Content marketing is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The internet made it possible for companies to reach a mass audience. This brought about many positive changes for business, including the birth of e-commerce. However, more accessibility also means more competition and businesses needed to adapt their marketing techniques to the new technology.
Online marketing started with SEO practices and advertising, but content marketing has proven to be the most popular way of reaching a wide audience. Statistics from the Content Marketing Institute show why so many businesses focus their efforts on the new practice.
One of the biggest questions content marketers have, is “What does the future hold?”. Think of how much things have changed from the 90s. We went from Sega to virtual reality, and from cordless phones to smartphones with wireless charging capabilities. So, what could 2050 have in store for content marketing? Take a journey into the future with us now.
The Past Defines The Future
To determine what the future might hold, we have to look at the past. How technology has progressed, and the varying trends all hold clues to what we can expect in 2050. Content marketing itself has changed in recent years.
Video Over Text
Today, content marketers love using videos to reach their consumers. This is because people prefer to watch a video than reading streams of information. Blue Corona recently published a shocking statistic on their website. In the past 30 days, companies have added more video content online than the past 30 years on television. The sheer volume of video content being uploaded is almost unfathomable.
Consumers devour video content and companies like YouTube benefit from the growing trends. However, content marketers should remember that video content needs to serve a purpose for consumers. Content should engage, be informative and useful. Marketers that don’t use these rules will saturate the internet with videos that have no real worth.
Immersive Content
The latest trend companies are following is using Immersive Content. Companies use a mix of visual, augmented and mixed content to give consumers a superior experience. The personalization involved in immersive content makes it perfect for brands to build a positive image with their customers.
Virtual Reality is the key to future content marketing. It enables users to become involved in an alternative world and offers not only an experience for the mind but also one for the senses. The Pokemon Go game made Augmented reality popular and gave the company a new life.
Pokemon was successful years ago, with their TV show and range of playing cards. The brand lost popularity, but by using augmented reality they could regain their fan base, which shows how augmented reality can benefit companies. These statistics published on Business of Apps show how many people downloaded the game.
Companies are noticing how augmented and virtual reality can give them a positive image with consumers, and they’ll combine this new technology with their content. Progressive Web Apps are also gaining popularity, but how does all of this apply to the future?
The Future Outlook
If content marketing has changed so much in the last two years, what we can expect in three decades? It’s impossible to predict the future, but the changes in technology show us that many incredible things could happen.
Personalization
People are busy, and they will continue to get busier. We have work, family life and a whole range of fun activities at our disposal. Amazons Alexa has shown that people want to access information and voice controlled devices are flying off the shelves. Consumers expect companies to deliver their content in a way that suits them.
The Millennial crowd is the biggest consumers of online content. However, Gen Z has been born into the age of the internet, and mobile phones. While the rest of us remember a world without an array of TV channels and the internet, they don’t. As Gen Z grows older, they’ll define how companies deliver content, and the emphasis will be on the newest technology.
Artificial Intelligence will be central to content marketing. Companies spend so much time researching keywords, tailoring content to target audiences and creating digestible content. Marketing is difficult, but advances in AI will give marketers the opportunity to deliver better content to more people. Machines will be able to create content, meaning marketers can focus on enhancing it.
While there are already some devices that perform these operations, growths in technology will create superior machines to perform a range of tasks.
What Can AI Do?
AI is shaping content marketing in three major ways. Each shows that content marketers can benefit from the technology and shouldn’t shy away from it. Many studies have shown how AI will improve the company and consumer relations.
It’s essential for companies to gain insights into their users and how they use the content. AI technology will give companies an in-depth look at the behaviors of their consumers. A study by Salesforce shows that 76% of consumers expect businesses to know what they want and deliver it. AI will be able to collect massive amounts of data and present it to content marketers. This means they’ll be able to put together a strategic plan.
AI has also introduced marketing assistants to content marketers, which provide an in-depth service. The best thing about this technology is it can perform more tasks in one minute than a team of marketers can in months. They work by looking at all the company data and answer your questions. These can be:
How are my competitors performing?
What personality traits do my audience have?
Which type of content will give me the biggest results?
Which regions should be targeted first?
AI Marketing Tools can provide all of these answers and help companies not only target their audience but reach them. A regular person doesn’t have the time or capacity to gather the amount of information these impressive tools can.
At the moment AI Marketing Assistants are expensive, but in time they’ll become more affordable and smaller companies will benefit from the technology.
The Growth of AI
It’s a worrying time for content marketers, because if AI can do so much then where do we stand? Artificial Intelligence is already taking over peoples live’s and the restaurant and retail sectors are likely to see a lot of changes. Digital marketing will also become centered on AI as marketers realize how much it can help them perform their duties.
While AI can perform many tasks, it’s unlikely it will ever be able to create compelling content. Apple has used AI to produce automated content, and companies might use it for news updates. However, content marketers shouldn’t fear for their jobs, because AI could become their best friend.
Think about how long it takes to create articles, posts, and updates. Artificial Intelligence can take away some tedious work, leaving you to create impressive content. This means companies can get more creative and use the extra time to place themselves above the competition.
Are We Ready?
We don’t know what the future holds, and 2050 could be full of surprises. What we know, is that companies are more likely to go online and content marketing will continue to dominate digital marketing trends. As long as marketers work with new technology and adapt their practices to it, we’ll see a new world of content marketing.