them in 2019 – a significant jump from mere 34% in 2017 and a modest 65% in 2018 (Source: Hubspot.)

The reason why videos have become the favourite medium for each and every content marketing agency in india is their ability to connect with the target audience as compared to a text. Remember, as a digital marketer, should your content establishes a connect with your audience, you end up garnering more traffic. This helps to promote your brand and adds the possibility of generating a higher revenue stream.

REVIEWS AND RATINGS
It has been observed that customers are mostly looking at reviews and ratings pertaining to a particular product or service before deciding to avail the same. Customers are mostly swayed by the recommendations of people who have already bought a product or used a service over any online marketing blitz launched by the brand or business. Even statistics point to that trend with 85% of consumers trust online reviews and personal recommendations (Source: BrightLocal.) Also, according to HubSpot research, around 60% of consumers place their trust on positive reviews and go through the same before making a purchase decision.

Since positive reviews and high ratings have become the most trustworthy advertising model, you should use a slew of methodologies, besides optimizing your content, to let customers post glowing comments about your brand, products or services. These methodologies include creating spaces for customers to post comments, offering incentives, responding to each and every review – even the negative ones, and establishing a seamless feedback mechanism.

FORUMS
Your content can get a higher traction, both from the search engines and users, if it features on popular forum sites with a high Domain Authority (DA). For example, posting content (blogs, articles, classifieds, PDFs, Infographics etc) under relevant categories on Quora, Medium, and other sites will help your content (and website) to get quality backlinks. This indirect form of marketing where you slip in your brand name in a subtle manner while posting relevant content on popular sites can help drive traffic and improve rankings.

USING EBOOK
The increased use of digital devices, especially tablets and notebooks, has popularized the concept of ebooks. Since these multi purpose devices garner a high user engagement with people on the go, the use of ebook based content has seen an upward trend. According to statistics, the market share of ebooks in 2018 has registered a quantum jump of 25.8% from just 12.3% in 2013 (Source: Statista.) Hence, the content marketing strategy of 2019 should involve the use of ebooks as well.

INFLUENCER MARKETING
This type of marketing leverages the expertise as well as fan following of a select few individuals aka influencers in various fields to garner better traction of your content from the users. For example, if you want your content highlighting the benefits of green tea to reach a large number of users, engage the services of an influencer – a popular actor or a prominent doctor or fitness expert. The influencer can push your content (in return for benefits of course) through his or her writings, videos etc., among the followers. The ultimate idea is to cash in on the influence certain people (influencers) have on a large number of people at large.

If statistics are to be believed then influencer marketing is likely to become a $10 billion market by 2020 (Source: ClikZ.) Among the metrics that help measure the ROI through influence marketing, engagement seems to score the highest (90%) followed by clicks (59%), impressions (55%), reach (50%) and conversions (54%) (Source: Linqia Report.) So, leverage the trust wielding interaction of a large number of users with the influencers and boost traffic to your content and website.

FOCUS ON QUALITY NOT QUANTITY
To be in the minds of your readers you have to constantly appear, true. However, while striving to be regular, do not compromise on the quality of your content. Be it for the search engines or your audience, it is important to post high quality, relevant and unique content.

In general, the quality of content is primarily determined by the level of information and value addition it offers. Add to that parameters like length, formatting, spelling and grammar, vocabulary usage and visual appeal of the content. When you are talking about “trends” or writing “how to” posts, try to include relevant statistics to support your statements.

Quality is also measured by the effectiveness of your content in acquiring results or reaching the digital marketing goals. Remember, at the end of the day, your content should be able to:

• Drive engagement
• Increase rankings on the SERPs
• Generate traffic to your website
• Improve conversions

BE MOBILE
People use their handhelds more than ever before to communicate, browse the internet, and carry out sundry activities. Thus, for the content marketers of today, it is imperative to post content, be it in the form of text, images, or videos, on sites that can be easily viewed on mobile devices. Therefore, make sure you create content that can be accessed by users across digital devices irrespective of their types, sizes, and brands.

CONTENT MARKETING WILL OUTSHINE TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING
The effectiveness of content marketing will continue to grow through 2019 vis-a-vis traditional advertising for a slew of reasons. First, the content present on the digital medium has a longer shelf life than traditional advertisements. Second, the content can be tailored to suit specific target groups. Third, the content offers a higher ability to build engagement. A marketer can offer a lot of relevant information easily through meaningful content instead of bombarding the audience with constant sales messages, which can be a major turn off.

Certain innovative strategies can have an impact in the way your company is perceived today. You may incorporate these in your digital marketing strategies to make a world of difference.

• There should be an extensive focus on infographics, memes, videos, and podcasts.
• Make sure you tell a story differently rather than follow the pattern set by others.

Conclusion
Simply put, the year 2019 will see changes in content marketing in terms of better focus on visuals and creativity. The digital marketing services will need to imbibe the trends and provide engaging, informative and actionable content. As a business, it is important to create content that engages the target users effectively and helps your website score high on search engine rankings. In order to achieve the objective and stay competitive in 2019 and beyond, working with a top digital marketing company may help your cause.

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