In my association with my marketing connections on the www, I meet a lot of folks who want to be marketing ninjas. And yes, in a few months! The good part is that it isn’t that difficult nowadays at all. Social media marketing has finally taken a turn for the better. It is here, being deployed more effectively and thoughtfully. There have been some great, user-friendly tools (e.g., Snip.it and Percolate) for authors and editors to use to curate great content – this makes our job easier and hello, BuzzFeed. The explosive growth of consumer demand for smartphones and tablets has not yet caught up with marketing dollars making this bet on the future. What will be the tipping point? Integration (particularly e-commerce) at every turn with every platform is dizzying….
This we have heard, read, and digested. All good to be mindful of, but the following are five content marketing trends that speak about the continual drive toward developing quality content on the independent web – our currency for successful content marketing.
You’ve heard that authors are becoming publishers and publishers are becoming brands. What does that really mean? Let’s focus on trends that explore the grey matter between the two:
Authors are forming strategic partnerships with each other. Bloggers are partnering with one another creatively more and more. With my editorial background, I must say this really excites me. Bloggers tend to be lone rangers – building their voice, audience, and sites on their own. They join networks to help them grow their business, to take care of generating revenue, and to partner with brands in an authentic way. Sites like Go Mighty, IFB, or Chictopia are now seeing the power behind joining together around an idea, a common passion – creating yet another brand. Many voices are coming together to form one.
Brands are becoming thought leaders (really). Companies like American Express and GE have been at this content marketing game for quite some time now; five-plus years. They’ve been able to grow content development practices in-house and become thought leaders in topics that are of critical interest to their customers. They’ve managed to capture their customers’ attention in an organic way, through patience and perseverance. Their organizations are becoming smarter about how to use content
