Content Marketing Trends in 2023 — & How We Think They'll Change in 2024

Sometimes it seems like there’s a new trend every day, which can feel overwhelming pretty quickly. If you’re in the business of content marketing, knowing about current trends is pretty important.

Not only that— you should also pay attention to how trends evolve so that new ones don’t sneak up on you. It’s easier than you may think to get ahead of the curve. Trends are important to consumers, they should be important to you, too.

Understanding popular 2023 trends will give you valuable insight into what you can expect in the future and help you prepare for it! Keep reading to learn about why following trends is important for content marketing, as well as predicted trends for 2024.

Importance of Following Trends

Before we discuss trends in more detail, let’s pose an essential question: why should you care about following trends?

Well, when it comes to content marketing, knowing about popular trends can be very helpful for your brand. Creating content that will appear in trending searches may help you reach a larger audience and build trust and credibility.

A lot of people see what’s trending as nothing more than passing fads, and while that sometimes may be true, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t take advantage of it. Relevant trends to your brand can help you reach the market you’re targeting.

Popular trends are all about what’s new and exciting— and by extension, engaging. You want to do everything you can to keep your target audience’s attention, and following trends can definitely help you do so.

SEO is one great way to stay on top of trends, for example. If you write content with a focus on specific words and phrases, especially trending ones, your content may appear higher up in search engine results.

Always keep your brand consistent, so it’s important to make sure you don’t hop onto trends that are completely unrelated to your content or product. You don’t want to confuse your audience or compromise your company’s values. 

When they are relevant, though, trends can help your company seem fresh and cool.

Especially in the digital world, falling behind when it comes to trends and technology will make your company seem out of touch. Trends are constantly evolving, and so are consumers— show them that you can evolve, too!

You can also use trends to reinforce what stands out about your brand and what your values are, which you may not have the chance to do on a regular basis.

Making sure potential customers understand your current priorities is really important in order to encourage loyalty and brand awareness.

To that end, trends can assist with informing consumers about your “brand positioning statement.” This lets your audience know where your brand is now as well as where it’s headed, and can help generate positive perception.

Content Marketing Trends This Year

A lot of big changes have happened in the digital world so far this year, and it seems that many of these content marketing trends in 2023 will carry us through the rest of the year. Possibly even into next!

For starters, personalized content has become absolutely essential. Customers want to see content that reflects their interests, and so when deciding upon marketing strategies you should always have your audience in mind. 

Advertise in a way that will appeal to your ideal demographic. Research who buys your service or product so that you know who your marketing is reaching. You can then take advantage of that information to make sure you retain and expand your audience.

In that same vein, content marketing has become more data-driven as of late. Knowing your metrics is incredibly important to know how best to evolve your marketing strategy, and you don’t want to have to rely on a third party for it.

When it comes to the content itself, always put quality before quantity. Producing a lot of content in a short amount of time can certainly boost your search engine presence, but ensure that your content remains high-caliber—people have really wanted to see that this year.

Folks have also grown very fond of interactive content in 2023— things like polls, surveys, and quizzes can really boost engagement. Just as consumers are more likely to keep reading your content if it’s personalized, they’ll enjoy the chance to participate.

Not only does interactive content add an entertaining element to your content, it’s also a great way to collect data on your audiences, too!

Another example of interactive content is the choose-your-own-adventure style videos that have become popular this year. Video content in general, and specifically short-term videos, has been one of the biggest content marketing trends in 2023.

Anyone can make and share videos, and right now they’re reaching bigger audiences than ever via TikToks, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. These platforms show users content based on an algorithm that takes their interests into account.

Having a presence on these platforms can also be helpful to your brand in another very important way. In 2023, advertising through influencers has become a surefire way to attract new customers. If someone sees an influencer they trust talk about your brand, chances are they might want to check it out, too.

Working with micro-influencers in particular has become popular in 2023. These influencers have smaller followings but better engagement, so they’ve established a lot of trust with their audience. It also can be easier to market to a specific niche this way.

Another way to reach an audience with a lot of engagement that’s emerged in 2023 is via podcasts, which are becoming more popular than ever before. A lot of people have podcasts these days, and even more people listen to them!

This year, content marketing trends have been making customers’ lives easier, and there are lots of ways that you can do this with your company. If you’re selling a product or service, make sure that’s clear in your content. You should also make the purchasing process as simple as possible.

Two content marketing trends that have grown a lot in popularity this year are voice search optimization and search engine optimization.

People have been using voice search systems such as Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri more in 2023, so take care to make sure your content shows up in these results. As for SEO, you can also ensure that your content is ranked higher in search engine results with keywords.

Last and by no means least, AI-generated content has really found a foothold in the marketing world in 2023. Due to enormous advances in technology in recent years, written content and images alike can easily be created by AI.

While many people find this daunting, AI can become an asset if you use it to your advantage. For example, you can look into AI-generated analytics to improve upon your algorithm. Artificial intelligence, much like many 2023 content marketing trends, will only continue to develop further in the future.

Predicted Trend Changes for Next Year

Content marketing trends are always evolving, and the main focus in recent years— especially in 2023 — has been personalized, targeted advertisements.

Going into 2024, we can expect to see some of the trends from this year continue to grow even more prevalent. AI-generated content and marketing, for example, shows no sign of losing traction any time soon. Through analyzing data and automating tasks, AI can be a very valuable tool.

In light of 2023 popularizing a data-driven approach to content marketing, you should also take note that having first-party data will continue to be the norm next year. Keeping your conversations that surround audience data internal will help you maintain privacy and also understand your audience better.

Speaking of privacy, a recent study found that 83% of consumers want more control over their personal information. Targeted ads can be very successful, but showing consumers you care about their privacy will be important in 2024.

To that end, be sure to put effort into making your brand trustworthy. Consumers going forward are placing more importance on the company's values and overall mission.

A good place to share that information with potential customers would be social media, as presence on popular platforms will continue to be vital to success for content marketing in 2024. 

In addition, you may want to make your product or service purchasable right from social media. By making the process as streamlined and simple as possible, such as via in-app purchases, you ensure that more people will buy.

Next year, video content is projected to remain the most popular way of marketing via social media. Whether you want to show what your product can do, achieve audience engagement, or even just share stories and facts about your brand, videos are the best way to do so.

Live-streaming in particular is expected to become much more popular in 2024. This is definitely something to think about if you don’t market this way already, since you may want to develop ways to reach this growing audience.

Fortunately, now that you know some trends to expect in 2024, you can adapt your strategies accordingly.

What Can You Do

The best way to stay on top of content marketing trends in 2024 is to stay informed. 

It probably won’t surprise you to know that keeping track of trends on social media is one of the best things to do. Social media is a great way to connect with other people in your field, and keep up with relevant influencers.

You could join a group on Facebook or Slack that relates to your industry, as relevant news will probably be shared there. And, of course, always be sure to check-in with what topics are trending.

Consider setting up Google Alerts for your company, and any relevant topics that you’ll want to be constantly updated on. You can monitor marketing trends for your product this way, as well as what competing brands are up to.

Industry newsletters and blogs are another way to stay updated about what’s going on in your field. Having a few that you regularly check can ensure you stay on top of content marketing trends.

If you prefer networking face-to-face, however, trade associations and conferences are a great place to meet others in your field and find out what has brought them success. These events will also typically have relevant speakers, who can be great information sources.

Lastly, never underestimate the value of delegating to your team members. If you don’t have time to keep up with content marketing trends yourself, then maybe a coworker would be better suited to this task.

Better yet, have a space where people you work with can share and discuss current or upcoming content marketing trends so that you can then plan together what action you want to take for your business.

It can be easy to feel left behind by the ever-changing trends in the world today. Making sure you take advantage of content marketing trends is also easier than you think, however, and can yield very positive results.