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Content Marketing Trends in 2017

Content Marketing Trends

Content marketing is hundreds of years old, and it would be an understatement to say that it’s grown and changed somewhat over the past few centuries. As a content marketer, it’s your job to keep up with new trends, and to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going to happen next.
With 2017 more than halfway over, here’s a quick look at some of the biggest content marketing trends this year.

The Rise of Live Streaming

By now, you probably know that video killed the radio star, as well as the blogging star and some other text-based formats. The amount of online video is expected to grow threefold between now and 2021, according to Cisco.
But there’s another form of video that’s pushing its way up the ranks. That’s live video, which Cisco predicts will grow 15-fold between now and 2021. Live video lets you connect with an audience in real time, giving your content a sense of urgency. Pretty much every social media platform now offers some form of live video, from Facebook Live to YouTube Live and from Periscope on Twitter to live stories on Instagram.

Content Gets More Interactive

You know that successful content creates engagement with an audience. What’s one way to increase the likelihood of actually engaging with people? Create content that demands interaction. Interactive content includes “choose your own adventure”-style videos, quizzes, calculators, clickable pictures, and more.
In general, when it comes to content, quick and visual win the race. The 2017 State of the Creator Economy (SOCE) study found that social media platforms with quick and visual content have the highest levels of engagement. In addition, quick and visual content types, such as infographics and photos, are among the top types used by marketers.

More Ads (on Social)

If there’s one content marketing trend marketers aren’t super jazzed about, it’s the decline of organic reach on social media platforms, and the rise of paid ads on those platforms. The decline in organic reach on platforms such as Facebook has been well documented. The perceived decline has been bad enough that some big-time influencers, such as PewDiePie, have actually threatened to quit because of it. (Newsflash: He didn’t.)
Since brands aren’t able to reach their fans on social media with simple updates and posts as effectively as they were before, many are considering used the paid ad feature on those sites to reach existing fans, and to target (potential) new ones.

Email Is (Still) a Thing

People love to complain about email, and yet people still love their email. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2017 B2B Content Marketing report, email is the most important channel for content distribution for email marketers. The report found that 93 percent of B2B marketers use email for content distribution. Email newsletters were ranked as the third most used content marketing tactic, behind blogs and social media.
So love it or hate it, don’t ignore email in 2017. It could be what you need to reach a new audience, or to reconnect with an old one.

Print Is Back (What??)

Google the “death of print” and you’ll get more than 60 million results. Some of those results are recounting the internet’s supposed victory over print, some are pointing out the struggles print has faced, and some are quick to point out that print is far from dead.
Well, welcome to 2017, when print is back (sort of). Several new print magazines were announced or launched this year, including a magazine from AirBnB, one from the fashion brand VFiles, and one from an online high school, School of Doodle.
Print’s not dead, argues the American Marketing Association. The introduction of new print mags from digital brands shows that at least some agree with that statement.

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