The overarching trends in content marketing.

Ask someone who’s completely immersed in the virtual reality world, and they’ll tell you VR is the biggest trend of the year. But what are really the trends of this year when it comes to content marketing? After attending an interesting webinar, we were inspired to list a number of overarching trends.

From back room to boardroom

Content marketing is still often seen as a task that can be squeezed in on the side. Just working out a few social posts can’t be a full-time job. That’s true, but content marketing as a field involves a lot more than just typing out a few posts.

Where the content marketer is still seen as an executing employee, this year we really need to look at how this can be different. The content marketer belongs at the same level as, for example, a marketing manager. And only then is it possible to have content at the same level internally and externally.

Content marketing goes beyond just the marketing department. It’s important for the entire company. Think, for example, of attracting new talented employees. With a good content strategy, you can show why someone should come work for your company. And that’s why it’s important to pull content marketing through the entire company.

Not everything is digital first

Print is making a comeback. And we’re not talking about the band. Physical magazines are in demand again. More and more companies are coming out with a magazine or another form of print. We’re happily joining in on this development ourselves too and recently released the first edition of the webba magazine.

Physical magazines have a number of advantages compared to digital. For instance, we see that magazines often stay lying around for a longer time on the coffee table or in a bookshelf. This means it’s incredibly easy for people to pick up the magazine again for a bit. Of course, the reach and interaction with a magazine can’t be measured as concretely as with a website. But we’re also not saying you have to choose between the two, deploy both channels and experience the benefits of this combination.

From data back to human

We naturally try to create content for the person, not for the data. More and more often, the content marketer is judged on the performance delivered based on data. And that while we of course don’t write the content for the data. Of course you have to use data as “performance meters”, but please let’s keep writing for what people want to see, not just what scores well.

Socials aren’t a sustainable model

According to the speakers at the webinar, social media channels will no longer be relevant for companies in a few years’ time. We only partly agree with this.

We can all see that the organic reach of your social media posts is dropping enormously. Your followers aren’t really your followers anymore. Only a small percentage of your followers actually get to see your content in an organic way. This development means big names in, for example, the music industry are creating their own platform for their fans.

On the other hand, social media still offers an enormous amount of opportunities. One of the newest developments within Instagram is a good example of this. Instagram is bringing back the chronological feed. This means all the posts that are placed appear in chronological order. This way Instagram is still responding to the declining organic reach after all. Furthermore, social media remains a channel where you can approach your target audience in a very specific way.

Content gets an internal role

We’ve already touched on this a bit earlier in this blog. Content is no longer just something deployed for external communication. Nowadays, people need more than a ping pong table to want to work at your company. Especially the younger generation is looking for a company they feel “sympathy” for.

On the other hand, in the current labour market it’s also becoming increasingly difficult to retain employees. The number of vacancies is skyrocketing and many an employee is making the switch to another company. Simply offering more salary is no longer a reason for everyone to stay. Employees are looking for a different kind of motivation.

To trigger this motivation, content marketing can be deployed. Determine, using a number of questions, the reason why employees want to work for you. What’s the story of your company? What’s the extra value you add to the employee’s life? Communication and content marketing is key.

No tofu but bofu

We need to approach content marketing differently. It needs to be used as a foundation. Right from the start, there needs to be a good and relevant strategy in place. This way your company can become successful based on content marketing. Instead of deploying content marketing afterwards to create success. Not top of funnel but bottom of funnel.

Audio is here to stay

And we’re not talking about podcasts here. Nowadays anyone can start a podcast and shout their opinion. We’re thinking more in the form of, don’t be scared, a “Clubhouse”. Yes, the flopped app “Clubhouse”. This form of audio content holds a whole lot of potential, provided it’s executed well.

We’re thinking of conversations between experts in a particular field, where guests can sit in and only speak when asked to. A kind of mix between a podcast and a live event with speakers. When opinions aren’t shared but facts are, audio can become big.

What are you focusing on this year?

Content marketing is slowly gaining an increasingly important role within our company too. Internally and externally, the message needs to be the same, and we try to pay as much attention as possible to this. How does this look at your company? Is content marketing being deployed, or are you still sitting on the fence a little? Our advice is to at least make a start. And then begin with the basics, look at your own company and the story you want to tell. Can’t quite figure it out or don’t have enough time? Then just knock on our door. We can help you with your content marketing.