Content is Still King for 2022

In January 1996, Bill Gates published an essay titled Content is King in which he wrote, “Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet, just as it was in broadcasting.” Twenty-six years later, and content is more relevant than ever.

Content still reigns supreme because it’s one of the more effective ways to communicate the essence of your brand while creating engagement with your audience. In 2021 alone, 43% of marketers experienced content marketing budget increases, and 66% expect to see it rise again in 2022.?But according to Gartner, 65% of senior marketing leaders feel overwhelmed by the need to create more content. This makes the need to increase content ROI even more critical.

With so many different types of content to choose from, how do you decide where to invest your marketing dollars? I believe that time and effort spent creating video and visual content will be extremely worthwhile.

Lean into video content.

If you aren’t already taking advantage of video, now is the time to lean into it. Video as part of a content marketing strategy is picking up major steam. According to the latest Wyzowl’s search, 78% of marketers say video marketing increases their ROI. Brands that publish regular video content are better able to establish brand reliability, loyalty, and engagement. In addition, videos allow your brand to increase the time visitors spend on your site, building further trust and signaling search engines to notice your site. In fact, data shows that you’re 53 times more likely to show up on Google if you have video embedded on your web site. Just remember that when you create video content you need to share it across diversified channels, including social media platforms and your website, to ensure broader reach and frequency of your key messages.

Make your content visual.

Visual imagery can go a long way in making text-centric content more memorable and digestible, particularly for younger audiences who have larger appetites for visual content. Think about a photo posted to Facebook or LinkedIn and you can get a better idea of how powerful images can be in delivering impactful messages without words.

Personal stories can also dial up the emotional empathy quotient of your visual content. One way to capitalize on this is by monitoring social media channels for great customer stories that your brand can bring to life through powerful visuals. In addition, think about repurposing some of your most popular written or audio content into visuals, like infographics, blogs, white papers, and checklists. This is an effective way to attract new eyeballs to your brand’s more evergreen content.

Don’t forget to ensure relevancy of your content to your audience.

Interestingly, 60% of buyers make purchasing decisions based solely on digital content. But how do you use content to attract ideal prospects to your organization and nurture them to become enduring customers? When you pair the right content strategy with a thoughtful demand generation program, you’ll be in a much better position to attract, engage and connect with high quality prospects.

At CFA Institute, we recently launched a global demand generation campaign called Spark with a major focus on the Gen Z audience. The idea is to educate students nearing the end of their college education (as well as early- to mid-career professionals) about the wealth of benefits they can unlock by taking the CFA Program. By using a combination of engaging written and visual content, we’re increasing demand and awareness for our program and creating a direct path to the next generation of financial leaders.

While the past year was filled with unexpected changes, the wealth of opportunities good content provides has been a constant. The trick is to go beyond just written words to explore other forms of content like video and visual to create stronger, more authentic connections with existing and potential customers. By leveraging different types of content marketing strategies, modern marketers will be in a prime position to make these connections even stronger.