Weekly Content Marketing Trends July 5th, 2022

It's the first week of July; blink, and you'll miss it. As always, the committed team at Scripted has traveled the ends of the internet to gather the hottest topics in content marketing. We will take a closer look at the widespread phenomenon of influencer marketing and how it has become a preferred method among modern brands.

Social proof remains a priority in the modern digital society, and influencers have become an increasingly popular method for promoting the brand message. We also examine how brands shift their content strategy according to the buying stage. The critical phase of the buyer's journey involves quality content that introduces the key features and selling points of a product, often with a compelling hook.

Similarly, content creators should shape their content's goals based on their customer's level of understanding and awareness for optimal engagement. For instance, detailed whitepapers work particularly well for customers at the end of the buyers' journey who seek a little extra information on a brand and its products.

Read on to discover how you can integrate these trends into your content and make every campaign worthy of celebration, like the 4th of July.

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Influencer Marketing - The Shifting Landscape of Social Proof

The Winning Difference of Buyer Stage-focused Content Strategies

Value-based Content Marketing and its Lasting Impact

Influencer Marketing and the Persuasion of Social Proof

While influencer marketing isn't the newest kid on the block in the world of content marketing, it has recently seen a revival of sorts. Experts believe that influencer marketing will continue to grow steadily, reaching a market rate of around $15 billion by the end of the year. Modern customers and readers find themselves drawn to authentic content, typically presented through social proof, compared to regular brand creations.

Additionally, the widespread use of social platforms such as TikTok has made it easier for brands to connect with influencers for their campaign needs. Market experts believe that TikTok might hit 755 million active users in 2022, providing your brand with vast opportunities for extending your influencer marketing outreach.

You can effectively optimize content marketing campaigns by leveraging influencer-based campaigns such as:

Combining influencer and affiliate marketing through dedicated links and cookie-less coupon tracking. The method lets you track and monitor the ROI of your influencer marketing efforts, even across multi-touch and multichannel consumer experiences.

Collaborating with small-scale influencers rather than limiting your campaigns to accounts with millions of active followers. Nano and micro-influencers present a humble image that can help propagate a sense of authenticity that gains valuable traction.

Fostering a partnership. Establishing affiliate programs with influencers lays the foundation for a lasting relationship built on trust, where you can look forward to a consistent supply of top-performing content.

The Importance of Tailoring Your Content to Each Stage of the Buyer Journey

Content optimized to each stage of the buyer journey makes it more appealing to your target crowd. Many brands have prioritized the practice, keeping the content relevant and meaningful, ensuring every word counts.

The information tailored to a buyer stage can significantly improve engagement and conversion rates. If your content marketing seems to underperform despite following the latest SEO trends, you might need to identify your target buyer stage and work your content around it.

Typically, the buyer journey comprises three stages, commonly represented by tiers of a sales funnel. You can start with a customer or reader on the right foot by establishing trust and familiarity with your brand. Subsequently, as customers progress through the funnel, there's a need for specialized content that emphasizes the unique selling point of your offerings and eventually homing in on a call to action and conversion.

You can streamline and optimize your content for improved engagement and follow-up results through various measures such as:

Building reader/customer trust in early brand messaging across content marketing projects. One market study shows that 81% of customers value trust in a brand before making a purchase.

Planning your content with flexibility in mind. Effective buyer stage-specific content makes it easy for readers/customers to connect with your brand regardless of their position in the journey. These may include links for further reading in blog articles at the awareness stage and the strategic use of visuals that simplify complex product concepts in detailed whitepapers.

Maintaining purposeful content. It is crucial to stay on topic throughout the buyer journey. You can keep your audiences engaged by ensuring that all content includes a blend of empathy, engaging copy, and clearly defined goals (e.g., signing up for a newsletter).

Choosing Value-based Marketing Every Time

Successful marketing content always offers audiences some form of value. These may range from literal coupons, discounts, and promotional offers, to the intangibles such as knowledge and entertainment. And when it comes to content value, the latest marketing insights show that audiences have become pickier.

The modern digital age has made the content more accessible than ever, where individuals receive a constant flow of excessive information from their mobile devices through ads and social media sites.

Your brand can gain a competitive advantage with meaningful and exclusive content for improved engagement and conversion. Under wary eyes, you might consider shifting from product-centric processes to value-driven initiatives.

Well-informed audiences can effectively detect sales or hard-selling language, resulting in poor campaign responses. Instead, you may try focusing on more meaningful content that changes the underlying perception of your audience, gradually warming them up toward your brand offerings.

For instance, brands selling mother care products may offer value-added listicles on practical parenting hacks with subtle recommendations of in-house products. Similarly, an F&B company may focus on creating seasonal social media posts on dining etiquette and meal pairings.

Value-added content marketing strategies should put your audience's interest at the front of mind, catering to long-term benefits over a swift one-time purchase.

Relevant and Results-oriented Content with Scripted

Scripted is a top writers platform that provides your brand with the winning content you need to attract audiences at every stage of the buyer's journey. Start your 30-day trial with Scripted today to boost your content marketing without second-guesses.

Published by Ciara Antolini on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 in Content Marketing, Blogs, Content Strategy, Weekly Trends.