In the latest Content Marketing Institute trends reports, 70% of all B2C businesses and 71% of all B2B companies are employing content marketing strategies to reach new and existing customers in 2023. These percentages have grown steadily over the last decade, with the biggest increases coming during the pandemic.
Content marketing is undoubtedly a worthy investment, but the most successful strategies can change so fast it makes your head spin.
For content managers, it’s a conundrum: You know that learning about the latest tools, technology, and methodologies is crucial to your success, but you’re too busy catching up with your own campaigns to stay on top of everything happening in the content marketing world.
Luckily, we’ve got you covered! To prepare you for what’s next, we’re looking at content marketing trends, tips, and insights for 2023.
We also have you covered in the content operations tech department. Executing any of these new trends is going to require strategy, planning, and consistent production of content. DivvyHQ is built specifically to help content, marketing, and communications teams streamline their content operations. Request a demo today to learn more.
1. Automation and Artificial Intelligence
We’d be remiss if we didn’t kick off this 2023 content marketing trends list with the latest bell of the ball, the explosion of automation and AI tools.
Automation and AI are game changers for marketing teams. As more businesses include these technological powerhouses, you can’t afford to let this trend pass you by.
Automation hands many of your mundane and repetitive tasks over to technology, freeing you and your team to focus on the creative elements of content generation. AI allows you to create more in less time. It can produce outlines, headlines, and rough drafts. And it can even speed up your editing and approval processes to help you get more content out the door, faster.
Screenshot: Writer AI integration within DivvyHQ’s Content Editor
However, it can’t (and shouldn’t) take the place of regular human-generated content. Though entirely AI-generated content doesn’t necessarily go against Google’s policies, it will almost always miss the E-E-A-T factor the search engine giant’s algorithm favors.
2. Video Content Marketing Trends Focus on the Short Form
Video still reigns supreme in 2023, but short-form content is the top trend this year. Users prefer to consume video content in quick, easily digestible, and entertaining chunks.
You can thank TikTok for the super-short video trend. When the platform launched, the maximum length for a video was one minute.
TikTok’s success led Meta to introduce a similar format with Instagram and Facebook Reels. Even YouTube is hopping on this bandwagon with YouTube Shorts.
Though these super-short videos can be easier and faster to produce, you will need a steady stream of this content if you want the algorithms to pick you up. Planning your content well in advance can help you stay on top of short-form video content marketing trends.
3. Live-Streaming Content
These days, people crave connections with others, and that desire spills over into the types of interactions they want with their favorite brands. Live streaming removes the time delay of other content forms, providing an interactive and immediate connection.
When scheduling content for 2023, look for opportunities to integrate live streaming for higher engagement.
4. Authentic and Human-Centered Content
The desire for authenticity has not diminished in 2023. Trust is a critical factor for 88% of consumers, and authenticity fosters trust.
This year, focus on creating content that connects with your audience and shows your human qualities. It’s better to be real than perfect. Transparency is also crucial.
Another piece of the trust puzzle is demonstrating that you care about people as much as your product. Create content that is more human-centered than product-centered. You’ll also score extra points with your audience if you authentically engage with social issues in the real world.
5. Content Marketing Focused on Value
Does your content strategy encompass the expectations of your audience? The demand for value-driven content will continue in the year to come.
Content personalization increases value, making it one of the important focuses for content marketing trends this year. The more you can segment your buyers and learn about their specific needs, the more tailored your content can be. The benefits, of course, are numerous.
To realize these benefits, you need dynamic, engaging content. Your goal is to deliver interesting content that relates to your audience to bring them further down the sales funnel. Be sure you have the tools to personalize.
6. Long-Form, Highly Researched Content
Blogging is still alive and well this year, but the trending format is on the opposite end of the spectrum from video content. Rather than short blog content, focus on writing long-form blogs on relevant topics.
Audiences don’t just want engaging, relevant topics. They also want reliable and verifiable information.
Invest time in researching topics to ensure you provide accurate information. Long-form content marketing trends also include original research papers, white papers, and reports.
Though research and writing long-form articles add time to your content creation journey, it can pay off with increased audience engagement.
7. Augmented and Virtual Reality
AR and VR are still emerging technologies, and companies have yet to embrace them fully. However, they’re among the content marketing trends we expect to see increase in popularity this year.
Marketers who invest in this technology can create immersive experiences for their audiences. It also offers an additional opportunity for content creators to develop explainer videos demonstrating relevant AR and VR features and uses.
8. Strategically Optimized Content and Data-Driven Strategies
Most purchase decisions today start with a search engine, but search engines are as savvy as computer technology can get. You still need to optimize content, but neither the search engines nor your audience rewards keyword-saturated content.
Place your keywords strategically and focus on creating quality content that adds value for your audience.
How do you know the value of your content? What metrics help answer this question? To execute data-driven content marketing trends and create better content, you have to adopt a data-driven approach.
Source: Contently
To differentiate between metrics that matter and those that don’t, you’ll need to do a bit of reverse-engineering. Look at past successes and identify the key performance indicators that delivered revenue. Then discern what about that content made it generate revenue.
As 2023 progresses, use content performance analytics to focus on creating the kind of content you know works.
9. Software That Helps You Implement Content Marketing Trends
If you’re a little overwhelmed, we get it! Staying on top of content marketing trends is hard, but Divvy is here to make your life easier with a platform that allows your team to store, collaborate, plan, create, and schedule content. Request a demo to check out all our automation and organization features.