The year is turning and soon it will be 2017. In the world of content marketing, a year is a very long time and a lot can change in just 12 months. It used to be that the same content marketing methods were carried over from year to year with the same level of success. But as 2017 approaches, you need to adapt with the changing times and use the latest content marketing methods that are trending throughout the industry.
Plan More Than Ever
Content marketing planning used to consist of choosing the topic for an article or series of articles, and then writing the content. In 2017, your content needs to match the needs of your audience or it won’t get any traction. Before you set up a content writing campaign, you need to plan more than you ever have to get the right content.
You need to ask why you are developing this content and what value will it have for your readers. You should reach out to your audience and ask it what topics are important, and pay attention to what the competition is doing to create meaningful content.
Open Up Your Writing
Some people tend to get possessive about their content writing and insist that they can do it themselves. For some professionals, this may be true. But in 2017, readers are going to want to see a variety of points of view before they consider the point an article is making.
Open up your content writing to others such as people within your company and experts in your industry. Ask experts to create guest pieces for your company blog, and make your 2017 content a compilation of ideas from all areas of your company.
Increase Distribution
Most companies publish their content on their website or blog and then try to promote it through social media. While traffic hits to the website and blog are important, publishing your content to social media will get more eyes on it. If you develop your content correctly, your customers will want to click on the link to your website at the end of your piece every time.
Try other distribution methods such as press release distribution companies, RSS feeds, and ask to publish on other blogs. Expand your sphere of influence and use analytics to show you how much more exposure your content is getting.
Focus Your Content
Many content marketers believe that it is necessary to publish a new piece every day to maintain an audience. Some insist on publishing several pieces a day to maintain interest. But all you are really doing when you publish that much is over saturating the market and diluting the effectiveness of your content.
In 2017, your content marketing motto should be “quality and not quantity.” Well-written content that has a specific focus has a better chance of going viral than a series of pieces that all say the same things. Focus your content on strong messages and you can do more with less content.
Content marketing, as with all aspects of digital marketing, will be changing in 2017. If you want more people to see your content and react to it, then you are going to have to be ahead of the curve and use the latest trends gaining popularity in the content marketing world.