The year is 2050, and content is still king….
Just kidding! The year is, of course, 2022 - the year in which we predicted that content would remain king. And jokes aside, we’re fine letting the opening line of this post serve as an even loftier prediction: that when it’s actually really 2050, we’re still going to be talking about content.
Do we know what forms of content will be most popular in 28 years? We don’t. But we truly believe that the importance of content will remain as strong as ever in 2022, 2050, and even beyond.
The Staying Power of Content
It always appears as though the importance of content is going to fade; as if something else is going to emerge and offer brands and companies some new lifeblood for their marketing efforts. But the truth remains that everything marketers do to attract and retain customers is built around content. Each new and shiny tactic that garners traction ends up being another form of content (ex. short video content platforms).
The demand for content - particularly digestible content - continues to grow. For a society that’s becoming increasingly digitized by the prolonged pandemic and the rise of concepts like Web3 and the metaverse, our collective desire to consume content remains unsatiated.
In short, content’s staying power lies in our constant demand for its many forms.
A Content Caveat: It Must Be Good
The thing about content being the king of the marketing castle is that there is a lot of content out there in the world. This means there’s a whole bunch of content that goes unnoticed or gets ignored.
Unfortunately, a small percentage of content that doesn’t get much readership is actually good or great content. However, the vast majority of blogs, videos, and social posts that get spurned are low-effort and poor quality and thus absolutely deserve to be swept under the digital rug.
So what’s the key to “good” content? The stuff that’s going to help you find and engage with potential customers? Google recently released information about an August 2022 update to its algorithm centered around helpful content - this is a great and timely place to start. Beyond that, what engages one brand’s audience will differ from other brands.
At the end of the day, understanding your audience and your customers will usually provide all the answers you need to create great content for them.
How To Find Content’s Next Big Thing?
Like many things in the digital world, being “early” can pay large dividends. Noticing a trend and diving in to learn more about it so you can explain and teach it to others is great for highlighting your authority on a subject and can also lead directly to revenue.
The same can be true of latching onto a new content trend or platform before the Internet is saturated by it. The metaverse and Web3 are two such recent opportunities—but how can you spot the next one?
The truth is it takes a little bit of both risk and faith to be “early” on anything. When you discover something not many people are doing, you look around and think, “This seems awesome, but only a few people are doing it. Am I crazy or a genius?”
If you’re feeling a little uncomfortable and out of your element with a new content format or platform, you likely have a potential opportunity on your hands. The only way to truly answer the crazy/genius question is to keep going!
Keep Your Content Engine Running
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’ve been a part of content marketing in some capacity (writing it or strategizing about it), and you’re certainly a consumer of content.
Our advice is this: keep going. Push the limits of what you’re doing by finding new content formats to create and new platforms to share that content and engage with other content creators and brands.
The more content you create, the better you become at knowing what’s going to engage and attract your audience. And maybe, in the end, it’ll lead you to that “ah ha” moment where you become aware you’ve stumbled onto something exceptional before the rest of the internet.
Good luck, content connoisseurs!
