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My iPhone told me the other day that my screen time has increased by 35% in the past week.
I’m probably not the only one spending more time on my phone and consuming more content.
In fact, since the pandemic, content consumption has risen by 30%, and I suspect it may be actually higher than that.
With all the increased time spent on our phones and computers, there’s a greater opportunity for brands and companies to produce more high-quality content this year.
There’s never enough great content, am I right? What should be a part of your content strategy this year?
In this article, I’m going to cover the top content marketing trends of 2023, including the rise of AI tools, so you can create your best content and get discovered by your target audience.
Tell us your 2023 marketing goals and we’ll help you reach them.
1. Video marketing is still on the rise
Producing more video content should be a major part of your strategy using content marketing trends in 2023.
While the online blog space may seem oversaturated with too many redundant articles, it seems like there’s never enough good video content out there.
90% of those surveyed in 2021 said they wanted to see more videos from brands.
So give the people what they want—more videos.
Short-form videos (Facebook Stories, Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts)
The clear winner of content marketing trends of 2023 is the rise of short-form videos, such as Facebook Stories, Instagram Reels, TikTok videos, and YouTube Shorts.
What this shows us is that you don’t need to invest thousands of dollars into producing a 3-5 minute video.
Rather, a 30-second clip on your preferred social media platforms can be more effective. Even better, a series of short clips are quick to create and get great exposure.
Short videos are perfect for highlighting products or services, creating viral content, or giving extremely short, but helpful, tutorials.
2. Writing for humans, not robots
Search engine optimization (SEO) specialists have been playing the ever-changing SEO game, making sure to follow Google’s guidelines and make sure their content reaches the first page of search results.
The problem? Usually, this content is junk stuffed with too many keywords, written for bots to discover it, not humans.
If you’ve ever read an online recipe, you’ll know exactly what I mean — you have to read countless pointless paragraphs in order to get to the recipe.
While it’s true the first person to read your blog posts is actually a Google robot, you need to write for a human audience first, then optimize for crawling bots.
Your content marketing efforts are worthless if you’re not actually reaching your potential customers. That’s who your content should be written for.
As Google has always said, just write content for humans.
The search algorithm is constantly evolving, and writing for bots first will end up hurting your SEO results in the long run.
3. Using AI tools and ChatGPT for content marketing assistance
AI-generated content and platforms are now everywhere. Think of ChatGPT.
AI writing tools have their place—creating writer’s guides, proofreading, performing keyword research, and SEO optimization are all greatly enhanced by new AI tools.
But if you expect to press a button and have a bot create a high-quality 1,000-word article, think again.
Trust me, I’ve already tried, but it doesn’t work like that. You still need to be a good writer to have ChatGPT help you write good articles.
Content marketing strategies and tools can only go so far without a human element behind them, however, ChatGPT is an excellent tool for having a real-time conversation about content marketing strategies, social media posts, or blog post ideas.
Also, keep in mind ChatGPT’s training cutoff of September 2021, so if you’re writing about current topics, Microsoft’s new AI-powered Bing or Google Bard can help you search the web in real-time, whereas ChatGPT cannot.
4. AI chatbots
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the future—it’s here in 2023 in full force.
AI tools like chatbots have started to “talk” directly to your consumers using Natural Language Processing (NLP), offering personalized responses in real time.
Consider adding an AI chatbot to a prominent section of your website, such as the “Help” or “Support” page to offer a seamless user experience.
For example, a law firm could use a chatbot to pre-qualify clients by understanding their legal needs or a mortgage website could predict loan approval odds based on the user’s input.
5. Enhanced data analytics and insights for content optimization
Online, everything is trackable, and every bit of engagement tells you a story about your audience.
Using enhanced analytics tools, like Google Analytics and SEMrush, can offer deep dives into user behavior, allowing content creators to analyze what their readers love (or skip over), so they can craft content that fits their audience perfectly and get more engagement.
Consider a senior living website that publishes blogs on senior health. By analyzing which blog posts generate the most clicks and leads, content creators can double down in writing about the topics that are sure to bring in the most new residents to their communities.
6. Importance of E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness)
E-A-T or E-E-A-T is the backbone of content credibility in 2023. It’s like seeing the diploma and certificates hanging on your doctor’s wall.
For your content to rank and get clicks, it must come from a place of expertise, establish authority in the domain, and exude trustworthiness, while providing a great user experience.
Brands and companies need to highlight their credentials, share evidence-backed information, and maintain a consistent voice to uphold E-E-A-T principles.
For example, a law firm’s website could publish case studies that highlight previous successes and expertise in their legal field, or a senior living community could get a healthcare professional to guest blog on their website or host a free webinar.
7. More types of visual content for improved comprehension
With our shrinking attention spans, offering your readers more visual options (such as infographics, GIFs, or videos) can offer the reader a breather and reinforce your written content.
It’s like attending a lecture with an engaging PowerPoint that has pictures and videos that make the content more engaging and improve the reader’s comprehension and retention.
Consider a mortgage website that uses visual tools, like mortgage rate calculators, to help buyers understand their finance scenarios. Or an assisted living website that offers a virtual 3D tour of their community.
8. More interactive content, animations, and tools
Offer more interactive content to give your readers something to read and fidget with to create more engagement.
Consider creating an interactive tool to put on your websites, such as calculators, lead paths, surveys, or interactive infographics, and offer your readers something your competitors don’t have on their websites—a fun, intuitive experience.
9. AI tools for intelligent content marketing automation
AI doesn’t just help you write and brainstorm content ideas—it can also publish, distribute, analyze, and schedule it automatically.
Content management tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite can help you analyze your audience’s engagement patterns to tell you the best times to post.
Likewise, Sprout Social and Socialbakers (now Emplifi) use AI-driven analytics that can help you refine your content strategy.
Or consider Grammarly, an AI tool that spellchecks and uses AI to offer tone and style recommendations.
Similarly, there are AI tools that mortgage lenders use that automate preliminary checks for loan applications.
10. Consistency, consumption, and value
The highest-ranking websites in a Google search are publishing new content constantly.
More important than posting regularly is posting high-quality content.
What’s high-quality content?
Content that provides valuable insights, actionable advice, or entertainment, such as well-researched articles, in-depth guides, videos, infographics, and more. The content should be accurate, up-to-date, and well-presented.
Consistency is the key—whether it’s weekly, biweekly, or making daily updates, such as uploading new blogs, posting to social media, or sending out emails or newsletters.
For example, a mortgage lender would send out a regular mortgage newsletter about updates in the mortgage world, or a law firm website could host free webinars discussing common legal problems.
11. Rise of voice search and optimizing for it
“Hey Siri, what are today’s mortgage interest rates?”
As voice-activated assistants grow in popularity, such as Google Assistant, Amazon Echo, and Apple’s Siri, optimizing content for voice search will become more important.
It means focusing on natural language, question-based queries, and quick-loading pages to ensure that Siri or Alexa finds your page when answering a user.
For example, write a blog post called “The Best Local Personal Injury Lawyers” so Alexa is quick to find your page’s information when this is asked.
12. Mobile-friendly content and websites
I know I’ve said this a million times, but half of all internet traffic in the world is done on mobile phones.
Over half—56%.
And yet, there are still countless websites out there that aren’t mobile-responsive.
A mobile-friendly website is essential in 2023 to:
- Reduce bounce rate
- Improve SEO
- Lead to more user-friendly interactions
- Generate better leads
13. Having a perfect balance of AI tools and the human touch for improved user experiences
“Can’t I just talk to a real human?!”
Don’t be tempted to let AI-driven chatbots and tools run your whole content marketing strategy, or you’re alienating your audience who prefers a human touch.
Yes, using a chatbot to answer simple questions is fine, but, if you’re running an assisted living website and a person asks about specific care levels, they would appreciate a real person reaching out to them directly.
14. Running content audits
Instead of producing a ton of new content this year, why not revise, re-write, and expand your current collection as part of our overall content marketing strategy?
The work has already been done for you.
All you need to do is find your top-performing blogs, update and rewrite them to make them relevant, and watch them perform even greater this year.
Should you stop producing new content this year? No, but make sure updating old content is on your list of to-dos.
15. Guest blogging B2B content marketing
Guest blogging is a current content marketing trend that lets the guest writer tap into an existing blog’s audience, and in return generate referral traffic to the writer’s main website.
And it works wonders too. It’s a win-win—the guest writer gets increased visibility, while the blog gets more content that will improve its traffic.
16. Growing emphasis on community-driven content (looking for content ideas from Facebook)
Every senior living community should have an active Facebook group or page.
This is a place for family members to share stories of their loved ones’ experiences or ask others for advice.
These real-world posts, such as people asking “How do I ease my dad’s transition into assisted living?” can be the basis for upcoming blog topics that will resonate with your primary audience, because it was generated by your primary audience.
17. User-generated content integration (video testimonials)
Imagine instead of a law firm’s website always blogging about its successes or what to do in legal scenarios, they started posting video testimonials of satisfied clients who’ve won challenging cases.
This is user-generated content and it’s more powerful than any ad because potential clients see real people, sharing their actual experiences.
It’s like having a past client in the room, vouching for the law firm’s capabilities.
18. Zero-click searches
Ever Google a question, and see a featured snippet at the top of the search results? That’s a zero-click search. What’s the point, exactly? Don’t you want people to go to your website, instead of not clicking?
Yes, of course, but the idea is a zero-click search is a way to hack the system to get featured on the top page of Google in no time.
Sure, some people won’t click on your website, but many still will and the increased exposure and visibility will make it worth it as another SEO marketing tactic.
19. Bigger content budgets to meet demand
The pandemic increased at-home media consumption. Americans now watch more videos, read more blogs, and spend more time online than before.
Unsurprisingly, content marketers have increased their budgets in 2023 to create content quicker, both written and visual, to satisfy the demand.
20. Infographics
Infographics are more shareable than blog posts. Take your best blog posts, condense them, and turn them into aesthetically pleasing infographics.
Then add these infographics to your blog posts to watch them perform even more.
Successfully use top content marketing trends with Kaleidico
As a content creation agency, we’re staying on top of the latest content marketing trends to produce content that your target audience is searching for right now.
Kaleidico is a lead generation agency specializing in content marketing for lawyers, law firms, mortgage professionals, and fintech companies.
Our team of writers and editors will craft compelling and high-quality content that will improve your website’s SEO and generate serious leads for your company.
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Photo by TheRegisti on Unsplash
