19 Content Marketing Trends for Your 2023 Strategy

Did you know that businesses that use content marketing see six times more conversions than companies that don’t?

Content marketing is one of the most valuable strategies for increasing traffic to your site, earning more qualified leads, and boosting conversions. But if you want to have an effective content marketing strategy, you need to keep it up to date with the latest trends.

Luckily, we’ve got a list of 2023 content marketing trends you can jot down to amp up your strategy.

We also have a video with content marketing trends and so much more!

These trends include:

1. Repurposing content
2. Tracking content performance
3. Tailoring content to dream clients
4. Focusing on the user experience
5. Utilizing video
6. Investing in long-form content
7. Optimizing for voice search
8. Building personalized content
9. Optimizing content for search engines
10. Developing niche content
11. Using chatbots
12. Doubling up on content
13. Embracing lifecycle marketing
14. Establishing data privacy practices
15. Updating old content
16. Practicing transparency
17. Brand Identity and DEI
18. First-party data gathering
19. Google Analytics 4

Content marketing trend #1: Repurposing content

When it comes to trends in content marketing, repurposing content is one to follow.

Repurposing or recycling content allows you to:

• Re-use content on different channels, like email and social media
• Drive non-search traffic to the content — and your website
• Support other content marketing efforts, like updating old content

If you’re planning to repurpose your content, avoid copying and pasting. Instead, take that existing content and tailor it to the channel. If you just published a 1000-word blog post, for example, don’t send the entire post via email.

Instead, adapt the content to email.

For example, you could trim the content to 200-to-300 words and invite people to view the full post to learn more. You could even add a video that summarizes the post to appeal to audience members that prefer watching over reading.

Content marketing trend #2: Tracking content performance

While you’re probably already using a website analytics tool like Google Analytics to track your content performance, it’s worthwhile to dig deeper into which content pieces perform best. For example, which posts drive the most email sign-ups, leads, and sales?

You can then use this information to inform your:

• Content topics
• Lead generation tactics
• Lead nurturing efforts
• And more

If you’re looking for an easier way to track, measure, and attribute content performance, a marketing automation platform like MarketingCloudFX can help. With MarketingCloudFX, for example, you can see which content pieces not only drove leads but drove qualified leads.

This data is invaluable because you can show the impact of your content marketing strategy even more.

Instead of sharing how your content plan drove 20 leads last quarter, you can highlight how your content plan drove qualified leads and how you’re using that data to build an even stronger content strategy for the next quarter.

With that kind of data, you demonstrate your impact and value to company leaders instantly.

Content marketing trend #3: Tailoring content to dream clients

While it’s important to optimize your content for search engine optimization, it’s also critical to tailor your content to your target audience — especially, your dream client. When you speak directly to your ideal customer, you increase your chances of earning their business.

You can speak to your target market in a few ways, including:

• Addressing their pain points
• Using their language, like certain terms or acronyms
• Anticipating their needs, like with related content

If you invest in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, you can focus even more on your target market by building custom landing pages. When creating custom landing pages for your PPC ads, you can create conversion-focused copy vs. SEO-friendly copy.

This freedom allows you to speak even more to your target audience, which can result in more:

• Micro-conversions, like an email sign-up
• Macro-conversions, like a sale

If you’re not familiar with landing pages, from how to build them to how to write them, you can always invest in landing page design services. These services help you avoid the learning curve of landing pages so that you can drive revenue from your custom landing pages sooner — versus later.

Content marketing trend #4: Focusing on the user experience

Next on our list of 2023 trends in content marketing is focusing on the user experience. The user experience is fundamental to ensuring prospects stay engaged when visiting your content pages. User experience includes multiple facets, so let’s break them down into website-specific and page-specific areas.

Website-specific

To make the most of this 2023 content marketing trend, you must optimize your website’s user experience. Here are a few ways you can do that:

• Improve site load time: Users don’t want to wait for your content pages to load, so you need to ensure your site loads quickly. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check your site’s current load time and use their suggestions to improve your site speed.
• Make your site mobile-friendly: People aren’t just reading content on desktop devices — mobile devices are commonly used to read content too. Ensure your site uses responsive design so you can deliver a great experience with your content on mobile.
• Use the right font: When you set your website’s design, you’ll choose a font style for all your pages. Make sure you use a web-safe font so users can easily read your written content across browsers.

Page-specific

In addition to web-specific optimizations, there are also ways to improve the user experience on each page of content you publish. Here are a few best practices:

• Write in small paragraphs: If you create paragraphs with 7-8 sentences, you’re going to overwhelm your audience and make your content difficult to read. Stick to 2-3 sentences per paragraph to allow for easy skimming and reading.
• Use bulleted lists: If you’re explaining a process or listing multiple options, a bulleted list can help your audience read through information faster. Lists also help break up paragraphs of text.
• Add visuals: When people read your blog posts, they don’t want to see walls of text. To enhance the user experience, add visuals to your content to help break up the text and create a better experience on your site.

Content marketing trend #5: Utilizing video

When you think of creating content, most people’s minds go straight to blogging.

While blogging is one of the most effective content marketing strategies, it’s not the only player on the field. One of the biggest content marketing trends for 2023 is utilizing video. Videos are one of the most effective forms of content your business can use to engage your audience.

Just look at a few of these stats that show the power of video marketing:

• Five hours a day is how much time U.S. adults spend each day watching videos
• 90% of people say videos help them make a purchase decision
• 88% more time is spent on pages with videos

As you can see, video marketing has a noticeable impact on your audience and can influence their decision to buy. So, if you’re not incorporating videos as part of your content marketing strategy for 2023, you’re missing a prime opportunity to reach and engage your audience.

You can create numerous types of videos for your audience, including:

• Informational videos
• How-to or explainer videos
• Live videos
• Webinars

When you create your videos, make sure you’re effectively capturing your audience’s attention and making them want to watch your content. Try telling a story or sharing an interesting fact to get your audience invested in your video content.

Put your most important information first. People have short attention spans (even for videos) and may not watch them all the way through. To ensure they get the information they need, make sure you put the most important information first.

You should also make your videos mobile-friendly. Many people watch videos on their mobile devices. If they’re accessing a video on your site, you’ll want to ensure that it’s mobile-friendly, so they don’t have problems when trying to watch it.

Lastly, stick to a posting schedule. If you post consistently, your audience will know to expect your videos on a certain day each week. This helps keep them coming back to your videos and engaging with them.

Content marketing trend #6: Investing in long-form content

When you create content, you always question how long it should be. It’s challenging to know if it’s better to make short or long-form content. As you’re moving into next year, focus on creating long-form content.

Long-form content is the most valuable type of content you can offer to your audience. This allows you to provide your audience with an abundance of information that they want. You help provide them with valuable knowledge that gets them to check out more of your business.

Overall, Google wants to promote high-quality content. If you have a high-quality, long-form article, you’ll keep your audience engaged and Google will rank your page higher.

When you share in-depth articles with your audience, they feel more informed. They only need to go to one place to get valuable information.

Your long-form content will also keep leads engaged longer because they’ll spend more time checking out your content. You create more opportunities for your business to obtain valuable leads.

Long-form content is a win-win situation for your audience and your business. You provide your audience with the valuable information they need, and you keep your audience on your page longer to turn them into leads.

Content marketing trend #7: Optimizing for voice search

Another one of the 2023 content trends we’ll look at is optimizing for voice search.

With over one billion voice searches happening each month, you can’t neglect voice search optimization.

People often turn to voice devices to help them get answers. Searches like, “What can I substitute eggs for in brownies?” or “How do you spackle a hole in a wall?” generate content pages that detail the answers to those queries.

If your content isn’t optimized for voice search, though, you’ll miss out on this valuable traffic.

So, how do you optimize for voice search?

The best way to optimize for voice search is to answer questions directly and succinctly. When you give a brief and direct answer, you increase your chances of appearing in the featured snippet. Since 50% of voice search results rely on featured snippets, it’s a critical placement to have to appear in these searches.

With the search query “what can I substitute eggs for in brownies,” you can see the featured snippet has a bulleted list of options. This information gets straight to the point and tells the searcher what they need to know. It makes this listing a perfect option to be read by a voice search device.   Even if the results don’t have a featured snippet, answering these queries upfront can still lead voice search devices to choose your information over the competition. Additionally, you want to try creating content optimized for natural language and phrasing.

For example, someone may type the query “first date ideas” but verbally search “what are some ideas for a first date?” You want to ensure you optimize for the way people phrase their voice searches, so you’re more likely to be the one that provides the answer.

Content marketing trend #8: Building personalized content

Personalized content is one of the biggest trends in content marketing. Marketers are always looking for ways to make the experience better for their audience. They want each person to come back to their business and choose them over the competition.

Personalized marketing is a one-to-one marketing strategy that allows you to create a customized experience for your audience. With personalized marketing, you’ll give your business the edge you need to create a better, more unique experience for your audience.

For instance, let’s say that someone visits your site to check out a free ebook you’re offering. All they need to do is input their name and email address to download the content.

When they return to your site, they may get a message that says, “Welcome back, [name]!” This is a little personalized touch that can have a big impact on your audience. It makes them feel as though the content on your website was made just for them.

In addition, you may provide them with a list of recommended content for them to check out next. This creates an experience that is specific to them and how they interact with your website. The suggested content would be tailored to each audience member based on their previous interactions with your content.

Content marketing trend #9: Optimizing content for search engines

Next on our list of 2023 content trends is optimizing content for search engines. This trend has existed for a while, but it still holds true throughout the years. If your content isn’t optimized for search engines, you won’t drive traffic for your business. So, how can you help your content rank in search results? Here are a few search engine optimization (SEO) tips to help you optimize your content:

• Integrate relevant keywords: If you want people to find your website in search results, integrate relevant keywords into your site. You want to use a keyword research tool like KeywordsFX to find relevant, long-tail keywords for your site.
• Optimize your title tag and meta description: These two elements appear in search results when users find your content. Optimize your title tag and meta description with your core keyword and stay within the character limit, which is 60- and 155-characters, respectively.

• Build your backlinks: Backlinks help build your site’s trust and authority, making them important for SEO. You can earn backlinks by creating high-quality content and inviting leaders in your industry to link to your content.

Content marketing trend #10: Developing niche content

Another content marketing trend is creating niche content. Niche content focuses on a specific subtopic related to your business or industry. It’s focused on gaining interest from a small group of people.

Let’s say you own a bakery. You create content about different recipes that people can make on their own. This content appeals to a wide variety of people because it’s generic and the recipes peak the interests of anyone who likes to bake.

Within your audience of bakers, there are niches. You may create content that specifically appeals to gluten-free, lactose-free, or vegan bakers. This is a smaller niche of bakers, but it’s still a valuable group of people that would be interested in your recipes that fit their dietary lifestyle.

Creating niche specific content helps you appeal directly to specific leads. You drive them to your page and get them interested in your content. It’s a great way to obtain leads and nurture them towards conversion.

Content marketing trend #11: Using chatbots

Chatbots communicate with site users on a 24/7 basis. They also help websites communicate — and automate communication — with tons of users. That allows companies to minimize their customer service costs, as well as maximize the time of their customer service team.

Consumers also report having a positive experience with chatbots. In fact, chatbots are the most successful customer service channel, boasting a 73 percent customer satisfaction rating. That’s why many analysts predict that chatbots will become an essential part of customer service.

How do chatbots influence your content marketing strategy, though? With chatbots, you can provide shoppers with personalized recommendations based on their questions. For example, if a user asks a frequently asked question (FAQ), your chatbot can direct them to your FAQ page — or reference the example in-chat.

Or, once your chatbot provides a shopper with what they need, they can recommend content based on the interaction. For example, if you’re a travel agency and your chatbot offers a user information on their bookings, you can conclude the interaction by suggesting content related to the user’s destination. If they’re traveling to the U.K., for example, you can direct them to blog posts about the best restaurants in the area — or even a blog post about using the subway or tube.

This content helps your customer prepare for their trip, which can have a positive impact on their relationship with your company. Use chatbots to support your content marketing strategy and enhance your shoppers’ experiences.

Content marketing trend #12: Doubling up on content

Next on our list of content marketing trends for 2023 is double-up or add other content formats to your existing content. This approach involves adding elements like:

• Videos
• Infographics
• Custom graphics

For example, let’s say you own a bakery, and you’re detailing how to create bread from scratch. When you get to the step about kneading dough, you may add your video on how to knead dough.     Likewise, if you wrote a blog post about how to knead dough, you could use an infographic to explain the process visually. This double-up approach to content is extremely beneficial to keeping leads engaged with your content. Not only that, but it can help you deliver a unique experience that helps you stand out from your competition and potentially outrank them in search.

Content marketing trend #13: Embracing lifecycle marketing

Content marketing is a great way to support lifecycle marketing. What is lifecycle marketing? This type of marketing provides audiences with the communications and experiences they need or want as they move from a prospect to a lead to a customer.

In short, your website and content provide everything a user needs to become a client. That’s why it’s essential to cater to customers at each stage of the buying funnel. Be intentional about everything you do.

Your content is how you communicate, and communication is critical in today’s competitive online market. Before you incorporate lifecycle marketing into your content, answer these questions:

• Who is your ideal customer?
• What do they want?
• What do they need?
• What makes them purchase your product or service?

Once you have a clear understanding of who your target customers are, you can begin creating customized content for each stage of the purchasing process. For example, if you offer travel services, you may appeal to users in the beginning stages with blog posts that highlight a location. For users in later stages, however, you may offer videos or long-form content that focuses on shoppers looking to partner with a travel agency.

As an example, a piece of long-form content may discuss how to choose a travel agency. Continue connecting with your target audience, as well as guiding them through the buying funnel, by encouraging website visitors to sign up for your emails. That way, they can receive updates on your latest content, which motivates them to revisit your website.

No matter the stage in the buying funnel, having the right types of content on your site will drive results.

Content marketing trend #14: Establishing data privacy practices

With the passing of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which protects the data rights of Internet users in the European Union (EU), data privacy is becoming a more common topic. It’s also another trend in content marketing.

That’s why it’s paramount that your company’s compliant with the latest permissions and guidelines. Plus, by properly acquiring and using user data — as well as informing the users themselves — you can build trust with your target audience. You can also preserve your company’s brand and financial stability by adhering to data privacy standards.

A few tips for ensuring compliance include:

• Make email opt-ins optional: Require users to check a box, indicating that they would like to receive email updates, before you add them to your subscription list.
• Offer an unsubscribe button: Allow users to opt-out from your emails any time they wish. Make sure users can also access their email preferences via the unsubscribe button.
• Assess data protections: Review how and where your company stores user data, as well as its level of security. Look for potential risks and develop a plan for making your data storage safer.

While data privacy won’t impact the content your company creates, it will influence how you connect and interact with leads via content, especially with content delivered through email marketing. That’s why data privacy will continue to have an essential role in the future of digital marketing.

Content marketing trend #15: Updating old content

As more people turn to the web to get information, it’s more important than ever that you deliver accurate and updated info. That’s why updating old content is next on our list of trends in content marketing. If you want your content strategy to succeed in 2023, turn to past content and make sure it’s accurate.

Your industry continually shifts and changes as processes evolve and new trends emerge — your content should reflect those changes. Take the time to look at old content you’ve published on your site and update it with accurate information. This step is especially crucial for your pages that rank highly in search results.

If your site ranks higher in search results, people are more likely to click it, but they won’t stay if your information isn’t current. This high bounce rate can hurt the rankings you’ve worked so hard to attain.

The level of updates your content needs can vary depending on the subject and how it’s changed in your industry. Sometimes it may be as simple as updating numbers, while other times it means adding an entire section of information that was newly included in a process.

For example, if you’re a healthcare provider, part of your patient marketing efforts is providing useful content for your prospects. Update your published blog posts whenever new information becomes available. By updating content, you’ll breathe new life into valuable pieces on your site that can help you drive more qualified traffic and earn increased rankings.

Content marketing trend #16: Practicing transparency

Transparency is critical. Customers value transparency and openness. Why do consumers trust online reviews more than a company’s statements on their services? Users look at fellow customers as more trustworthy and transparent.

That’s why 80 percent of shoppers say reviews have changed their mind about a purchase. The desire for transparency has also contributed to the rise of influencer marketing — and its partnership with content marketing. Customers see social media personas as more trustworthy, especially when they are honest about the pros and cons of a product, service, or company.

How can you incorporate transparency into your content marketing strategy? Highlight the experience of your customers in your content, on occasion. For example, maybe in your blog posts about the best restaurants in the U.K., you feature tweets or testimonials from customers that visited those restaurants on their trip.

You can even have an occasional feature, such as for your blog or email campaign, that shares the experience of your customers in a question-and-answer style. For instance, you can ask them about the ease of the planning and booking process, as well as the seamlessness of their trip. In your other digital marketing strategies, it’s also worth promoting transparency.

Encourage reviews, open information, and communication, for example, about the perks and pitfalls of your products and services. Use that information to improve your services and customer experience, such as by redesigning a product or updating your response to emergency calls. Thank customers for their positive and negative reviews too.

Help dissatisfied customers find a resolution and follow-up with them as well. Providing post-service and post-purchase support makes customers want to not only work with you again, but tell the people they know about the great experience they had with your business. With these additional measures, you can boost the trust and loyalty of current and future clients.

Content marketing trend #17: Brand identity and DEI

In 2023, it is more important than ever to ensure that you reflect your company’s values in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in your digital marketing efforts. According to a study by Facebook, 54% of consumers said they didn’t feel entirely culturally represented in online advertising.

Not only will your audience benefit from knowing your values, but your business also becomes a further driver of diversity and inclusion. You will resonate with more of your audience, improving your brand’s trustworthiness. The web is a place for everyone, so make your website one that celebrates and enables it!

Content marketing trend #18: First-party data gathering

With the increase in consumer privacy laws, ensuring that your website stays within the guidelines of your specific country’s data-gathering laws has become more critical than ever. Moreover, now is also when you need to gather data as 3rd party data is slowly becoming more difficult to obtain. Now is the perfect time to check whether you comply with your country’s laws, upgrade your website’s security and create stunning and engaging forms on your website. When consumers feel they can trust you by following these rules, they are likelier to feel that you will keep their data secure and share it with you to become a lead.

Content marketing trend #19: Google Analytics 4

While this one may be less of a trend, so to speak, it will have an impact on our digital marketing starting in July 2023 and should already be. As of July 2023, Universal Analytics, as we know and love it, will become a legacy tool, replaced by the new and improved Google Analytics 4. Google Analytics 4 will change how we interpret our data and allow seamless integration with Google Optimize, Google Merchant Center and bigQuery natively for free. We highly recommend that you get your Google Analytics 4 account up and running so it can start gathering data for you to look at once the change becomes permanent and test against your Universal Analytics account.

One of the upcoming 2023 content marketing trends: Partnering with an agency

Creating high-quality content takes time and effort. When you add optimizing for these 2023 content marketing trends to your list, it easily becomes overwhelming. Instead of trying to manage your content on your own, consider partnering with a content marketing agency like WebFX.

We have a team of over 500 marketing experts that can help you craft killer content for your audience.

With our content marketing services, we can help you craft anything from blog posts to videos. We know how to create content that drives results — we’ve driven over 7.8 million leads for our clients in the past five years.

Want to start driving more credible traffic with your content? Contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist!