7 Trends That Will Change Content Marketing

Well, we are a few months into 2015 and we have already been seeing some wonderful trends in the content marketing world. There are 7 trends that our Chicago marketing company has observed and can't wait to see how they affect things.

1. Live marketing. Remember during the Super Bowl in 2013 when the stadium went dark and all those brands posted tweets and posts about it and creatively tied their brand into it all? That is a wonderful example of live marketing. Brands have done it with many other events and situations and it is wonderful. Our social media marketing team and other social media teams around the country see it, too. Consumers certainly have a field day with it, seeing how brands can work pop culture. Of course, this can be a slippery slope; if brands fail to see something is a "touchy" subject/one of controversy, then they can be bit, hard. 
2. Participation marketing. This is a two-fold structure; the first part is when brands invite their audience to help create the content- crowdsourcing, the second part is engagement. Some brands have allowed their fans/followers to "unlock" certain perks, deals, etc. when they retweeted certain tweets. This drives engagement from their audience and gets people talking. Many brands use hashtags on social media to filter conversations and drive awareness. This is a big trend in digital marketing. 
3. Personalized content marketing. As the way to create and deliver more personalized content becomes more mainstream/easier, we will see more brands doing this. It helps build customer relationships and makes consumers feel more loved, which makes them more brand loyal. For example, Travelocity has posted ads of their mascot holding a sign with a traveler's name and it linked to their favorite destination. 
4. Social media and video stars become assets. Brands all over the world are starting to use stars from YouTube, Vine, and other social media. Stars like Michelle Phan and Bethany Mota are getting endorsement deals from various companies (though, not together); Vine stars Robby Ayala and Zach King have been featured in a TV ad for HP. They connect well with Millennials and so their influence is heavy with a demographic many marketers have trouble with. 
5. Videos will be more about the message and less about the time length. We have seen a big swing in trends with video. In the past, a big emphasis was put on how long a video was; however, with the success of Instagram video and Vine, we now see it's okay to have very brief video formats. Consumers like videos as short as 6 seconds and as long as 7 minutes, as long as the content is worth it, it is great to watch. YouTube for business and social media for business are two, awesome formats for businesses to use. 
6. Content will be curated live & via signals. What people are talking about on social media, from what they are doing, what they are thinking, etc. can be used by brands to create content that matches the messages. Budweiser had a hashtag #FriendsAreWaiting to promote responsible drinking and connected with Twitter users who were talking about drinking, going to bars, and partying. 
7. Content will be aimed at conversion. No more content that is purely informational and aimed at one, niche area. Content will start to be connected to many parts of the purchase funnel. Content will be used to drive sales and also build brand awareness; this is a trend in web design, too. 

There are many more amazing trends on the horizon. Is your brand eager to connect with more consumers and in a more meaningful way? Then email Integraphix about improving your creative marketing efforts.