You’ve undoubtedly heard that content is king, yes? If you have, good; if you haven’t, you have now and that’s really all there is to say about that. Either way, with the importance of content out of the way, it’s time to get to the crux of the matter: covering content marketing trends for 2019 you can use to drive business. Before we get to that, let’s go over a couple of 2018 content marketing stats so we have a good lay of the land:
- Content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising
- 55% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority
- Written articles, videos and images are the three most engaging types of content on social media
- Product videos can increase purchases by 144%
- In the B2B setting, case studies help convert and accelerate the most leads
With that knowledge, let’s get started!
1. Blog Posts
One of the most common types of content you’ll come across online, blog posts are excellent for a variety of things, including driving business. For instance, because you can create a blog post about literally anything, such as standout opinion pieces, how-to guides, original research and trending pieces, you have the option of generating demand for your products and services by writing about common pain points your audience encounters and how what you offer is the solution they’ve been looking for. Even better, with a strategically placed backlink to your site, you can also try your hand at lead generation and increase your prospects, a tactic that makes marketing whiz Neil Patel consider blog posts to be “the #1 asset for engaging with your audience and generating warm leads for your business.”
2. Images
Like blog posts, images are some of the most common content trends in 2019 you’ll come across because, as you’ve most likely heard before, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, whether it’s a thousand or even a million, the point is that images are excellent at conveying things that can’t always be put in words, which helps drive business. For example, how can you accurately describe how sleek your new product is without actually showing it? You can, of course, write a description for it, but at the end of the day nothing comes close to actually seeing it. An added bonus for images is that they come in various shapes and forms, such as memes and GIFs that perform especially well in social media, and just so happen to be one of the top Facebook content types for 2019 strategies because of their ability to humorously convey ideas.
3. Infographics
Like images because they technically are images, infographics are another type of content that content marketing 2019 strategies need because they’re both engaging and educational; two features that make them excellent link magnets that drive business. In fact, because infographics are liked and shared on social media three times as often as any other form of content, they’re incredibly valuable for your brand if you have something to share and want more traffic coming your way.
4. Videos
Seeing as how Facebook is one of the best social platforms for driving business, if you’ve ever wondered what type of content has the most engagement on Facebook—and drives the most business—it’s videos. After all, almost five years ago, Facebook’s very own Mark Zuckerberg said that “in five years, most of [Facebook] will be video.” As time has passed, that statement has only proven to be true. It’s not just Facebook either, Cisco also made claims that they expect videos to account for 82% of all global traffic (both business and consumer) by 2022, up from 75% in 2017. If you don’t know what this means, it means that video marketing trends for 2019 are something you should be very interested in.
5. Case Studies
When you boil it down, a case study is simply a piece of content that explains how your product or service was able to help one of your clients. In other words, it says, “this is what our client needed, this is what we did and how, and this is what resulted from it.” Because of this—because you can go in-depth on how your offerings are beneficial and lead to actual positive results—when accomplished correctly, a case study can be a very valuable tool in your business-driving arsenal. For the biggest impact, make it sound as close to a story—a success story—as possible, with a beginning that covers the client and why they went to you, a middle that explains what you did and any challenges you faced, and a conclusion that lists out the results with a CTA to drive even more business.
6. Product Reviews
As long as they’re positive, showing off product reviews is one of the top content marketing best practices for 2019 because it establishes you as an authority figure with a product of value. To this end, you obviously have to have a good product/service that garners positive reviews, but if you find that your reviews are falling short, make sure to read what your users are saying, and then take steps to mitigate their concerns. For example, if a majority of your negative reviews concern a particular issue with your product, respond by explaining that you’re taking steps to resolve said issue, and then actually do it. In doing so, you’re not only letting your users know that you’re listening to their concerns, but also that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to deliver an outstanding product.
7. eBooks
Finally, the last of the business-driving digital content trends we’ll cover today is the eBook. While an eBook is basically a book in electronic format, for our purposes today, we’re going to classify them as long form content pieces packaged in a book form, i.e. content with a couple thousand words or more that in no way, shape or form needs to be as long as an actual book. With that in mind, eBooks do have to be longer than a typical post because they typically include content that’s more fleshed out and comprehensive than what can be covered in an article or blog post, making them an excellent medium for a brand to show off its prowess and expertise, which establishes their authority and drives more business.
Final Thoughts
Because of its nature, content is, by far, one of the most customizable mediums you can use to create awareness of your brand and drive business. As such, you definitely want to create an eCommerce content marketing strategy that will help you in your efforts. For example, consider the four stages of the customer journey:
- Awareness: A potential customer becomes aware of your brand and the products/services it offers.
- Interest: A potential customer becomes interested in your brand and considers giving it their business.
- Decision: A potential customer decides whether or not to become your customer.
- Action: A potential customer becomes your customer.
As is happens to be, content comes into play at all stages of this journey, and is especially important for the first two stages because that’s where you’re trying to present your brand as a viable option for your audience to turn to. With that knowledge, you definitely want to create content and tailor it for each stage.
