Top 30 Content Marketing Trends to Watch in 2022

The past few years have seen marketers switch focus, shift gears, execute 360s, and do everything else to make sure their strategies reflect changes in consumer behaviour.

And yes, it’s not just a new year–it’s a new era. Should we bother trying to forecast the patterns that will shape the content marketing industry in 2022?

You bet we should. So here are 30 top content marketing trends to watch out for in 2022:

#1. Topical Authority to Replace Keyword Research

How well do you understand the topic you’re discussing? If you can’t answer that question with absolute certainty, you’re not ready to produce content in 2022.

Google now emphasises the depth of expertise rather than backlinking or keyword optimisation. 

For example, when someone reads an article about how to write a resume, Google expects to see your article help the reader produce a resume that will get them hired at the end of the read. In other words, they wouldn’t rank a piece that’s just a regurgitation of tips and tricks, regardless of how much you’ve optimised it for SEO. 

To meet these higher expectations, you need to become an authority on your topic. That means being able to answer any questions related to it and having a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

What You Should Do

It’s time you started publishing long-form content. Use your blog to share in-depth articles that explore every nook and cranny of your topic. No stone should be left unturned.

And as you produce this long-form content, be sure to include images, videos, and infographics to break up the text and make it more digestible.

You also want to collaborate with subject matter experts (SMEs) to co-author articles. This will add credibility to your content and help you establish yourself as an authority on the topic.

Last but not least, don’t forget to optimise your content for voice search. With more and more people using digital assistants, this is a trend you can’t afford to ignore.

Related Read: 4 Easy and Effective Practices for Optimising for Voice Search

#2. A Return to Storytelling

The art of storytelling is one of the oldest and most effective ways to connect with an audience. And it’s making a comeback in a big way. 

As we move away from the fast-paced, attention-grabbing content of the past few years, we see a return to slower-paced, more meaningful stories.

What You Should Do

This trend is all about quality over quantity. So instead of pumping out as much content as you can, focus on producing fewer genuinely remarkable pieces. 

Think about the kind of stories that resonate with you and try to replicate that feeling in your own content. Remember, a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end–so make sure yours follows that structure. 

You should also focus on creating an emotional connection with your audience. After all, the stories that touch us on an emotional level tend to stick with us the longest. 

Finally, don’t forget to promote your content. The best stories in the world won’t mean anything if no one knows they exist. So make sure you’re using social media, email marketing, and other channels to get your stories in front of as many people as possible.

Related Read: How To Tell Your Brand Story In Singapore

#3. Value-driven Content Marketing is Here to Stay

In recent years, marketers have been moving away from content that’s all about selling to content that’s helpful, informative, and valuable to the reader. 

And this trend is only going to continue in 2022. As consumers become savvier and less trusting of traditional advertising, they’re looking for brands that can provide them with real value. 

As Josh Spiker, Founder and CEO of Growth Content, says:

Readers won’t willingly share their information with you if they find your content mediocre, irrelevant, or just trying to sell them something. 

What You Should Do

Simple, you should begin by understanding your customers and why they’re interacting with your business in the first place. What are their needs, and how can you help them? 

Once you understand that, you can start creating content that’s genuinely useful to them. That might include blog posts, infographics, eBooks, guides, or just helpful tips and advice.

Also, instead of showcasing what your products can do, focus on showing what your products can help your customers achieve. This will make your content more relatable and, consequently, more valuable. 

#4. Original Research and Studies Will Be Big

In a world where nearly 90% of all content is duplicated from other sources, original research will help you stand out from the crowd.

While content marketing is incredibly saturated with influencers and thought leaders, much of the content they produce isn’t helping in determining what works and what doesn’t.

Original content is coveted because it can further the industry as a whole, rather than just promoting one person’s opinion.

It’s based on facts, data, observation, documentation, and experimentation, which give deep insights into specific topics, trends, and strategies. 

What You Should Do

If you want to get on board with this trend, start by conducting your own original research. Whether through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or even just data analysis, make sure you’re coming up with your conclusions.

Any research aims to discover more about a common problem and crowdfund answers to help you develop better solutions. 

Good research demands that you become curious about something and work to either confirm or deny your suspicions about a hypothesis or uncover some deep-seated truths that nobody knew about.

Next, publish the research on your own site or blog and share it with your community or audience. 

The best part is that you can repurpose this research into a graph, infographic, or slideshow and share it across different social media channels for even more engagement.

#5. Content is Set to Become More Interactive, Engaging, and Hopefully Fun

Either you catch the reader’s attention and keep them engaged and entertained throughout, or you lose them entirely.

Think Buzzfeed. Maybe you didn’t know, but 96% of consumers who start Buzzfeed contests finish them. They’re interactive, visually appealing, and just plain fun. 

Customers don’t just want to read your content. They also want to smile, laugh a little, and relish a few aha moments.

What You Should Do

Make an effort to add more interactivity to your content. This includes quizzes, surveys, polls, or even simple games.

You can also add visuals like infographics, videos, and images to help break up the text and make it more engaging. 

Adrien Lemaire, Cofounder RingCentral, also suggests creating snackable content to cope with the decreasing attention spans in the modern world of smartphones and social media. 

For the uninitiated, snackable content is bite-sized content that is easy to digest and usually takes less than a minute to consume.

He adds that B2B has a lot to learn from B2C, especially where short video clips and stories are skyrocketing. While in-depth content still plays a critical role in the B2B world of marketing, snackable content make a perfect complement, especially since they’re easier to consume. 

You don’t need to turn your entire content marketing strategy upside down for it to work. Start by adding a few more interactive and engaging elements to your content to see what works best for you.

#6. The Bar for Quality is Going to Get Higher

The Internet is a vast place with an endless supply of content. But not all of it is good. In fact, most of it is subpar.

Just as no one wants to sit next to a boring patron or a narcissistic self-promoter, your readers don’t want to wade through low-quality, unengaging content. 

They’re looking for something that will add value to their lives, whether it’s a helpful how-to guide, an interesting story, or valuable insights into their industry.

What You Should Do

Don’t publish anything until you’re sure it’s the best it can be. That means taking the time to edit, revise, and even rewrite your content until it’s as good as it can be.

It also means being picky about what you publish in the first place. Not every idea is good, and not every post is worth writing. 

If you’re unsure whether something is worth publishing, ask yourself: will my readers benefit from this? 

If the answer is no, it’s probably not worth your time.  

#7. User Experience Will be the Differentiator

In the past, the most important thing you could do was to get people to your website. 

Now, it’s all about keeping them there. 

A good user experience (UX) will make the difference between a loyal, engaged customer and someone who just clicks away as soon as they land on your page.

What You Should Do

Make sure your site is easy to navigate, visually appealing, and fast. If it’s not, you’re going to lose visitors. 

You should also focus on making your content easy to consume. That means using short paragraphs, clear headings, and helpful visuals.

And last but not least, make sure your site is mobile-friendly. With more and more people accessing the Internet on their phones, it’s important that your site looks good and works well on a smaller screen. 

#8. Content Template Will Thrive

Before doing anything, as humans, we look for patterns. We try to find a template, a blueprint, something that we can follow to help us achieve our goal. 

It’s no different with content marketing.

Your readers are looking for a tried-and-true template they can follow to create content that gets results. 

What You Should Do?

You can start by looking at what others in your industry are doing. See what’s working well for them and try to replicate it. 

Of course, you should always put your own spin on things to make your content unique. But there’s no shame in following a proven template. 

D2C brands love using explainer videos and how-to guides to great effect. In the B2B space, consider using case studies and white papers to show your expertise. 

For B2C, product roundups and listicles are always popular.

#9. Machine Generated Content is About to Become a Thing

AI is unstoppable. It’s changing the way we live, work, and play. 

And it’s going to change content marketing as we know it. 

In the next few years, we will see more and more machine-generated content (MGC). 

That’s content generated by algorithms rather than human beings.

What You Should Do

There’s not much you can do about this trend since it’s something that’s happening on the backend. 

That said, here’s what we suggest you do:

First, you have to understand that there’s nothing wrong with MGC. In fact, it can be quite good. 

The key is to ensure that your content still has a human touch. 

That means incorporating personal stories, using an active voice, and adding your own unique spin on things. 

So, start investing in tools to help you pick up the slack in areas where your team isn’t versed in content creation. 

Here are a few tools we suggest you begin with:

• Pencil: helps you create AI-generated ads. You have to provide the raw materials you’ll be working with (images, videos, and brand guidelines) and watch as the tool does the rest.  

Better, the tool is equipped enough and can even personalise each newsletter based on the content the reader consumed previously on the site.

• Quill: an AI-powered tool that can help you create better headlines, social media posts, and even email subject lines. 

The best part? It’s free to use. 

• Jasper: if you’re looking for a tool that can help you with longer pieces of content, Jasper is worth checking out. 

It’s a tool that can help you generate everything from blog posts to eBooks. 

• Rasa: Rasa simplifies the newsletter creation process. The tool can pull content from your blog and other sources to create a personalised newsletter for your subscribers.

#10. The Beginning of Content Atomisation

Content atomisation is the process of breaking down your content into smaller, more manageable pieces. 

It’s a trend that’s been gaining traction in recent years, and it’s only going to become more prevalent in the years to come.

You take one big piece of content and break it down into smaller pieces that can be used across multiple channels. 

For example, if you have a blog post, you can break it down into smaller pieces like: 

• Social media posts 
• Infographics 
• Videos 
• Podcast episodes

What You Should Do?

If you’re not already doing it, start breaking down your content into smaller pieces.

For example, you can break an eBook into blog posts or extract snippets for social media. You can also dive deeper into the topic by producing a video or podcast series. 

It’s a great way to get more mileage out of your content and ensure that it’s getting the traction it deserves. 

Not to mention, it can help you save a ton of time in the long run.

#11. Google’s Core Web Vitals is About to Change the Game

Google’s focus on user experience will extend beyond the changes they make to their algorithms to include a new set of ranking factors known as the core web vitals. 

These are factors that directly impact the user experience on your website. 

They include things like page load time, interactivity, and visual stability. 

What You Should Do? 

Core Web Vitals reports are now available in Google Search Console (GSC). According to Google, these reports are dedicated to showing you how your pages perform based on real-world usage data (otherwise referred to as field data).

That’s a huge shift in how Google assesses website quality. We suggest you begin by paying attention to your core web vitals.

Use this report to direct your web design team to the areas of your site that need fixing. Google is constantly updating its algorithm, but instead of reacting to traffic dips, you can use this report to monitor what’s happening and make necessary changes or adjustments in time. 

Related Reads:

•  Core Web Vitals: How To Measure Them And Improve Your Scores
• All You Need To Know About Google Web Core Vitals

#12. Write for Aspirations, Not Needs. Focus on What Your Customers Want to be and Where they Want to Go

This is a big one. And it’s something that a lot of businesses struggle with. 

While your customers still want their needs to be met, their aspirations are even more important. 

Your customers want to know that you can help them get where they want to be.

Your customers want to know that you can help them get where they want to be. 

Aspirations are the longings and dreams that people hope to achieve. Customers want to know that you wish them well and are concerned enough to know about their aspirations.

What You Should Do 

Learn to scribe your products or services but also shows them how to achieve their end goals. 

Your customers will appreciate it, and they’ll be more likely to do business with you.

#13. Do One Thing Great, not a Lot of Things Good

The world is filled with too much choice and not enough time. 

People are looking for brands that can help them save time by doing one thing and doing it well. 

In content marketing, that means creating content that is laser-focused and provides real value. 

Don’t just produce good content. Produce great content. 

Easier said than done, right? 

What You Should Do 

Always be willing to go the extra mile to make your content great. 

Never settle for good enough. 

You know about 10X content, right? 

It’s a term that Brian Clark of Copy blogger coined. Essentially, it’s a piece of content that’s ten times better than anything else on the subject. 

It’s the kind of content that people can’t help but share. 

While you may not be able to produce 10X content all the time, there’s no harm in striving for it. 

It’s the only way to stand out in the crowded content market of today. 

#14. Get Personal

Personalisation is to content what SEO is to search. 

It’s a way to make your content more relevant and engaging for your audience. 

What You Should Do 

Use the data you have about your customers to personalise your content. 

If you don’t have much data, start with something as simple as their first name. 

You can also use location, purchase history, and web browsing behaviour to personalise your content.  

#15. Create User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content that your users or customers create on your brand or product. 

It can be something as simple as a product review or a social media post about your brand, or a picture they took while using your product. 

What You Should Do 

Encourage your users to create UGC. 

Make it easy for them to generate this content by providing templates, images, or even pre-written text they can use. 

UGC is a great way to build social proof and increase brand awareness.

Most importantly, learn to share this content with every chance you get, but after seeking their permission.

#16. Do One Thing Consistently Everyday

This is an excellent tip for content marketing, but it’s also a great tip for life in general. 

The best way to make sure you’re consistently producing great content is to do one thing every day to help you move closer to your goal.

You’ll agree content marketing is too much work, and diving headfast into getting everything done in one day will only lead to frustration. 

What You Should Do 

Focus on consistency and doing one thing every day to help you reach your content marketing goals. 

It doesn’t matter what that one thing is, as long as it’s something. 

For instance, you can begin by writing a short 200 to 500 words article that you’ll be sharing on LinkedIn or tweeting out. 

You can also work on coming up with ideas for a new video series or blog post series. 

The possibilities are endless. Just make sure you’re doing something every day to help you reach your goals.

#17. Invest in a Good Editor

If you want to produce great content, you need to invest in a good editor. 

An editor will help you take your content to the next level by making sure it’s free of errors, flows well, and is engaging. 

What You Should Do 

Invest in a good editor or hire a freelance editor to help you with your content. 

A good editor is worth its weight in gold and will help you produce better content.

#18. Be Human, Find Your Voice, and Tell Your Story

The best way to connect with your audience is to be human. 

Find your voice and tell your story.  

People want to connect with other people, not brands. 

What You Should Do 

Be human and tell your story. 

Add a human touch to your content and let your audience get to know you. 

Finding your voice means creating a brand voice that’s unique, recognisable, engaging, and emotionally in tune with your target audience. 

Your audience wants to interact with the people behind your brand, not the brand itself.

#19. Teach Your Audience Something New

Your content should always be teaching your audience something new. 

Your content should always add value, whether it’s a new way to do something, a fresh perspective on a topic, or a new piece of information. 

What You Should Do 

Make sure your content is always teaching your audience something new. 

Your content should be designed to educate, inform, and entertain your audience.

#20. Use Data to Drive Your Content Strategy

Data is a powerful tool that can help you understand your audience better. 

It can also help you determine what type of content to produce, when to publish, and how to promote it.

What You Should Do 

Use data to drive your content strategy. 

Look at things like web traffic data, social media data, email data, and even surveys to help you determine what type of content to produce and how to best reach your target audience.

#21. A/B Test Your Website Content

So often, A/B testing is associated with paid advertising. 

But A/B testing can also be used to improve your website content. 

You can A/B test things like headlines, images, call to action buttons, and even the length of your content to see what works best. 

What You Should Do 

A/B test your website content to see what works best. Experiment with your blog post to see which one has the best conversion. 

You’d be surprised at how small changes can make a big difference in your website’s performance.

#22. Podcasting

Audio will be a big content trend in 2022. 

According to the “Share of Ear Study, an average American listen to about 4 to 5 hours of audio per day. 

What You Should Do 

If you’re not already producing audio content, then it’s time you started. 

You can create a podcast, host a webinar, or even record audio versions of your blog posts. 

The options are endless.

#23. Marketing in the Metaverse

It’s estimated that 85 million people used augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) in 2021. 

And that number is only going to grow in the coming years. 

The Metaverse is a term used to describe the virtual world created when AR and VR are combined. 

What You Should Do 

Start thinking about how you can use AR and VR in your marketing. 

While it may seem like a daunting task, plenty of resources are available to help you get started. 

Related Read: Why Metaverse Is The Key For Savvy Brands And Marketers

#24. The Launch of Shoppable Links and Stories

In 2022, we’ll see the launch of shoppable links and stories. 

This means that brands will be able to link to products directly from their social media posts and stories. 

What You Should Do 

If you sell products, start thinking about how you will use shoppable links and stories to drive sales. 

You can also use them to promote special offers and discounts.

#25. Fuelling Brands with Mutually Beneficial Partnerships

From film and television to social influencer and music video content, brands have plenty of opportunities to partner with other brands to create mutually beneficial relationships. 

What You Should Do 

Look for opportunities to partner with other brands. 

Not only will this help you save money on content production, but it will also help you reach a wider audience.  

#26. Use Mixed Content Types

Mixed content types are a great way to keep your audience engaged. 

You can use a mix of text, images, video, newsletters, FAQs, and even infographics to keep your audience coming back for more. 

What You Should Do 

Use a mix of content types to keep your audience engaged. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of content to see what works best for your audience.

70% of consumers say they prefer articles or blog posts over conventional ads. (Landerapp, 2020).

82% of marketers agree that video is an integral part of their content strategy. (Wyzowl 2021). 

#27. Focus on Growing One Audience on One channel

There’s a lot of pressure to be everywhere at once. 

But the truth is, you don’t need to be.

In 2022, focus on growing one audience on one channel before expanding to other channels. 

This allows you to build a solid foundation and create content that resonates with that particular target audience.

What You Should Do 

Focus on growing one audience on one channel. 

That doesn’t mean you should neglect other channels. You can still post on other platforms, but you want to direct much of your effort on one platform until you’ve exhausted it before moving on to the next.

#28. Create Top-quality Audio and Video-based Production

Visuals are more important than ever before.

If you produce audio or videos, make sure they’re high quality. 

What You Should Do 

If you produce audio or video, then it’s time you started investing in high-quality equipment. 

If your budget allows it, consider hiring a professional to help you with the production process. 

You also want to use tools like Audacity’s Levelator to adjust your audio levels and give them more clarity.

#29. Freewriting for Emotional Connection and Experience

Freewriting will be a popular content marketing trend in 2022. 

For those who don’t know, freewriting is exactly as it sounds. It is where you write without stopping or editing. 

The goal is to keep the flow of ideas going and capture your thoughts and feelings on paper (or screen). 

What You Should Do 

Start practising freewriting. It’s a great way to connect with your audie

nce emotionally. 

Plus, it’s a great way to capture your thoughts and ideas without overthinking them.

#30. Create an Author Brand

Your personal brand is just as important as your company’s brand. 

In 2022, we suggest you start paying attention to your brand as an author. 

Your author brand is the way you present yourself online. It’s what people think of when they see your name. 

What You Should Do 

Start paying attention to your0

Use social media, guest blogging, and other platforms to build your personal brand.