We are rapidly approaching the end of 2019 and, amongst all the festive chaos, thoughts are gradually beginning to turn to 2020.

 

A new year always seems like the opportunity for a fresh start. We are going to be bigger and better and brighter in every area of our lives. And sometimes that does happen. But the problem can be that we can risk throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. 

 

So for example, when thinking about your content strategy for 2020, yes of course you want it to be better than ever. But that means keeping on doing some of the things you are already doing not just adding in a lot of new elements.

 

With the festive season in mind, let’s take a look at three wise things you should keep doing and three wise new elements you could helpfully add to your content strategy for 2020.

 

Three things to keep doing

 

• Purposeful content

 

It is always tempting to jump on the latest bandwagon when it comes to content: and indeed we will see later some new trends that you should definitely consider incorporating if you are not already doing so.

 

But always be careful not to let this detract from the overall quality of your content. Don’t get too gimmicky. And also don’t churn out content for the sake of it. Make each piece of content count. 

 

The key thing to remember is that your content should not just be trying to gain instant wins in terms of SERPs results, but also gradually to build up loyal readers and followers. In fact, as more marketers realise this then there will not only be increased competition for rankings, but also for the best quality content to attract that all-important brand loyalty.

 

Content needs to be well-researched, tailored to the needs of the target audience, and consistent with the brand’s tone and style. As we will see later, visuals are becoming increasingly important so you should also aim to include items such as images and infographics.

 

So the quality of your content does need serious ongoing attention in 2020. Both B2B and B2C marketers continued to increase spending on content creation during 2019, and that trend shows no signs of slowing down.

 

• Customer-centric content

 

Leading on from the above, it is vital that your content puts your audience first. As part of this, you should constantly be aiming to map your customer’s digital journey. Spend time identifying all the touch points where a customer interacts with your organisation, and wherever possible tie these back to your content strategy. 

 

According to the Content Marketing Institute, 90% of the most successful content marketers prioritise their audience’s information needs over any kind of sales or promotional message. So sometimes you need to offer help, information, guidance or entertainment without the predictable Call To Action at the end.

 

By consistently doing this you will build trust with your audience. Your content will give them what they need. The better you know them, and understand their search intent, the more targeted and niche content you will be able to create. 

 

Creating content of this nature will not only gain you followers and increase your brand authority and reputation, but will also get you in Google’s good books, as this is the kind of content that they are now prioritising. Let’s look at that now ……

 

• Keeping up with Google changes

 

The most recent Google algorithm change is BERT, and it will continue to be vital to keep up with changes to Google algorithms during 2020. 

 

It’s also important to be aware of the ongoing qualities that Google are looking for and that will help to achieve good SERPs ratings. Google has a team of around 16,000 quality raters, whose role is to determine whether or not websites are high quality. Google quality raters use a guideline document called Google Quality Raters’ Guidelines. It is well worth looking through this to gain a better understanding of the criteria on which your website is likely to be judged.

 

A specific subset of these guidelines – which occurs frequently throughout the Google Quality Raters’ Guidelines – is the concept of E-A-T : Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. For any web pages that have a beneficial purpose, the level of E-A-T on that page is particularly important. 

 

You can improve your E-A-T by ensuring that your site is continually updated with new, relevant and correct information. It is important to include bios and credentials of both your business and your authors so that it is clear where the information is coming from and how specialised and current it is. Also ensure that you not only have links out to other authoritative sites but also work hard to gain incoming links from such sites.

 

All these measures can help to improve and maintain your E-A-T and hence your overall Google Quality Rating. 

 

Three things to add

 

• Video stories

 

When looking ahead to develop your content strategy further in 2020, a really good place to start is to include more video in your content. The visual side of social media is becoming ever more and more popular. 

 

Youtube is now the second most popular social media platform. It now has 1.9 billion users worldwide, and the only platform with more monthly active users is Facebook. 79% of internet users now have a Youtube account.

 

Video has rapidly become the form of content that most consumers prefer. Every single day one billion hours of videos on YouTube are watched and billions of views generated. 

 

Video can also form a critical part of various stages in the customer journey. Many people prefer to learn about new products and services via video. They may not yet have the intention of buying, but over 50% of shoppers say that online video has helped them to decide which specific brand or product to buy.

 

Therefore a big must-do for 2020 is for marketers to leverage the power of video. But for a video to be successful it has to have a story at its heart. As well as the technical side of producing a video, it needs to tell a story that will engage viewers. So even with increased use of visual media, content is still king.

 

• Custom-branded imagery

 

As well as videos, look out for more visual effects to use during 2020. 

 

The first of these is Augmented Reality (AR). This enables you to overlay computer-generated images and information onto the real world, for example by using the camera function of a smartphone. This gives users the option of seeing virtual items or information while looking at real things. Typical uses of AR on web pages could be to help consumers choose products, for example offering a virtual dressing room or interior design experience. 

 

Another growing trend is to create personalised GIFs from images or video frames. There are websites such as Giphy that can help you to do this. Skilful use of personalised GIFs can enable a marketer to regularly create branded custom imagery to complement their content.

 

• User-Generated Content

 

With the ever-growing popularity of messaging apps, there is an ideal opportunity to harness the marketing power of User-Generated Content (UGC).

 

It is estimated that 85% of consumers are more influenced by UGC than by branded content. Why? Consumers trust UGC because it’s written by real people – other consumers – not sales-people. Customers usually prefer consumer reviews and insights to brand marketing efforts. 

 

But rather than seeing UGC as a parallel stream with which you have to compete, why not tap into it? Give consumers the opportunity to engage and interact with your brand and you might just find that much more content is being created for you because you are broadening your resource base and engaging with your community.

 

If you can create a positive vibe and engage that community then your brand could benefit enormously from word of mouth sharing on the messaging apps so beloved of  Millennial and Generation Z consumers. This taps into the concept of “dark social” ie where your content and information is shared fairly randomly via channels such as messengers, email and texts. These shares are usually not attributable (hence the description “dark”) but can still spread the word and gain you valuable referral traffic.

 

So do everything you can to engage with your community. Don’t see it – or subsequent “unauthorised” sharing on dark social – as a threat but as a welcome opportunity.

 

So, to conclude, when developing your content strategy for 2020 we have looked at three things to keep doing well, and three new elements to consider introducing. If you can do at least some of the above six things then your content strategy should go from strength to strength in 2020.