Anyone who does business online knows how important it is to stay on top of the latest trends if you want to keep one step ahead of your competitors. Platform changes, new social media sites, and many other factors will influence the direction your marketing efforts take in 2017. Content has become more important and more integrated over the past year than ever before, and if you want to take your company to the next level then you need to stay up to date. If you are wondering what the biggest trends are going to be in content marketing during the upcoming year, then read on so you can plan ahead for your business’s best year yet.

Influencer Marketing

Identifying the influencers in your industry and getting them to work with you can go a long way. This type of marketing focuses on using leaders in your industry to take your brand’s message to the next level by helping it to reach a larger market. The way this works is you market directly to influential individuals rather than directly to the consumers who make up your client base. You can directly hire them to spread the word about the products and services you offer, and if you are very smart or lucky you may even be able to inspire them to share your message free of charge.

Content Strategies

More than ever before, marketers will be relying on automation in order to connect with people and to raise awareness of their brand. During the upcoming year we will see brands move toward increased visualization and humanization. The smartest marketers will realize that there is no method that is more effective at creating the personalized touch that today’s consumers require than a happy customer who is eager to tell others about how your products and services have improved their lives, and as this trend continues you will need to focus your efforts on customer service because whether you can see it or not, people are talking about your company.

Sales Integration

Today’s consumers no longer need a salesperson to assist them the way they once did because the internet has made it so easy for them to get the information that would have been provided by sales in the past. Today the line between marketing and sales is not as distinct as it once was, so you will need to focus your content more on product reviews, recommendations, and on thought-leadership content than ever before. The goal here is to increase revenue, and the most successful way you can do this is for both departments to come together to develop solutions that will build your business.

Social Media

The days of growing your company’s social media following through likes and followers are coming to an end. Many of the biggest social media websites are beginning to remove timeline updates so that you will not be able to reach your target market unless you are willing to pay for the service. Chatbots, live streaming video, automation, are all changing the way you will need to use these websites, so if you are relying on them for much of your marketing then you are going to need to let go of the old way that you did things and embrace the changes that are coming ahead in the next year.

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