The rising influence of online space during the COVID-19 pandemic has upended traditional content writing models. More and more businesses are coming online.
This has led to fierce competition irrespective of the industry vertical. This scenario has made more and more businesses embrace content marketing.
Stats too support this theory. Take the 2021 Content Marketing Institute study for instance. It showed 43 percent of marketers saw a budget increase in their content marketing efforts. And 66 percent of the marketers anticipate the budget to increase again.
This is the underlying sentiment as we prepare to say hello to 2022.
The massive disruption in consumer behaviour has led to a massive shift in the content writing world as we know it.
Let’s take a look at the trends that will dominate the content writing world in 2022.
Trend#1 – Quality and relevance make content the king
Google ranks a page based on the user experience it provides. As a part of its recent Core Web Vitals update, the search engine giant has raised the bar for content writers. They cannot simply publish sub-par content and expect a rankings boost.
Google will now rank content that displays E-A-T
1 – Expertise – Your content needs to show you are an expert in the field. This will entail creating in-depth pieces of content that add phenomenal value to readers.
2 – Authoritativeness – Your content should show you as an industry authority. Use internal links to applicable topics, semantic keywords, and develop case studies.
3 – Trust – Stick to a consistent tone of voice and add industry-leading research reports to substantiate content. Also, you should aim to write clearly with accuracy and tell authentic stories. These tips will help build trust.
Quality content that conforms to E-A-T will be valuable in the eyes of Google bots.
Trend#2 – A deeper degree of personalization
Today’s intelligent customers will not be swayed by generic ‘off-the-shelf’ content. A smart content writer will need to bring out a one-on-one connection with every piece of content asset.
Even a recent Forrester report shines a light on this trend. It says that 92 percent of marketers have seen an increase in personalized marketing. So 2022 will see more such content assets being developed.
Trend#3 – Content becomes niche for brands
A majority of the content assets published online cover only a handful of chosen topics. This content saturation means that readers are demanding something refreshing instead.
This is where niche content comes in.
Niche content creation depends on three key aspects –
- A well-performing product/ service offered by the brand
- A well-articulated content that has an original spin on the narrative
- Use of long-tail keywords that target searchers who have a specific need that can be met by the niche segment offering.
They blend together to offer niche content. Such marketing assets are almost always original (because no one has covered them). Such content also remains fresh. This is because customers get to read content that marketers may not have covered elsewhere).
Trend#4 – Diversified content will be on the rise
Just one type of content will no longer hold the audience attention. You will need to diversify the content creation process. This way, you move beyond blogs and articles to other forms of content.
But it isn’t as complex as it sounds. All you need to do is pick a blog, its topic, and its flow to repurpose to another format. So every point in the blog’s body can become individual slides to put on a slide-sharing platform like SlideShare.
You can create a basic video on the same topic and share it on Youtube, Vimeo, and Flickr.
So while the topic is the same, your coverage has expanded significantly
What does this mean for your content team?
They will need to expand their capabilities to include different types of content. If they are already into blog writing, they can look forward to the next level. Think guest posting, infographics, videos, podcasts, and case studies.
This will also give leading indicators on which team member is ready to scale to the next level of seniority within the team.
Trend#5 – Focus on written content
While videos and images will help on Snapchat and Instagram, it is content writing that will drive significant traction in SEO and content marketing campaigns. The first advantage of content writing is that it can infuse keyword rich and compelling narratives.
Such high-quality content delights readers and prompts Google to elevate rankings. Even Content Marketing Institute’s 2021 report shows that blogs and articles with less than 3000 words are the most frequently created content assets.
Of course, it will be difficult to create high quality, in-depth content that connects with people and Google. But you can overcome this challenge and outsource content writing to established content writing agencies like Textuar. We have a team of prolific content writers that generate engrossing and high-value content.
To sum it up
If you are interested in knowing what areas to focus on, this will be an effective guide for you. As we head on to the next year, these were some trends that would dictate outcomes in the content writing world.
Do you see any other trend shaping up that will influence content writing? Then write to us and let us know
