By Laia Cardona, on 26 May 2022
Content marketing will be one of the areas that companies invest in the most in the next few years. However, as technology and consumer habits evolve, the way content is created will also have to change.
Let's review the content marketing trends for 2022 so that you can continue to create super-effective content!
Top Content Marketing Trends for 2022
1. Sales as a Star Metric
For years, content marketing has relied on vanity metrics such as "likes" on social networks. But it is becoming increasingly clear that what matters about content is its ability to generate sales.
According to Hubspot's Not Another State of Marketing Report 2021, sales are the number one goal for marketers, followed by web traffic and social interactions. It's imperative to focus on the most important KPIs and find ways to link the content you are creating with your ROI.
2. Video Is King
Since 2020, marketers have been betting on video content the most. According to Hubspot, 65% use it regularly in their strategies, ahead of formats such as blogs, infographics, case studies, interviews, or reports.
This year, you should go for short, live, or interactive video formats.
3. Direct Voice Response
According to Trends Report, there were 200 billion voice searches per month in 2020, and it isn't slowing down anytime soon – it's estimated that voice searches could account for half of all user searches in the digital environment.
Content creators will need to be able to respond to users' voice searches and answer queries directly and quickly without needing any additional context.
4. Content Communities
Content communities seek to foster customer retention by bringing value, trust, and loyalty to their audience.
These communities offer online discussions, virtual meetings, live training, or webinars. In addition to providing value, they generate a sense of exclusivity that makes customers feel valued.
5. Product Listicles
After analyzing more than 15,000 articles on the popular website Buzzfeed, Buzzsumo came to the conclusion that list articles or articles with lists were the most used due to their ability to generate virality.
List articles are because they can easily be positioned in a short time and are the perfect format for sharing. Combined with affiliate marketing, they become a very valuable resource for generating revenue.
6. Comparative Content
In the final stages of the conversion funnel, customers are considering several similar options and comparing them against each other. To make this task easier, many people turn to the product price and feature comparison pages.
You can take advantage of this content marketing trend by creating your own product comparison page, which will help you attract quality traffic, position your brand as a reference in your sector, generate more sales, and receive affiliate link revenue.
7. Combining Paid and Organic Content
Quality content is still the foundation of content marketing, but on its own, it is not enough. Social media algorithms make it difficult to gain visibility, so more and more brands are leveraging promoted posts and other paid formats to reach more people and get more interaction with their content.
8. Data-Driven Content
Content marketing is becoming more and more scientific. There's a large amount of data available that allows us to know what works and what doesn't, so it is no longer necessary to continue creating content based on intuition.
Your content plan should be based on analyzing the existing metrics of your strategy so that you can promote the formats, themes, and creatives that offer the best results.
9. Augmented Reality
Images and audiovisual elements are essential if you want people to remember your brand or company since they are stored in the brain more quickly and permanently compared to just text.
Augmented reality is an important trend: according to eMarketer, in 2022, 101.6 million people are expected to use it at least once a month.
10. Account-Based Marketing
Account-based marketing is about moving from an audience composed of groups of individuals to one segmented by "accounts", for example – the decision-makers of a given company.
11. Interactive Content
Interactive content continues to be a trend. Presenting information in a way that the user can interact with it generates more engagement and interaction, helps you differentiate yourselves from the competition, and encourages data and lead acquisition.
12. Omnichannel Personalization
Users are interacting with brands across multiple touchpoints and screens, such as mobile devices, tablets, and smart TVs. This means that to be effective, personalization has to be omnichannel and able to identify when the user is using different devices. Only then is it possible to create a consistent user experience.
13. Dynamic Web Content
Dynamic web content refers to websites that remember the users who have visited them. When the website recognizes the user, it offers him or her highly personalized content. Content is generated in real-time based on data such as the visitor's location or previous interactions he or she has had with the brand. The result is a unique level of personalization that increases the relevance of each interaction and boosts digital sales.
