Table of Contents
Looking to 2024 content marketing, trends are seemingly advancing quickly in the areas such as Artificial Intelligence, videos, and storytelling. Here is a breakdown of the current list of top content trends and some best practices you can apply in your marketing efforts.
1. AI in Content Marketing: Intentional, Creative Use
AI tools are no more just toys – they are gradually becoming core to our content creation staking plans. Quite a number of the marketers who first experimented with AI in their marketing endeavors have now begun incorporating the technology in the optimization of their processes, automation of content recycling as well as infusing AI into increasing creativity.
For instance, the teams like Calendly use to organize the “AI Summits” series to discuss what can be achieved by using AI in practice to get more done and create higher-quality content. If it’s not possible to spend a week, spend at least a few hours per month reviewing tools, watch the expert’s recommendations and try how AI can improve your productivity.
How to prepare for this trend:
- AI needs to be used during specific, designated timeframes to search for systematic approaches and tools.
- Select three AI uses to be implemented in the content process.
- See results every three months to see the level of success.
2. Hyper-Personalization: AI’s New Power
AI helps to make hyper-personalization available to brands which can get messages to the right people effectively. Think of being able to send each subscriber in the list a different behavior triggered email or take a website visitor and give them a set of customized landing pages based on what they’ve done on the site.
As AI driven dynamic website tools become more affordable brands will then be in a position to lead consumers to the right content hence increasing consumer interest and in turn convert more people. For instance, if a visitor is interested in reading the articles about fitness, after they read an article, the system should lead them to the homepage with the similar content.
How to prepare for this trend:
- Identify target customers and create content that directs our appeal towards them.
- Triangulate the AI personalization by initial introducing it to one channel, such as, email or the landing page.
- Track the engagement rates so as to improve the strategy.
3. Quality-Driven AI Content (No Labels Needed—Yet)
There is still controversy about whether or not the content created with the help of AI should be called a forgery. Although now there is no pressure, we might witness that transparency will become obligatory in the future. For now, content managers should just ensure that they are producing high quality AI assisted content as search engines continue to focus on authority and experience.
An HTML editor should also closely scrutinize the output of the AI since aspects of brand voice and believability can easily be lost to the algorithm; this is significant given the emerging prospect of AI regulation in the future.
How to prepare for this trend:
- Determine whether or not people expect content to be described as AI.
- On the generation of content, use AI, but don’t remove a human editor altogether.
- There is the need to develop standards to help check the quality of work produced by the AI.
4. Social Media as a New Search Hub
The result shows that younger audiences are more inclined to find information through social media rather than through the traditional web search engine. General sites like TikTok or Instagram become discovery channels that people, especially Gen Z, lean to for raw and realistic information.
But for social content marketers, this simply means making social content searchable in the same way we make content searchable in traditional search engines. By 2024, social media like TikTok will incorporate additional keyword and search features targeting more growth for brands established through social media search.
How to prepare for this trend:
- Understand the most important thing about social media optimization.
- Develop a set of keywords which your target audience can easily relate to.
- Content creation, Creating interesting, informative content just as relevant searching algorithms find it.
5. Rising Demand for Video Content
The demand for the video format is increasing almost on all forms of platforms and channels. But there is an emerging approach to more vast and thorough videos along with the famous short clips that can be shot in TikTok or Instagram. Sites such as YouTube are experiencing growth in search for videos of extended duration time and even TikTok is expanding its offering of video length.
Businesspeople who use short and long videos conveying useful and relevant information can get exposure to more people. Formerly a platform primarily using text, LinkedIn is now promoting short educational videos as a different way for working professionals to interact.
How to prepare for this trend:
- Reuse text content, which is successful in conveying a specific message, in form of video.
- Do not stick to any particular length of the video because it may take time to discover what is most effective.
- Share videos across platforms and monitor how people interact with content to know which platform gets the best response.
6. Employee Ambassadors as Authentic Voices
Firstly, authenticity is coming in 2024, and the third point is that more and more brands are using employee ambassadors to share company stories. On a few too many levels, audiences can have a first name basis with employees and this is very common especially public figures whose accounts in social media especially in the LinkedIn account most of the time, the post from the personal account get more engagement than the corporate account.
When employees are allowed to share their experiences with a particular product, the information makes the company relatable. Few brands have personalities like Duolingo does, but most other companies could benefit more from amplifying real people over our brand icon.
How to prepare for this trend:
- Use a recognition program on employees that post brand content.
- Encourage employees to share from advocacy platforms where it is easy to post.
- This policy deals with using social media to ensure that the employees of the company are in harmony with the brand.
7. A Return to Content Marketing Basics
Amid all the shifts, some fundamental types of content marketing are returning back into the limelight. The overall importance of owned media, topic clusters, and original research is being brought back to focus because marketers are aiming higher with better quality higher value content that is not affected by a shift in an algorithm.
Owned Media: In light of newer issues of data privacy and search fluctuation, count on your email lists, communities, and other owned media to stay in your control and form a deeper bond with customers.
Topic Clusters: The “hub-and-spoke” is proving to be a popular model to use when revealing audiences to more intricate content. By connecting a central, high-level position to related but lower-tier works, business marketers are able to lead users to follow a series of content paths.
Original Research: While AI copies content from other sources and turns it into basic products, original research sets brands apart. Audiences get insights that have considerable value, while search engines perceive it as experts’ approval, and backlinks occur organically.
How to prepare for this trend:
- There’s nothing like a specific survey or a particular type of industry report.
- Group topics by subject matter to enhance search results relevancy among a search theme.
- Conversely, we feel that email and community must be central due to the fact that we do not want to be reliant on external systems.
Conclusion
As content marketing moves forward into 2024, its core will still be authentic, personalized and smart usage of artificial intelligence. Those who incorporate such trends from deliberate use of AI and highly-targeted content to employee advocates and video will have great chances to engage audiences and create closer connections. What is new with tools and platforms, old with basics of quality, relevance and trust are now more important than ever. When adopted strategically, the following trends will help your brand to adapt to the changing market and engage with its public.
Visit this blog to know how to run a content audit in 2024
