Like all digital disciplines, content marketing is ever-changing. We don’t have a crystal ball to see into the future, but thankfully, some experts are willing to offer content marketing predictions for 2018 as well as trends they think might disappear this year.
At the Fractl office, we interviewed 65 digital marketing professionals with expertise in content marketing to get a deeper look into the possible industry shifts we might see in 2018. In doing so, we found the following terms popped up most: “Facebook” (31 percent), “Video” (48 percent), “SEO” (17 percent), “Algorithm” (20 percent), “Keyword(s)” (9 percent), “Influencer(s)” (25 percent), “Google” (23 percent), “AI” (23 percent), and “Blog” (20 percent). Interviewees mentioned the term “Video” most often, which isn’t a huge surprise considering it’s predicted to make up more than 80 percent of all web traffic by 2019, and according to HubSpot, “80 percent of customers remember a video they’ve watched in the last month.” This may be why “Video” is on so many experts’ minds.
Facebook came up the second most, likely due to its recent algorithm changes with “less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media.” As a result, users can expect to see more “meaningful interactions between people.”
Even so, it’s still early days yet, so we can’t say for sure what will happen to the content marketing landscape this year. Hopefully, the following expert predictions will help guide our content marketing strategies in the right direction.
Founder, Criminally Prolific LLC
LinkedIn | Twitter
“Live video will continue to rise. More important from a content marketing perspective is what live video signifies – the emphasis on real-time interactions and authenticity. Brands might deliberately adopt a more amateur aesthetic to mimic this authenticity. Expect some brands to even offload some of this responsibility to influencers who, in turn, will become brand surrogates.
In other words, you will see influencers (especially mini- and micro-influencers) creating content on behalf of brands. This content will be more authentic, with only a cursory focus on the brand. The pitches businesses send when doing PR outreach has become more and more synonymous with [what] content influencers put out.”
Director, Marketing Technology, UBM plc
LinkedIn | Twitter
“Our attention spans continue to decrease. As a result, as 2018 progresses, content will become less dense and easier to consume. Larger blocks of content will be broken down into multiple smaller units for the audience to easily consume before their attention starts to wander.
Email engagement rates continue to slip as spam filters for inboxes become more stringent. As a result, the channel for delivering content will continue to shift from outbound to inbound.”
Branded Content Manager, Fractl
LinkedIn | Twitter
“The biggest trend in 2018 will be a continuation of a 2017 trend: community engagement. Facebook’s change to its algorithm – prioritizing content from family and friends rather than from brands – is the first major indicator of this.
This change is a great challenge that pushes marketers to explore natural, honest ways of connecting with brand fans and potential consumers and clients. That means thinking about where people want to see content about your brand, providing them value there, and not being afraid to actually engage with people.
Create on-site content that serves as evergreen, valuable resources and ask for feedback. Create social posts that not only offer information but also invite comment and active discussion.”
Content Manager, Vitacost.com (a Kroger company)
LinkedIn
“I anticipate we’ll see more ‘unexpected’ content partnerships in 2018, as bigger brands start to push the envelope together – perhaps even brands many might see as competing for the same space. Think about companies and brands outside of your industry and even those you may consider content competitors; you may be able to offer one another (and one another’s audiences) something unique and valuable, which is the true goal of good content.”
Global Content Manager, STA Travel
LinkedIn | Twitter
“2018 is likely to see a rise in interactive media within marketing strategies. Content marketing is no longer limited to generic copy or visuals. Marketing campaigns will be personalized, interactive, and dynamic. Think about interactive video content and the rise of voice search. With consumers relying on technology more than ever, marketers will need to adopt new media mixes to capture their attention.”
Director of Content Marketing, LookBookHQ
LinkedIn | Twitter
“Content marketers will start to shift from producing large quantities of content to delivering the most relevant content to the right audience at the right time. Content creation at scale isn’t good enough anymore. Those of us in content roles will have to work more closely with our peers in demand generation to ensure that we 1) create the right content to solve the biggest challenges our companies and customers are facing, 2) activate that content to the most relevant audiences, channels, and points in the buyer’s journey, 3) understand how that content is performing, and 4) use content consumption (also called engaged intent) to measure buyer education and qualification.”
Content & Community Manager, Field Bloom
LinkedIn | Twitter
“One prediction that I see for content in 2018 is less focus on quantity and much more on quality. As a part of the trend for high-quality content, I believe businesses will start looking more at their data to get a better understanding of how their audience likes to digest their content. Additionally, I feel that businesses will look to partner with influential topical experts so that the content being created can provide real insight and actionable knowledge to help with any pain points or desires of a potential customer.”
CEO, Telescope
LinkedIn | Twitter
“The changes in the Facebook news feed algorithm will make live video even more of a priority in the content marketing mix. But your content will have to be good and ideally supported with smart use of paid media on the platform. Content marketers who understand that they are creating video for mobile-first consumption will win.
Adpocalypse and its fallout will continue to resonate: Platforms like YouTube are trying to reign back in an unwieldy ecosystem by putting more checks and balances around creator content, but brands will inevitably focus more on areas they can control like content marketing and increase investment there.”
CEO & Owner, MyCorporation.com
LinkedIn | Twitter
"The biggest content marketing shift, of course, will be the change in Facebook’s algorithms where passive content is set to be penalized, and there will be a push for meaningful engagement instead. Other trends include utilizing live video and the rise of branded podcasts. I think this is a reflection of (slowly) going back to branding basics – focusing on the value and scarcity that a brand can offer rather than relying solely on instant gratification via vanity metrics."
Digital Marketing Specialist, Archway Cards Ltd
LinkedIn
“I believe we need to be paying more attention to voice- and audio-related content in 2018. As humans, it's no secret that we are getting busier and spending more time on the go. However, our need to consume and be mentally stimulated by content remains. As a result, more and more people are consuming audio in the form of podcasts and audiobooks. These audio forms of content can be consumed passively, meaning we can listen to them while we’re traveling, walking, or even working. Long-form written content is now becoming less and less popular, meaning businesses need to react, adapt, and start producing engaging audio content.”
SEO Outreach Executive, YourParkingSpace Ltd
LinkedIn
“I don't think you can just create good content and hope that Google and potential clients will discover it online. You must reach out to other websites, bloggers, and influencers to spread the word about your brand and acquire new backlinks that will increase traffic to your website.
[AI] will become more prevalent and help businesses market their brands. Chatbots, for example, will become more and more popular and will be interacting with potential clients on websites or in apps. These chatbots’ technology will improve over time, and they'll be able to communicate with clients and understand their needs more effectively.”
Content Marketing Manager, Tailwind
LinkedIn | Twitter
“It's the ones that have been dying that will hopefully disappear for good – my No. 1 candidate: clickbait that fails to deliver. As more platforms stop rewarding it, the successful content marketers will be those who deliver more than they promise – as always.”
Senior Content Marketer, Logojoy
LinkedIn | Twitter
“As long-form educational content continues to dominate the scene, I see the trend of shorter pieces and throwaway listicles dying off more rapidly this year.”
Content Manager, SlimFast
LinkedIn
“Consumers are getting smarter about their shopping experience and brand loyalty. They are looking for more than just a product. They want information and an emotional connection. That’s why display/banner ads are almost obsolete. Now consumers are blind to this type of advertising, with the average CTR dropping to about 0.01%. Native ads are replacing this form of paid advertising. Specifically, editorial-based content to build trust among consumers. 2018 will be about connecting with your consumers in a deeper way – building your brand persona, adding more valuable content, and curating that emotional connection.”
Director of Content Marketing, Colibri Group
LinkedIn
Landing pages are dying. You know, the stagnant one-off landing page that you’re directed to so you can fill out your name, email, etc. It’s done. We’re going to need quicker, more compelling ways to collect leads on the same page that users are interacting with. Gone are the days of having them click a CTA, sending them to a landing page to fill out a form, and having them wait for an e-book to be mailed to them. We’ll be focusing on generating leads through forms that don’t take them away from the content they are already engaged with. These forms will be more targeted based on the visitors’ behaviors and, of course, they’ll be optimized for mobile.
Digital Marketing Associate, Blue Compass
LinkedIn | Twitter
“E-books and white papers may never truly die, but the race to create high-quality, valuable content has basically eliminated the e-book. What used to be a piece of gated content is now prominently featured as a blog to gain SEO value and traffic. Plus, the various types of gated content have grown, and we’re getting more creative by the day. E-books will simply be useless moving into 2018.”
Director of Marketing, DevelopIntelligence
LinkedIn
“I think we will see the slow death of a disconnected SEO strategy that relies simply on keywords and not meaningful content beneath the surface.”
Founder, Ghost Blog Writers
LinkedIn | Twitter
“The intrusive interstitial initiative from Google seems to be gaining momentum. I think in the short term, you’ll see companies being forced to eliminate their pop-ups and opt-ins in 2018.”
President, Waypost Marketing
LinkedIn | Twitter
“I am definitely foreseeing a slowdown in the potential organic reach available to companies on platforms like Facebook. Social media isn’t going away as an effective marketing tool, but changes like Facebook’s recent announcement that they will be de-emphasizing business and marketing content in favor of posts by friends and family is definite proof that it pays to diversify your social media marketing strategy.”
Digital Content Coordinator, Southern Utah University
LinkedIn | Twitter
“I think (and hope) the practice of buying influencers will die in 2018. There is real power and value in having consumer-generated sales, but buying those consumers and bribing them to sell your product feels more like a pyramid scheme than a real marketing strategy. Companies should offer an authentic product from the start, develop a loyal consumer base that truly values the company, and then use those people to promote.”
CEO & Co-Founder, NewsCred
LinkedIn | Twitter
“In 2018, we’ll see influencer marketing move away from the Kendall Jenner cohort and into the realm of everyday people. Microinfluencers, with smaller but highly engaged fan bases, give brands an opportunity to connect with their most passionate audience members. More ‘regular’ consumers will share product experiences across their networks in ways that inspire trust, especially from Gen Zers. This user-generated content will continue to augment brand-generated content, evolving the role of brands to incorporate curation on top of creation.”
We interviewed 65 digital marketing professionals with expertise in content marketing. Responses were vetted, and 21 were selected based on unique insights. The data we are presenting rely on self-reporting. No statistical testing was performed, so the claims listed above are based on means alone. As such, this content is purely exploratory and anecdotal. Answers were edited for length and content.
