Influencer Roundup: Top 5 Content Marketing Trends for 2017

As content marketing continues to evolve, businesses across the globe have adopted it at a rapid pace. And that’s not stopping in 2017.

So what’s predicted to become of content marketing this year? To help cut through the clutter, I've compiled influencer trends from top shared posts based on BuzzSumo data from the past year.

1. Forbes

Forbes (@Forbes) describes content marketing as a digital trend that is evolving fast, which means companies must jump on the bandwagon ASAP. 

Some aspects featured in this article that will continue to progress and impact content marketing strategies include:

• Mobile. 
• Facebook.
• Visual content. 
• Video content. 
• User-generated content. 

2. Content Marketing Institute

Joe Pulizzi (@JoePulizzi), the “godfather of content marketing,” featured several predictions for the industry on the Content Marketing Institute blog (@CMIContent). These predictions focus heavily on content creation and distribution for enterprises and the importance of more recent content marketing integration.

Pulizzi discusses specific trends, such as native advertising, influencer marketing, purpose driven marketing, mobile, Facebook, video and visual and more.

3. Rappler

In its post, Content Marketing in 2017: 5 Trends That will Change the PH Landscape (shared 6,200 times according to BuzzSumo), Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) argues that content marketing is only breaking ground of its true potential.

Some trends Rappler expressed will take front and center for content marketing this year are:

• Utilizing video across various platforms (Facebook, Buzzfeed, etc.).
• Redefining the user experience to give people content how they want it.
• Focusing on data to better understand customer needs and demographics.
• Creating non-linear content to develop more visual stories (i.e. infographics, social posts, interactive quizzes).
• Focusing on awesome storytelling to captivate readers.

4. CJG Digital Marketing

According to CJG Digital Marketing (@CJGDigitalMktg) content marketing is “a strategy that has truly revolutionized the marketing industry.”

So how can this strategy continue to revolutionize businesses? CJG Digital Marketing believes visual content, user-generated content, video, influencer marketing and virtual reality (VR) will help evolve content marketing to a new level.

Industries will be able to better deliver their resources and intended messages to consumers in the form of new mediums. With the help of emerging technogies like VR, businesses now have the ability to reach more eyes than ever before.

5. Convince & Convert

According to Convince & Convert’s (@convince) Jay Baer (@jaybaer), there are seven content marketing trends that really matter in 2017. Marketers now have the ability to deliver content to more places, topics and faces. This means the possibilities are endless.

The seven trends Baer suggests will shape content marketing this year are:

1. Map customer micro-moments.
2. Create content for current customers.
3. Embrace on-the-fly content.
4. Focus on non-fiction storytelling.
5. Test content, headlines, images and conversions to evaluate performance.
6. Start integrating augmented reality (AR) and VR into marketing efforts.
7. The rise of the marketing generalist.

Common 2017 Content Marketing Themes

While each influencer has his or her own twist on what key trends will be this year, there are many common themes that can’t be ignored.

So what’s the consensus? Top content marketing trends to add to your must-have list in 2017 include:

• Make content easily available and visually appealing via mobile devices and tablets, so consumers can receive it in their preferred form.
• Utilize platforms, such as YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook to raise brand awareness via visually appealing, fun and/or informational videos.
• Look for opportunities to share consumer’s content to get them more involved and feel connected with your brand.
• Take popular content and integrate a visual aspect (e.g. ebooks, white papers) to help consumers better understand the topic at hand.
• Don’t just provide consumers with a story. Instead look for ways to make it more personal while connecting the dots through solid storytelling.

No matter what the predicted top trends may be, the overarching progression to note is that content marketing is evolving and is here to stay.

What content marketing trends are you predicting this year? Share with us in the comments below. 

Image Source: Pexels