You may have heard the saying: 'content is king'. Cheesy, yes. True? Absolutely not. Content IS the internet. So what's in-store for content in 2012? Here are five key trends...
1. Search remains central to user experience. People will continue to use search engines to find what they are looking for in the first instance, especially Google. If you want to be found, you need to be smart - know your target keywords, update your blog and ensure your site is rich with valuable and targeted content.
2. Social circles explode. Facebook and Twitter were delivered a blow by Google last week. The search behemoth launched Google+, which favours its own results over others in the SERPs. Will it be huge? Sure, they've got their cash-cow search engine to help ensure that. But Google have failed in this area before - and the online debate about antitrust, monopolisation and viability won't help. Watch this space, and be prepared to integrate Google+ into your content plan this year. You'll also see more vertical platforms pop up, e.g. Touristlink; plus check out Pinterest for something refreshingly different.
3. Budgets may grow, and so will expectations. Rising confidence in the effectiveness of digital content will see many content budgets increase in 2012 - more this year than in any previous year. With additional spend comes increasingly ambitious ROI and growth targets. Content is now widely adopted as a core metric in improving conversions so it makes sense to measure it, as you would other key parts of the business.
4. Your real voice, not your phone-voice. You know how some people answer the phone like they've suddenly become this weird corporate robot? I think about 95% of websites sound like this too. Maybe it didn't matter a few years ago, but you're facing fierce competition in 2012. This year, it's all about keeping it real to stay ahead, so inject some personality into your webpages.
5. Optimise for on-the-go. Smartphones and tablets have become more popular in recent years (understatement of the century). In 2012, 94% of smartphones users will access the internet from their device and overall mobile internet usage will increase by 17.1% - mobile stats that should not be ignored. Make sure your website content is optimised for mobile devices, consider a .mobi site and create a mobile application for even more digital love.
I'd be really interested to see what other people think when it comes to content trends in 2012. There are undoubtedly more trends than the five I've mentioned above, and I'm sure there will be a few surprises thrown in as well.
Nice summary, I'd re-emphasise the likes of Pinterest as the emerging social trend enabling people to participate on the web with a little effort as possible, a single click can now get you involved in a social way. People want quicker and quicker ways of partcipating... The instant gratification generation!
Good point! Will be interesting to see how FB and Twitter continue to integrate (with other sites) and simplify in order to meet the needs of the instant gratification generation too.
Every year for about the last 5 years has been touted as 'the year of the mobile' - this time it actually looks that it's true. We'll shortly be in a market where the majority of handsets are smart phones, so mobile has to be part of your content strategy this year - and not just porting your website over to mobile. Think about what content people consume when they're aout and about - it's likely to be very different from the content people view on your website.
Very informative.. we have just started to look into those new platforms and true enough.. the social media market has been evolving so fast and both us end customers and providers should keep up on what is going to be most helpful in the end (oh so far what keeps on going on). Thanks for this post!
Don't forget non Google sites like foursquare. The same when you are using search platforms - don't put all your eggs in the Google basket if you want a balanced Internet in the future. Suggest people use Firefox instead of Chrome - remember to clean out your cookies from your cache periodically to get rid of unwanted tracking in your search history
I agree about mobile content, people need to make sure that it downloads faster and have a different format, viewing most pages in your phone browser is just annoying. Pinterest is great, I'm a fan since it started and feel proud of my boards, my little sister is addicted to tumblr. Foursquare I just don't get, it has few benefits in nz right now. Perhaps more businesses need to use Foursquare as a promotional tool, and give benefits to their regular customers in return for the online check-in shout-out. It is a phenomenon elsewhere, but though I have it on my phone I don't use it. I check in with localist because the localist app I'm usually on already reading, besides, it's cute and PINK.
Goggle is the best solution of the business . Localist