How I See Content Changing In 2017

In 2017, content marketing is going to be even more challenging than it is today. Rand Fishkin

I have been working in digital marketing for nine years, and been a freelance copywriter for four. In that time content marketing has changed immensely. It's become a huge part of digital marketing strategies, but it's also been exploited, overdone and over exhausted.

With an infinite amount of content on the web, and the volume of content being produced every day ever increasing, now, more than ever, brands need to really put some real thought behind their content.

The market is just too saturated. So constantly churning out content, just writing content purely for SEO purposes, and posting uninspiring copy simply won't cut it anymore. Not that it ever really did.

To be honest, I'm getting tired of the need to produce viral, shareworthy social content. Why? I'm a writer, I love creating fresh, unique and opinion-forming content. I really loath writing content without any soul. You know the kind of content I mean. The endless pointless lists and cleverly titled, but terribly written click-bait type content.

So, with all this in mind, will we continue to see marketers attempting to create viral content that just gets lost in a sea of painfully basic and bland articles? I bet like me, you are wondering how the content arena might change this year.

Will brands like Buzzfeed and Huffington Post continue to steal all our traffic? Or will content consumers start to look for something more? The sad reality is that this type of content will never really die out. There will always be people ready to click on newsworthy, enlightening and attention-grabbing articles.

It's human nature to need easily digestible lists and content that makes us feel intrigued about something. Heck, I even click on these articles every now and then, only to be mostly bitterly disappointed and annoyed with myself for doing so.

My question to the brands that are churning out these viral articles, do you actually get anything other than traffic from your content? How long exactly do people spend reading your articles? Less than ten seconds I expect. I propose 2017 will be about the articles that might only attract a third of the traffic, but contain content that genuinely inspires, changes opinions and most importantly converts.

Brands will start to realise distribution is equally critical. They will use really smart, thoughtful distribution and not just use a blasting content everywhere approach. Amanda Todorovich, Content Marketing Director, Cleveland Clinic.

I'm not saying stop trying to produce shareworthy and likeworthy content. It's probably better to spend more time planning and producing a couple of articles you hope to be exceptionally popular, than to create an endless conveyor belt of these articles.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Each month, aim for one stand-out article, and for the rest of your content, concentrate on creating copy that people will get a lot of value out of.

I'm talking about the kind of articles that people read from start to finish, rather than reading the title and skimming for the key points. It's this content that will build trust in your brand and help you to define a distinctive brand personality.

To effectively communicate in 2017, showcasing your brand personality will be a requirement. In fact, Facebook has changed its algorithm to reward brand communications that convey personality.  Juntae DeLane, founder, Digital Branding Institute

I think brands will be after more blogger style content. They will work with visionary content experts who see where the future of content marketing is going, and bloggers with a voice to create content that encourages people to come back for more.

Brand blogs will become more like magazines and lifestyle blogs and move away from company news and product pushing. Content managers will outsource their content more to authoritative voices, people who can give their content some backbone and authenticity.

Brands’ acquisitions of media sites, blogger sites, and other influencer sites will expand from “here-and-there” isolated occurrences to a full-blown trend “on steroids. Joe Pulizzi, Founder, Content Marketing Institute

It's clear how much power this generation of bloggers has, and people want to hear from them. They want to know what products they are using and their take on the world. Why, because people feel like they know bloggers, and they trust them more than they trust brands selling stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming brands won't have a voice, they just need to be even more careful about how they reach out to their audience. They need to learn from what bloggers are doing right and old-school marketers are doing wrong.

Content prior to 2017 has been about targeting the masses, and delivering big numbers. I predict 2017 and beyond will be about creating more personal content aimed at extremely specific groups of people and well-defined audiences. Picture a 'micro-audience' kind of era. An era where people only follow content that sees them as an individual, rather than someone who is just a part of a huge following. Now is the time for uber-niche audiences.

I'm also pretty sure that storytelling will be at the forefront of marketer's minds this year. To be fair it always has been, it's just we haven't really realised its value and place within the online world across different platforms until now. Fellow content expert Iain Beable agrees that storytelling will be huge this year.

I think there will probably be an increase in short form video, especially storytelling based content. It works really well across Facebook and connects better with audiences. Iain Beable

Last year, according to a report by Beckon, enterprise content creation increased by 300%, yet less than 5% of that content had ten or more shares. Based on what I have discussed above, this is hardly surprising. And I bet this is exactly the kind of stats marketing directors will be trying to avoid seeing at the end of the year. It's not an attractive success rate.

To combat this, brands will need to focus on how people can benefit from each piece of content, and not let content with no real purpose slip through the cracks. Your content needs to do something. It needs to solve a problem, tap into people's emotions or create an opportunity for the reader. People are getting tired of reading lackluster content and are searching harder to find articles that provide real, genuine value or insight.

Don't just focus on the broad topics that attract the masses. If you want people to take your brand seriously, you need to appear to be an expert. That means drilling down into topics and writing super niche articles on topics that people want to learn about. Capitalise on your expertise, your USP and your brand voice. Expect a narrowing of focus in 2017, instead of marketers trying to cover every possible topic that their audience might be interested in, no matter how broad.

Our time for content for the sake of content will be extra diminished, everything has to be useful, to the point and interactive. David Lane, GES

We live in a ridiculously fast-paced world, so the chances are in most instances, people are far too busy and distracted to care about your content. It's going to become much harder to create content that gains any traction. So, a huge amount of research, combined with thinking outside the box is essential for today's marketers. What can you do that's different to everything else that's out there?

These days, it's difficult to come up with genuinely fresh ideas and topics. You can't keep trying to merely scratch the surface of topics that have been exhausted. That's where the truly creative minds come in handy, and these are the sort of people brands and agencies should aim to get on board this year. People who can take a concept and turn it on its head.

I may be biased, but I think I'm one of those people. So if you are looking for fresh content ideas, do get in touch. I have a whole pack of 'Content Wolves' who are hungry for a new challenge. Visit our site at www.thecontentwolves.com, or my personal lifestyle and travel blog at www.thecontentwolf.com. I hope you enjoyed this article and found it useful, or at least thought provoking.