Ten years ago, keyword density was the biggest Google ranking factor, so if you wanted to rank for a keyword like weight loss with a keto light, you’d insert it up to fifty times in your content. You can’t do this today.

Ten years ago, you could buy a large Facebook page for a few dollars and send a broadcast you’re sure everyone will get. Today, you’ll be lucky to get a 10% engagement from your own organic followers.

Future trends in marketing are not forecasts for ten years from now, the future of marketing is tomorrow and even today. One algorithm change from Google and the entire industry is restrategizing.

Here are five future trends you don’t want to miss out on and why you should be thinking about them:

1. Micro Influencers

The trend is quite clear on this one, they’re only going to get bigger.

Follower count used to be the biggest part of the hiring process for influencers, so take two fitness coaches, the guy with a million social media followers was always going to get the gig over the influencer with a hundred thousand followers.

The marketing results have been analyzed and that has started to change things. If the guy with a hundred thousand followers is a senior fitness coach, a company advertising geriatric products will take him over the general fitness coach with a million followers.

Another thing going for these micro influencers is that because they have a smaller following, they spend more time engaging with their followers and can build trust that will come in handy when recommending products to their followers.

If influencer marketing is something you do and you have to pay influencers for exposure, work with the micro influencers, it’s cheaper and they’ll deliver higher conversions anyway.

2. Content Marketing

While ad networks and their affiliates continue to grow in size, the gap for quality content marketing continues to widen and it’s easy to make an impact by just filling a part of it.

It’s simple, many people will rather throw money at advertising because of the immediate results they can get instead of playing the long game and investing in content that consistently markets your brand.

There are several content marketing trends you latch on to and using content clusters is one of them.

Content clusters help place you as an authority in an area in your industry. Let’s take link building, the right content marketing can get you seen as a specialist in that in marketing circles but you can’t do that with just one pillar link building case study post.

You can have that pillar post where you talk about the basics of link building and list the techniques available but the expertise tag only comes when you’ve published several posts across several sites on link building so Google begins to see all those footprints and your pillar article ranks higher.

That happens because you now have the expertise tag. Google tried to standardize this with their authorship program in the past before they shut it down but those author footprints still count for something today.

3. Consumer Personalization

User experience is a huge marketing metric these days and large agencies are hiring dedicated UX teams to handle this.

Consumer personalization is a huge part of the user experience and you can’t fix that without providing tailored experiences to each customer.

Collect information from your customers at different points of the buying process so they don’t get overwhelmed with a huge form on signing up but encourage them to get a profile on your site and you can always work your way up from there to other personal information.

Customer retention is always cheaper than customer acquisition so if you’re not making more money from your existing customers, the problem could simply be that you don’t know them enough.

Personalization should be done in every area of the business so if you’re optimizing email marketing techniques, something as simple as including the first name of the recipient in every email is a good start.

4. Privacy Protection

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rolled out in May 2018 and if you were subscribed to a few company email lists, you’ll know privacy policy updates were announced across the web.

Most sites today have the cookie box pop up to notify visitors that their data is being collected while they visit the site.

There are more regulations set to be implemented over the coming months and years and it’s easy to see why, governments are beginning to care more and more about the data of their citizens.

It’s time to make your customers know you’re protecting their information and how you’re doing that.

The first thing you should do is to get an SSL certificate installed on your site, it’s even a ranking factor these days. Then display all your security badges especially if you collect financial data.

Finally, update your contact information, privacy policy and terms of use pages in line with current data regulations, email these changes to your customers and inform them of other things you’re doing to protect their data.

5. Voice Search

Write for human beings and not for bots is a common saying in marketing circles these days. Voice search already makes up 20% of all Google searches on mobile.

As mobile search continues to widen the gap between it and desktop search, marketers that use natural language in their content will keep winning on the search results pages.

This makes sense because if you use everyday language in your content you’ll be including a lot of low-competition keywords in your content and that will get you ranking for those along with your target keyword.

Sales for voice assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home are steadily on the rise, this means more people will be asking questions with their voices in the future.

Take advantage of this trend, start writing in a conversational tone and try to put a friendly twist to everything you publish on the web, even technical content.

Make sure your site is mobile-friendly. A mobile-friendly site will be easy to navigate and this will help Google with selecting snippets of your content to use as responses to a voice search.

Local SEO has a huge voice search component so if you’re optimizing a local business, make sure you don’t forget the common keywords people will say, the phrase “near me” dominates a lot of these voice queries.

A 2017 joint report from Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs revealed that 60% of B2B marketers found their content marketing strategies were more effective than the previous year.

To maintain that growth, both B2B and B2C marketers need to remain vigilant in the ever changing world of content marketing. It’s hard, I know, but keep your chin up and your pen down.

Some say organic content marketing is doomed because of video and Facebook’s ‘pay to play’ method of business, but really it’s just a matter of adapting to new trends. What worked in 2017 may not work in 2018, after all. So to that effect, here’s a list of trends that will affect the world of content marketing this year.

The Rise of Retargeted ads, Voice-Accessible Content and other Content Marketing Trends

1. Consumers Expect Transparency

Do you know the saying, “People don’t want to be sold to”? It’s true, especially for millennials. America’s biggest group of consumers are tired of advertisements, pushy or not. They want companies to be authentic and transparent in everything they do. Some already see charitable contributions, corporate social responsibility gimmicks, and environmental friendly claims as another way for brands to promote themselves.

Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey clearly shows what consumers trust now. As you can see, word of mouth referral or recommendations from friends still rank number one. “Consumer opinions posted online” or reviews, rank number two at 66% in North America. These trends will continue well into 2018.

That’s why businesses, big and small, need to increase their efforts in being transparent with their customers. Be honest with product failures or problems. Don’t wait for it to blow up in your face after several customers rant online.

2. Continued Rise of Audio and Video Plus Emerging Content Formats

Video content is one of the big winners last year, as more marketers learned how to shoot and edit videos more affordably. More businesses and solopreneurs jumped into livestreaming, too.

Podcasting is still popular as well, and shows no signs of being a direct competition in video’s share of audience.

This year, however, will not just bring us more videos and podcasts. It will continue the spread of new content formats like smart chatbots and voice-accessible content. Alexa and Google Home were mainly used to command other IoT appliances before. Now, they can be used to play content.

Examples:

• CPR Instructions from American Heart Association
• Ask Purina allows you to ask questions about pets
• WebMD allows you to ask health-related questions

3. Less Publishing, Better Stories

Orbit Media’s latest annual survey revealed that bloggers are publishing less frequently than they did in the years before. Bloggers publish less but spend more time on each post. The same report shows that bloggers spent 39% more time on one post than they did in 2014.

So don’t be scared of writing lengthy, more in-depth posts.

4. Livestream Rules

Facebook confirmed that people spend 3x more time watching livestream videos than pre-recorded videos. Their data also shows that users comment up to 10 times more on live videos.

Live videos work for almost any niche, not just for recipes and travel. Product sellers can give a demo of their product on live video, so they can show users how it works in real-time while answering questions that come up. You can also take people on a behind-the-scenes trip to your company, to see how you get things done.

5. Written Content Still Fuels the Customer’s Journey

Of course, the rise of videos doesn’t mean the written word is dead. In fact, the need for written content is embedded even more in different aspects of the customer’s journey.

Just think about it, almost every type of content you need at different stages of the funnel needs written content.

• Infographics
• Social media posts
• Lead magnets
• Email marketing
• Landing pages
• Articles and blog posts
• White papers
• Videos – script and subtitles
• Podcasts
• PPC – ad headlines and descriptions

And for Advanced SEO, topic clusters with super in depth text content are kicking ass right now for our agency.

6. Remarketing is Booming

Remarketing, or showing previous visitors ads of your products and services on different websites or apps, is becoming popular. Having a Facebook Pixel on your website, for instance, gives you the ability to track how your audience interacts with your website, so you can then use the data gathered to show them the right ads. Remarketing also works in Google Adwords.

This hardly comes as a surprise, as it’s been documented that 87% of consumers use more than one device simultaneously. Marketers and publishers use remarketing as a way to adapt to this relatively new viewing habit. Instead of just reaching a consumer once or twice, they do it multiple times on different platforms and gadgets.

It may sound tedious but data from Salesforce shows it takes up to six to eight touch points to qualify a lead. Of course, better leads are informed and further along in the buyer’s journey than a customer who’s only seen one of your ads or marketing materials, so that’s one reason it works. Data from a ComScore study shows that retargeting ads can lead to as much as 726% increase in site visits after a month of seeing retargeted ads, so it must be worth the effort.

7. Use of Voice and Natural Language in Search Grows

Gartner predicts we’ll no longer need keyboards to search online soon. Voice search already comprise about 20% of Google’s search volume on mobile devices last 2016. ComScore expects this number to balloon up to 50% in 2020.

What does this mean for content marketers and SEO? They have to find a way to optimize their content for voice and natural language apps, like Siri, Cortana, or Google Assistant. In essence, this means optimizing for how people talk, and how they might ask questions when looking for information online.

Get out of your comfort zone

The new year, for me, isn’t just about resolutions. It’s about trying new things to get out of your comfort zone and see how else your existing processes can be improved. Try one of these trends here and see how it works out for you.

Which content marketing trends will you try?

A well-written FAQ page is a powerful tool that can establish your expertise and increase online sales, all while keeping your customers satisfied and well-informed.

It’s not just a customer-service tool. When done right; an FAQ page can help website visitors at every stage of the customer journey. It will help customers canvassing for different options understand what makes your products and services different from the competition, and later on answer any hesitations they might have about purchasing from you.

An FAQ page can also improve your website’s SEO ranking. By using keywords as anchor texts for some questions, you can help these questions appear on Google’s SERPs of your product or site. A reader might not be searching for answers specific to your company, but they might still see the answers you posted on the FAQ page via Google search, especially if those questions are keyword optimized and applicable to your market and not just your product.

Unfortunately, merely writing a list of questions and answers won’t give you a boost in SEO and sales. Creating a well-written FAQ page / section of your site that drives traffic and establishes your online authority needs serious planning.

Situations that Call for an FAQ Page

Not all websites need an FAQ, so make sure your business meets the following criteria before you invest time in writing one.

• Customers and website visitors email you / ask you similar questions / lot of questions.
• Your products or services invite questions that answerable in a direct manner, and not on a case-to-case basis.
• You have landing pages set-up that you can link to from the FAQ page so that you can continue the customer’s journey from question to sales conversion. If you don’t have these landing pages ready yet, set them up first.

How to Write an FAQ Page that Boost Online Sales and SEO

Find the Right Questions

There are two ways to look for questions to tackle on your FAQ page:

• Look at your inbox and support tickets for recurring or similar questions
• Anticipate customer objections about your products and services, and then find a way to turn them into a question. Think about which questions will educate readers about your product, and hopefully increase demand at the same time.
• Use SEMrush and various keyword tools to look for topic ideas people are asking about with long tail searches.
• See what people are asking on Quora about your industry.

Once you have a list, consider removing questions that don’t encourage further customer engagement, or address relevant concerns. For example, some FAQ pages include a brief history of the company under the question, “How was the company founded?” or something to that effect. This information is better suited for your about page.

Organize the Questions in a Logical Manner

You can organize your FAQs in different ways, but the two most common are:

• Listing the most commonly asked questions on top and leaving the less asked or complex questions toward the bottom part of the list
• Group related questions into easy to interpret categories, such as “Products,” “Shipping,” and “Payment.”

If your FAQ addresses a ton of questions, you may want to list the questions and put the answers on a separate page to keep the FAQ list short. You may also use hyperlinks that redirect to the bottom part of the page where all the answers are listed. Adding a search bar on your FAQ page can also help your readers search information when they’re not sure how to find it.

For example, Zappos’ FAQ covers a lot of ground, so they listed all the questions together and categorized them into different sections. You’ll only see the answer once you click on the question’s link.

Write Clear and Professional Answers

Your FAQ page, like the other pages on your website, affects how visitors see your brand. Write in a professional yet conversational tone, so your answer doesn’t sound mechanical. Check for spelling and grammar errors.

Always answer the question asked, but don’t be afraid to reframe it so that your products or services are shown in a better light. You don’t have to lie to do this. Let’s say one of the FAQ questions is, “Why are your products so expensive?” Answering with your product’s manufacturing costs won’t win you any customers. Focus on the quality of the materials you use instead.

Limit your answer to the question asked to avoid confusion. While the depth of your answers may establish your authority, a long winding answer that’s off the topic may confuse readers. Using the same question above, your answer could include information about the quality of your materials, but there’s no need to go into detail into how you built the product. That information is off-topic and is better off used in another question—“How are your products made?”

Don’t be afraid to inject a little humor in your answers, especially if it’s fitting for your products and services.

Use Images, Videos, and Other Visuals

Some questions are easier to explain with the help of visuals. Include a video or a couple of screenshots when illustrating instructions for a specific process. You can also use images, charts, and other visuals to make huge chunks of text easier to read.

Include Your Contact Information

Put a dedicated customer support email address and your company’s support phone number, if you have one, at the bottom of your FAQ page. The bottom part of the FAQ page is the most ideal location for your phone and email address because this encourages readers to look for the answers first before contacting you. Below is an example from Dropbox, where they put the option of reaching them at the bottom of the FAQ page and provided different options to get additional support.

FAQ pages have limitations, sometimes the answer a visitor is looking for isn’t there. Other times, you already tackled the question, but the information isn’t enough or exactly what the reader needs. That’s why you should always include an option to contact you if their question isn’t on your FAQ page.

Not a Static Page

Your FAQ page isn’t a static page like the landing pages for your products. It should be updated regularly to include new questions you receive, and new products you want to promote. You should also delete outdated or irrelevant questions, such as those related to a phased out product.

Take it up a level for featured snippets and voice search

If you ask the question and answer it on your page in short and then ideally also in a longer form lower on the page, you maybe gain enough authority to be featured at the top of Google before search results. This usually won’t happen unless you are good enough to be in the top 3 ranking results.

Google Home and Amazon Echo/Alexa will sometime grab these featured snippets as what they speak back to a user who asks a question.

Can you afford not to build your FAQ authority and be part of the voice search trend?