Best SEO Content Marketing Strategy in 2023

With the recent developments in online marketing, the content remains to be a vital element in the marketing strategy of companies from different parts of the globe. It is, after all, a marketing approach that’s “focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience,” according to the Content Marketing Institute. The year 2023has led to so many advances in digital marketing trends when both creators and audiences felt a significant change in content marketing. It is clearly visible that more and more companies have now been using content marketing to boost brand awareness and brand health. It’s seen as a cost-efficient and effective way to drive revenue while giving the best customer experience possible.

In the competitive world of SEO content marketing, your strategy and tactics are what will set you apart from the competition. As a CEO of a professional SEO agency and an experienced digital marketer in this article, I will share how your right SEO content marketing strategy can help you take your ranking to the next level in 2023. See below the top SEO content marketing tips that real SEOs are using this year.

Defining Content Marketing

What do we really mean when we say content marketing? Most people are under the impression that content marketing is all about writing articles. Well, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Content marketing comes in a variety of forms such as marketing with the use of visuals, videos, infographics, and gifs are essential. These all are said to be effective and creative tools that can be used for your consistent marketing approach which will ultimately help drive profitable customer action.

With 2023 fast approaching, companies are keeping their eyes open for trends that are set to dominate the year ahead. We listed some of these trends for you:

#1. The Importance of Targeted Content

Well before we talk about the importance we should know the term “targeted content”. For any content marketing to be successful, it has to be defined or personalized to the specific target audiences. This is the only way by which you can get the audience you actually looking for.

There are millions of content out there each day, all fighting to get everyone’s attention. Given this situation, how can one stand out? How can you convince your customers to pick your content over that of your competitors in the industry? Simple. Make your content useful. Customers these days are more focused on getting the results that they want, so make sure your content is worth their time.

Know more about your customers by conducting research and finding out what’s important to them. Once you have all the answers, create targeted content that revolves around the results of your research. A classic example here would be Unilever which made the wise move of partnering with Google, for their All Things Hair campaign. Google analyzed more than 11 billion annual global searches that were linked to hair care and salon styling. Unilever then came up with targeted content based on the analyses and uploaded it on their social media accounts.

#2. Effective Use of Images in Your Content Marketing

Images are inseparable from content marketing and those who rely on getting results are already using images in their content. If you are still not keeping a check on that, here’s what you need to know:

• Blogs with images get 94% more views.
• Content that contains well-designed images get more shares and likes. Estimated from a survey that: Facebook posts with images get 86% more engagement, and tweets with Gifs get 55% more clicks and 150% more retweets). Images are said to be a resource to strengthen your brand identity.
• Bloggers and readers both love long-form content, but what about those who are not interested to read every word.
• The images should be interesting, engaging and something of their choice.

Well-optimized images are needed for a content marketing strategy. So to get an effective benefit of content marketing you need images. Not only that but if you are already using images in all your blogs or social campaign, you could still probably do it more excellently. A tip to do that – is by following your top competitor’s ideas.

Ideally, it is recommended to create your own images, and graphs or take snapshots of your findings. If you have hired a professional designer it is great otherwise just use a tool like Canva to develop infographics or social images. As you are using images for branding too, use your logo on the image for exposure and allow people to promote more.

#3. The Reign of Live Videos

According to Digital Marketing World, it’s highly possible that 13% of Internet traffic will be comprised of live videos come 2023. Using live videos in your marketing strategy makes a path for the target audience and brands to communicate all over the world. This is because almost all social media platforms now allow the streaming of live videos.

The only way left for it to go is up, especially in the years ahead. Scott Gifis, the president of AdRoll mentioned, that the forecasts show that the live-streaming industry will be worth over $70 billion come 2023. If that’s the case, then you should use live videos to your advantage. Take advantage of this opportunity to let your customers learn more about your company and the products and services that you offer.

#4. The Rise of Medium and Long-Tail Keywords

It is great to target medium-tail keywords as they are more specific than short-tails. They are also termed as less competitive, but they still have more search volume than long-tail keywords. Not specific to the voice searches, focusing on a single medium-tail keyword allows us to put time on a single piece of content instead of multiple contents. Thus it makes that content piece highly effective. Moreover, if we are able to get inbound links to the content, the medium tail will work exceptionally.

We all know that the search landscape changed when conversational artificial intelligence (AI), like chatbots and digital assistants, gained popularity. This indicates that by 2020, voice searches will dominate more than 50% of the queries on various search engines. Google is ready for this since their Hummingbird update allows people to use semantic and conversational phrases as opposed to the usual keyword phrases.

To cater to this content marketing trend, companies need to use semantic, long-tail keywords when creating content. The sooner these adjustments are made, the wider the audience reach will be.

#5. The Importance of Personalized Customer Experience

Another item on the list of content marketing trends in 2023 is customized customer experience. With the evolution of digital marketing, content has become something that’s experienced and not just consumed. Content marketing trends that appeal to the senses are seen as the most effective way to encourage users to take action. Gone are the days when our target customers are satisfied with just reading articles online. They want something more, and the only way to do that is by delivering a customized experience to let these customers know that they are important to the company, and their opinion matters a lot.

Personalized customer experience is also about using interactive content, which requires customers’ active engagement. In return, customers get hyper-relevant, real-time results that matter to them. These interactive content may come in the form of sweepstakes, animation, games, surveys, quizzes, and the use of AR lenses that allow companies to reach out to a wide audience.

#6. The Prominence of Immersive Technologies

5G is expected to be at its highest potential in 2023, requiring marketers and brands to come up with content that’s compatible with it. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are the biggest beneficiaries of this immersive technology. Clifford Gross, the CEO of Lucyd, mentioned three benefits that AR brings to the table:

• Buyers will have a deeper and more personalized customer experience.
• AR will make it easier for buyers to make purchases since companies can reach them in real-time.
• Improvements in information asymmetry, causing an increase in sales.

Knowing what content marketing trends are set to dominate will help companies adjust their strategies to adapt to these changes. While innovations mean a wider audience reach, it also means coming up with content that is compatible with these technological developments. Most of the premium won’t be placed on writing in the Year 2023, rather, it’ll be on the delivery and format of the content.

5 Tips To Improve Your Content Strategy

Final Words

Having a deeper understanding of your target customers still remains key to coming up with great content. Once you’ve got that down pat, it’s time to do the necessary adjustments so you can keep up with the content marketing trends in 2023. It may seem like a task too daunting, but trust us when we say that you’ll reap the fruits of your amazing efforts before 2023 ends. With the competition being so cutthroat, it all boils down to content creation and knowing how to appeal to your customers’ emotions.

Are you ready to welcome 2023 with a bang? We hope you can do this by staying up with the trends. Good luck!