{"id":117157,"date":"2016-12-02T19:04:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-03T00:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/top-5-content-trends-2017\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:40:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T21:40:51","slug":"top-5-content-trends-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-ca\/insights\/blog\/strategy\/top-5-content-trends-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are the Top 5 Content Trends for 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

From data tools to digital asset management, content marketing<\/a> will see a huge tech boost in the coming year, and companies that embrace and leverage the right tools for their objectives are the ones that will thrive. Good work takes hard work, and good content in a highly saturated market takes continual research and innovation (over 88 percent<\/a> of B2B marketers use content marketing in their marketing strategies<\/a>). It also helps to be slightly ahead of the pack, even just a few steps.<\/p>\n

So without further ado, here\u00a0are the top five trends you’ll be seeing \u2013 content-wise \u2013 coming round the corner:<\/p>\n

1) Intelligent, predictive content<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"intelligent<\/p>\n

In 2017 we will see an increase in predictive content. Powered by AI and needing very little or no human intervention \u2013 predictive content adapts to the needs of the channel and viewer \u2013 increasing consistency and quality for a highly personalized experience<\/a>. How does this work exactly? Software\u00a0developed by companies such as Adobe<\/a>,\u00a0Marketo<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Seismic<\/a> crawl your site and automatically identify content assets, such as videos, e-books, case studies, and blog posts. Content can be tailored at each step of the buying process: top of the funnel being blog posts, email newsletters \u2013 think informative, engaging content that sparks interest \u2013 while bottom of the funnel focuses on driving conversions \u2013 things like case studies, live demos, promotions and calls to action.<\/p>\n

Predictive intelligence uses algorithms that provide\u00a0unique content recommendations based on observation of consumer behavior. Machine learning anticipates the intent of the individual and automatically delivers the most relevant content in front of each person who visits your site.\u00a0This means that the right customers receive the right information in the right format at the right time throughout the purchase journey.<\/p>\n

Like most things marketing, as certain software tools become more popular, tools to measure the performance of those tools also become more popular<\/a>. The market for predictive analytics software is set to grow to 9.2 billion by 2020<\/a>. Amongst many others, analytics tools such as EverString<\/a>, Infer<\/a> and Radius<\/a> enable better\u00a0understanding what site content performs the best across multiple metrics. Intelligent content helps bridge the gap between marketing and sales \u2013 which too often is\u00a0a one-way relationship where leads are passed to sales reps but data is not sent back in return. Instead, predictive content can keep track of high performing content through CRM databases. Companies will be able to go beyond automation<\/a> and gain deeper insights into prospect behavior and interests, going beyond continually-learning suggested content, to actionable intelligence about prospects.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) Digital asset management<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"digital<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Digital Asset Management; Source: WebDAM<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Previously the domain of publishing\u00a0companies, digital media management software tools are now increasingly being developed for marketing companies as content management systems. TechTarget defines digital asset management (DAM)<\/a>\u00a0as \u201ca business process for organizing, storing and retrieving rich media and managing digital rights and permissions.\u201d Rich media is multimedia content \u2013 photos, music, videos, animations and podcasts \u2013 and instead of searching for or modifying these assets, time can be saved by re-purposing them.<\/p>\n

From a content marketing perspective, marketers will be able to ensure brand consistency across all branded content with greater ease. Marketing materials can be created with templates and distributed to global offices, and re-purposed \u2013 even modifying based on a region\u2019s language and culture. Agencies can use DAM systems<\/a> to provide a professional experience, with a consistent look when clients access creative files. Teams are able to streamline the look, tone and customer experience by working with the same assets. There is also no need to manage onsite FTP servers, undergo lengthy installations, use third-party file sending vendors or worry about file security.<\/p>\n

In 2017 we will see more businesses looking to optimize current digital asset workflows and utilize DAM systems \u2013 from start-ups to large global corporations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3) Show me the data<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"office<\/p>\n

When people think \u201ccontent\u201d, they often think \u201ccreative writing!\u201d In reality, great content marketing is a mix of creativity and data \u2013 in order to improve the effectiveness of content marketing, actions need to be measured against business objectives. Data-driven content marketing has been on the rise over the last three years, and this will explode in 2017. The Age of Content Science<\/a> revealed that \u201cthose who develop and execute against a data-centric strategy achieve five times more content marketing-attributed revenue than those who do not.\u201d Instead of creating content based on intuition \u2013 a flawed premise \u2013 decisions around creation, amplification and measurement will be increasingly driven by numbers.<\/p>\n

As an example, here at DAC we use various data tools to inform decisions across each of the five areas of our content marketing process:<\/p>\n