HubSpot historical optimization marketing manager Basha Coleman said “As we enter an era where competitive content is appearing each minute, content teams will find it worthwhile to extract more value out of every minute spent on content development.”
This goes to buttress that B2B Content marketing isn’t static. The landscape of the practice is continuously changing.
It doesn’t look the same now as it did five years ago, and in five years, it’s a promise, it won’t look the same as it does now.
Content marketing has continued to take the center place in answering your audience’s questions and helping you build trust, develop relationships, improve conversions, and generate leads.
In today’s age, customers expect high-quality, consistent content from their favorite brands.
We’re all witnesses to how content marketing has continued to evolve over the past decades, and how it’s going to continue to witness a quantum leap in 2022 according to expert predictions.
Changes In B2B Content Marketing
11 years ago, that would in 2011; Google conducted its landmark Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) study. The study showed that 88% of shoppers use what’s known as a Zero Moment of Truth a discovery and awareness stage in a buying cycle where a consumer researches a product before buying it.
Google’s research also indicated that word of mouth was a definitive factor in swaying that moment.
It was suggested evidence that companies’ stories were being told online by others — well beyond the control of their marketing departments, and it was in their best interest to help shape those conversations and steer them towards an angle that favors their brand.
The ZMOT study spotlighted the need for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Ranking for relevant focus words on search engines became all but essential to boost a company’s online presence and hold up during consumers’ Zero Moments of Truth.
But that study wasn’t the only shock Google dropped in the early 2010s. Around the time the study came out, Google’s search ranking algorithm changed to discourage “keyword stuffing” the practice of overburdening a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results.
The change represented what is still a continuous effort by Google to provide users with positive, helpful online experiences. And it did just that.
The shift set the stage for businesses to focus on producing more high-quality, meaningful content.
B2B Content Marketing Trends to Focus on
#1. Align Content To Search Intent
Aligning content to search intent should be at the core of every content marketing initiative as only this has the potential to boost brand awareness and make your brand relevant to your audience.
Marketers should not only focus on keyword searches but also should identify the intention behind the search so as to drive conversions.
Once you have identified the intent, you can craft content that suits the search intentions. In doing this, you can specifically address the needs of your audience and open opportunities for engagement.
As search engines become more intelligent, content relevance and quality will be the ultimate determiner that will generate traffic to your site.
#2. The Web Is A Visual Landscape
One significant trend that continues to experience robust growth is visual search, and brands are catching up through visual content optimization.
When it comes to finding the right product, more than 74% of online shoppers think that traditional text-based content is ineffective.
Your brand can benefit from the increasing visual content trend by using structured data in your images. Provide specific information about the image so that your site will appear in rich fragments on the search engine.
Using descriptive filenames and choosing the optimal image size and file type will also boost conversions.
#3. Continued Prevalence Of Voice Content Search
Current statistics show that 41% of adults search for voice content at least once per day. As voice content continues to improve, optimizing for this type of content becomes a necessity. To increase inbound traffic to your website, voice SEO is a must.
With Google speech recognition now supporting more than 100 languages, the number of consumers using voice technology for general search queries will continue to rise, therefore, marketers also need to optimize their voice content strategy by fine-tuning SEO strategies.
#4. Better Content Experience
Valuable content is vital for not only organic growth but also for connecting with your customers. If what you created makes a reader shed a tear or laugh, they’ll remember you.
Valuable content is above slapping your logo on a quote. It’s about making your customers feel something.
In 2022, Customers are looking for businesses and brands to create more than what they’re known for. They want to be astonished by something they read or watched.
When they do, they’ll share it with friends and family. That is called organic sharing.
#5. Move Toward More Empathetic Content Marketing
If you want to create content marketing that really resonates with people, you need to know what they need and want. This requires you to practice empathy.
Marketers must first conceptualize the world through their customers’ eyes, and then use their findings to create an appropriate content strategy that meets their needs.
Speak to your target audience as humans and not just potential buyers. It helps you place the customer at the centre of your marketing.
B2B Content Marketing Strategy
#1. Understand your audience
Analyzing and getting to know your target audiences will allow you to produce content that has a much greater chance of truly resonating with said audiences.
No wonder more than 30% of marketers intend to invest in getting to know audiences better in 2022.
#2. Experiment with different content types
Not everyone will read your snappy social media posts, watch your YouTube videos, or read your long-winded blog article.
That’s why it is important to experiment with different content types to ultimately define which types of content marketing promote your business effectively.
#3. Leverage meaningful employee advocacy
Employees can help the marketing and communications department increase brand awareness, drive traffic to the website, and also build trust.
At the same time, employee advocates grow their own professional networks and develop their personal brands.
#4. Work with gated content assets
If your campaign’s goal is to generate leads, then create high-value content and gate it. In other words, In other words, a user must provide personal information in order to access the content typically an email address, phone number, or answer to a low-friction question.
#5. Define your content marketing goals
It must have specific and smart goals that will guide content in a way that it can truly connect with current and potential customers.
B2B Content Creation
It depends on the type of business you have, and the customers you want to reach.
Some will react better to blog posts, while others would prefer to watch their content.
Conclusion
Over the decades, content marketing has gone through quite an evolution. It has taken many forms through various mediums, however, its main components’ clear objectives, a great understanding of the target audience, and a strong promotional strategy are and have always remained unchanged.
Content marketing ultimately aims to differentiate your brand and build long-lasting impressions in your marketplace by adding value at numerous stages in the buyer’s journey.
In content marketing, every transition stage must be factored in to remain relevant.
Here we identify trends that will have a significant effect on content marketing.
As advancements in technology continue to gravitate the web to new marketing frontiers, marketers should prepare early so as not to be left out in embracing another major shift.
