3 Things You Should Forget When Creating Content For 2017

Do you have a content marketing strategy for 2017 yet?

Most marketers will have already laid their plans to create their branded content for the new year, but what they don’t know is they’re going to do it wrong.

I want to share some ideas on why you should begin to forget some things about content creation from 2016 and enter into a new year with fresh ideas for your business.

#1 – Forget About Generic Content

You are a trailblazer, a pioneer, someone who stands out from the crowd.

So why would you fall in line with everyone else when it comes to your content?

All I see is the same old generic posts talking about the same old thing you can see a million other places.

The attention span of your audience is only getting shorter, and in 2017 it won’t be any different.

You’ve got 8 seconds to create powerful pieces of content with hooks and help which makes them yearn for more!

5 Social Media Platforms To Get Traffic, 3 Ways To Get More Followers, and more topics like these will be the last nail in the coffin of your business in 2017.

Everyone is doing that.

Don’t just throw up content for the sake of creating content because you need to create something.

The old idea is to know you need great content, but really you rush and throw something together because it’s Monday and your audience is depending on you to publish something.

In my experience, creating a great piece of content is dependent upon how well you know what your audience needs or wants…and then narrowing that ‘thing’ down.

You already know your audience wants to learn more about getting social media traffic to their site. So it’s up to you to determine their likes and dislikes within that specific area.

For example: How to drive targeted traffic from Facebook using word hooks.

You have learned they want to build traffic from Facebook, you have also learned they need a little help with their writing as well. There is also a determining factor that you will help them discover areas in their audience that shows them the target market.

You get my point.

From there, simply niche it down even tighter than what I’ve explained. Yes, less people will come, but you have more of a chance that these targeted people will perform whatever action you want them to perform.

#2 – Forget About Short & Sweet

Your audience will give you 8 seconds to capture their attention before they bounce. In fact, your audience has less attention span than a goldfish.

So that means we should write short content correct?

Wait a minute!

There was a study that explained 2,000 words in your content performed better in 2016. This means the people who land on your content, are being hooked by what you are telling them in the first paragraph (it’s got to be good) and are hanging on to what you’re telling them.

See how creating content for a target audience works?

But what about SEO?

I read an article that describes what the search engines prefer and it stated you simply need at least 500 words in your content to get by.

So which is it?

Do I write long content for a real person, or can I shorten it up, save time, and write for a search engine robot?

In my experience, a SEO bot never once opted in, nor did it click a buy now button…not once! After all the attention I gave it and it treated me that way.

Do yourself a favor and write for your fellow homo sapiens.

Long content can help your brand build trust with your audience. It will make them want to share because it is helpful.

I’m not knocking SEO either. One can write the long piece of content and then backtrack their content and do the correct SEO where it flows organically throughout the article.

Done right, long content coupled with SEO is the perfect marriage for your business.

#3 – Forget About Only ‘Writing’ Content

You’ve heard it before, 2017 will be the year when video marketing will take over your business. According to Syndacast, 74% of all traffic will be from video marketing in 2017.

So my question is, when are you going to start your video marketing campaign?

Video storytelling will go viral next year because of one simple fact. Our brain implants images that have impacted us instantly.

You already know an image is powerful. Congratulations. content creation just got hairier because there will be a mass influx of content creators producing video in 2017.

Here’s some stats on video marketing:

• Including a video in an email increases click through rates
• Including video on your landing page increases conversions by 80%
• Invodo states 92% of mobile video users share it with others

The list goes on and on.

Content marketing just grew legs with video marketing and your business should be taking advantage of this strategy in the coming year.

More and more people will watch videos in 2017 and don’t let your business be left in the dust because you feel writing your content will suffice.

Over to you

When 2017 rounds the corner will your business be ready? There are strategies we all should have in place to allow us to adapt to the ever changing industry we’re working in.

Take the temperature of your audience and determine what you need to know in order to create the perfect piece of content for them to react to.

And if you don’t have time, I can always help!

What about you? Do you have some tips for other businesses for 2017 when it comes to creating content? Let us know about them in the comments!