Our take on the 2021 top content marketing trends
The countdown has commenced. 2021 is officially on its way. And much like the American presidency, the transition is feeling a little rocky. After all, 2020 was Pure Chaos, and we’re not out of the woods yet. So, who can predict what 2021 will bring?
The answer might be a little easier than it seems. Because when it comes to marketing, content has been, is, and will always be essential. And content marketing trends usually don’t come completely out of nowhere.
Based on what we’re seeing in the market, here are five trends we think you should pay attention to in 2021:
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All things Slack
With 55%(+) growth in 2020, Slack is here to stay. It’s where teams connect to collaborate on projects. It’s where friend groups now meet to chat throughout the day. It’s where industry professionals go to network. And it’s even where IT teams go to provide customer support.
Which makes 2021 a great time to ask yourself how Slack can help you meet your goals. Can you create a Slack group that provides value for your customers or internal teams? Should you get involved in existing groups to connect with customers, partners, or new talent? Do you already have a Slack group and, if so, what can you do to better align it with your customer or employee needs and your business goals? What kind of content and conversations should your Slack strategy include?
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Personalization
Personalization has been the holy grail of marketing for a long while—and that’s not changing anytime soon. In fact, tighter budgets and more uncertainty make true personalization even more important. Because when budgets are tight, why would you spend your ad dollars sending baby stroller ads to child-free couples or pushing car ads to customers who don’t drive?
Instead, 2021 is time to get serious about personalizing content—identifying the right customers and sending them the right messages at the right times.
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Video
Not-at-all-shockingly, since COVID-19 hit our collective consciousness like a Mac truck and people around the world were suddenly stuck at home almost all of the time, video popularity has skyrocketed. YouTube use is up. Netflix subscriptions are through the roof. Wistia reports a 120% jump in video engagement. And content marketers who can create low-budget videos on a tight turnaround are reaping the benefits.
In 2021, we expect video’s popularity to hold steady as much of the world will continue to spend more time than usual at home.
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Podcasts
Over 60 million US homes listen to podcasts. Avid podcast fans tend to be high-earners. And if you want to reach Millennials? Well, this growing audio format is where you’ll find them (48% of people who listen monthly are under 35).
It’s easy to predict that the popularity of podcasts—already growing exponentially year-over-year—is going to continue. And that their power as a marketing tool is only going to grow as well. Especially since it’s still a lower-competition space (as Entrepreneur points out: there are 80 million Facebook business pages but only 70,000 podcasts competing for customer attention).
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Online courses, webinars, & virtual events
Webinars, virtual events, and online courses produce some of the best results in the content marketing world, according to this year’s content marketing benchmark survey. And this trend is only going to continue in 2021. So if you haven’t already been thinking about educational content in these formats, now’s a good time to start.
And if you need help figuring out your content marketing strategy? You know who to call.
(Because if you don’t have one, you should—high performing companies are nearly three times as likely to have one than their low-performing peers.)
