By Colleen Ringer

Even after a few years filled with pivots and stops and starts, one thing hasn’t changed: Content remains critical to engaging key audiences. But what has changed is the way you need to approach that content within the larger sphere of your marketing plans. We breakdown the top five content marketing trends you shouldn’t ignore.

1. Taking a More Holistic Approach to Content

Content remains crucial to the customer journey. According to HubSpot, at least 47% of consumers view three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep, and most consumers expect brands to create content. But it’s no longer enough to publish a handful of articles and call it good — marketers today need to create a variety of types of content to connect with consumers in various stages of the funnel. Historically, web copy, blog content, email newsletters and social media posts have been produced in silos, but the way forward is a content strategy that includes and plans for all content types.

2. Investing in the Right Social Media Channels

It’s tempting to try to maintain a brand presence in every corner of the internet, but if your target audience isn’t on TikTok, it’s a waste of resources to create content for that platform. Savvy marketers are ignoring the social media FOMO and instead focusing on what works, even if that means only being active on a handful of channels.

Three to five platforms is realistic for most because it allows organizations of all sizes to expand their reach to different audiences while also giving social media marketers a manageable list of platforms to master without stretching their bandwidth too far. Time spent creating quality social content that’s tailored to your target customer on just one platform will go much further than half-baked social content that’s spread out across multiple channels.

3. Creating Content-Driven Digital Campaigns

An ad alone won’t turn a prospect into a customer, so marketers are leaning into ad campaigns that are supported and enhanced by content. Instead of driving users to a bare bones landing page aimed solely at a single conversion type, today’s best digital campaigns help consumers dive deeper and connect with the brand in a more meaningful way. Whether that’s through simple FAQs, rich storytelling or case studies, the most effective digital campaigns are the ones that are supported by content.

4. Shifting Away from Disappearing Social Content

Temporary content — which is typically live for 24-hours before disappearing — is a marketing industry trend that isn’t going anywhere any time soon. However, brands are seeing that permanent social media posts, videos and live events that live on a platform’s feed and can be viewed again and again are a more effective option.

Recent HubSpot survey results show that 44% of global marketers are planning to up their investment in permanent social media content, while 8% say it produces more ROI than other marketing strategies they use. Meanwhile, 25% of respondents called temporary content the “least effective” marketing trend they invested in, and 37% of marketers said they plan to decrease their investment in temporary content.

5. Repackaging and Repurposing Older Content

For brands that have been creating content for years, now’s the time to take an inventory of what’s worked in the past and breathe new life into it. Whether that’s by optimizing content with current SEO best practices, refreshing it with new imagery or slicing and dicing longer pieces into shorter ones, repurposing existing pieces can be an efficient and cost-effective way to ensure your site’s content doesn’t grow stale. It also provides an opportunity to identify any gaps in your current content and build those into your editorial calendar.