The year is winding down, and while it appears that the pandemic continues to dominate the conversation, it’s a good time to start getting ready for content marketing success in 2022.
We’ve spoken previously about the importance of creating and publishing informative, helpful, and engaging content on your website, blog, and social media channels. And, by now, you know that you can’t just put your content out there and hope people find it. So, as you slide into autumn, what steps can you take now to improve your content marketing success in 2022?
Content Marketing Needs to be in Your Strategic Plan
Content marketing should play a prominent role in your company’s strategic plan, whether you’re a B2B or B2C brand. It’s the best way to convey your brand identity and build trust between you and your consumers. In addition, your brand content serves as a powerful tool to engage in meaningful conversation with a global audience.
Data breaches and encroachments on privacy have seriously damaged consumer trust in companies. Therefore, your content strategy is the best antidote you have to overcome these trends.
Content builds trust, transparency, and authenticity.
The digital landscape changed dramatically during the last year and a half due to a pandemic-driven increase in online consumption. As a result, many companies had to adjust their content marketing plans to respond to emerging consumer needs.
Data from SEMRush indicates that roughly 68% of brands intend to increase their content marketing budgets to take advantage of these new realities.
Be sure that content marketing plays a prominent role in your strategic plan.
8 Tips for Content Marketing Success in 2022
Tip #1 Search Habits Are Changing
SEO and keywords are still important, but as we advance into 2022, you’ll want to be more responsive to the way consumers are searching for products and services. For instance, voice and visual search via services such as Google Lens and other mobile apps are becoming more popular. In addition, search engines provide consumers with multi-format content, including videos, podcasts, images, shopping recommendations, and text.
Optimize for multiple formats
To be successful in 2022, you’ll want to ensure that all of your content is optimized for multiple formats. For example, add your keywords to the alt text on the photos you use in your blog articles. Also, consider how a consumer might search for your product or service by voice search or podcast when selecting keywords. When creating headlines and snippets for your YouTube videos, think about how a consumer might search for a product or service that you offer.
Location-Based Marketing Will Help You Achieve Content Marketing Success in 2022
If you have an in-person location, you’ll want to capture the increasing popularity of location-based searches. By voice or typing, consumers want to find stores and offices that are near to them. So, for example, they might put in a search like this: “a fitness coach near me” or “an independent jeweler 5 miles from my house.”
Tip # 2 Worldwide Consumers are Mobile
According to Statista, 90% of the interconnected world goes online with a mobile device. They’re using a mobile device to visit your social platforms, website, blog, and shopping channel.
Optimize your website for mobile, including your blog
Pay attention to your photos and other graphics, infographics, and interactive content. Be sure it works well on a mobile screen and loads quickly. If your audience can’t engage easily with your content while on the go, they’ll skip to a competitor.
Optimizing for mobile will improve your ranking on SERPs and improve conversions.
Tip # 3 Prepare Your Content for a Cross-Generational Audience
A critical shift you need to make for content marketing success in 2022 involves preparing your content for a cross-generational audience.
Pew Research studies indicate that while Generation Z may dominate the social marketplace, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are there too. Baby Boomers tend to have more purchase power, but they may be searching for services and products for their children or other family members.
Millennials still make up the largest segment of the global Instagram audience. Still, Generation Z is quickly gaining and is predicted to capture as much as 28% of the platform’s user base by the end of this year.
Gen Z’s purchasing power is increasing too. According to Bank of America, Gen Z’s combined income will reach $33 trillion by 2030. Their growing presence and purchase power on social channels also impact your content marketing, not only in sales but for your brand image.
Gen Z’s are the most ardent consumers of purpose-driven brands. And they’re looking for brand authenticity.
- Publish stories about your company, founders, and team
- Articulate your purpose, vision, and mission
- Talk about how you hope to impact the world and how your service or product is helping to improve people’s lives.
A 2020 survey by Marketing Dive found that 82% of Gen Z consumers trust a brand more if it uses images of actual customers in its content marketing and promos.
At the same time, you won’t want to focus exclusively on the Gen Z audience. While they may be the majority consumers of social media, you’ll also want to engage the spenders, who continue to be Baby Boomers and Generation X. They may not show up at the top of research results when it comes to social media users, but you’ll miss out on maximizing conversions if you ignore this consumer group.
Your content marketing will need to have cross-generational appeal:
- mix up your marketing and targeting
- keep both the buyer and user in mind
- implement a social media strategy that speaks to each generation.
Tip # 4 Engage in Strategic Conversations
The competition in the digital marketplace is fierce. There could be thousands of posts on your topics or brand content in your industry.
How do you jump to the top of SERPs?
- Find a unique angle
- create original content
- do your research
- support your content with data.
At the same time, just because the digital world is crowded, talking louder is not the answer. Use your content to engage in strategic conversations—say less but be more intentional about what you say, why you’re saying it, and who you’re speaking to.
And most importantly, learn how to be a better listener.
Be prepared for ebbs and flows as the digital marketing ecosystem changes. Some generations will lessen their time on social media while others may increase. Be fluid and ready to pivot to changing audience habits and demographics.
Make use of consumer-generated content and take advantage of opportunities to co-create.
Tip # 5 Use Technology for Content Marketing Success in 2022
Take advantage of technology to improve your outreach. Your 2022 content planning should include adding or upgrading content analysis technologies. If necessary, level up your ability to analyze the data to get the most out of it.
- how is your content performing across digital channels
- thoroughly understand your consumer persona
- test and validate and test again.
You may not need more data; instead, you simply need to become more proficient at understanding the data you have.
Tip # 6 Video Will Continue to Drive Engagement
With the rising popularity of TikTok and Instagram Reels, video content should continue to be a major player in your content marketing strategy. If you haven’t been posting video content, you might want to make 2022 the year you start.
Videos are a tool to engage with your audience in ways that you cannot achieve with static images. You can easily repurpose content from your website and blog into short videos to fit every social media specification. You can even turn your emails into high-quality video content.
Tip #7 Prepare to Run Promos and Paid Advertising
Organic content marketing on social media platforms has been declining, and we’re not expecting a reversal in 2022. So instead, you’ll have to budget for promos and paid advertising.
Use the opportunity to run low-budget tests to determine what headlines or content topics, graphics, and videos resonate with your target audience. Â Once you have the feedback, you can launch a full campaign.
Tip #8 Maximize Your Use of Social Listening Tools
Use social listening tools to learn what the world is saying about your brand and competitors and identify trending issues.
Your content needs to be fresh and responsive to shifts, which can change rapidly depending on global circumstances, to stay ahead of the competition.
In other words, for content marketing success in 2022, you will need to be fluid, not static.
Bottom Line
The digital ecosystem may be crowded, and it can be challenging to get your brand voice heard.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment.
- Keep your content marketing fluid and constantly assess performance.
- Understand your consumer audience and create content that addresses their needs.
- Showcase your personal side and remember that consumers want to do business with brands that have a purpose.
Content marketing is a priceless tool for developing long-term relationships with your customers. You’ll not only reach your conversion goals, but you’ll develop a loyal team of brand ambassadors who can carry your brand message to thousands of potential consumers. So it’s worth it to take the time now to prepare yourself for content marketing success in 2022.
Let us know what you think in the comment box below.