The rise of ‘content marketing’ is well documented and for all sorts of reasonably obvious reasons: sometimes driven by a desire for greater ‘engagement’, sometimes as a form of linkbuilding for SEO, sometimes to save customer service costs, sometimes just to drive traffic, sometimes as part of a move away from ‘bought media’ to ‘earned (or owned) media’, sometimes because of a more fundamental change in business model (see ‘pubtailing’ in point 4 above).
Many have also realised that it’s difficult to fuel the flames of “social media”, or “engagement”, without content in the broadest sense – including apps, video etc. And, of course, it’s not just about content *creation* but content *curation*.
I predict a rise in “online customer publishing” (most people call it ‘contract publishing’… except those who work in that industry), and a rise in content licensing and syndication, and a rise in the “internationalisation” of content (including translation), and a rise in internal online publishing or content/asset management teams (even at banks, retailers, travel companies etc.), and a big demand for lowish-cost short-form video content for online use.
Specifically, I think the kind of content most in demand will be a) ‘smart’ in as much as it can be re-used and repackaged in as many ways as possible (think metadata, formats etc.) to extract the greatest value from it and b) ‘evergreen’ in as much as it won’t be short-lasting ‘advertising campaign’ type content but content with a longer shelf life e.g. guides, practical information, tools etc. (also good for linkbuilding and thereby SEO).
This should be good news for those journalists and TV folk who may be looking for work, having seen their former employers’ business models failing. And it is better news for publishers and content owners generally, as well as related providers like translation services.
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7014-digital-marketing-trends-2011-by-econsultancy-ceo-ashley-friedlein
