Here we are in the Q3 of 2017. In the next few months we will say goodbye to 2017, and embrace 2018.

At this point, many of us – content marketers have already made plans for the coming year as to how to implement and carry out our content marketing campaigns.

About this time last year many predictions were made as to the trends that will shape 2017. We’ve seen many of those trends come to reality with amazing results.

Some of the trends that were predicted for 2017 are still trending and will continue way into 2018 and beyond.

However, as a content marketer, some questions you need to take to heart are:

• Have you filled out your content marketing calendar for 2018?
• Have you planned out your content task for the coming year?

Before you put together your content marketing plan and fill out your calendar for 2018, please take into consideration the trends that will dominate content marketing in 2018.

What Are The Trends That Will Shape Content Marketing In 2018?

Here are 5 trends that will dominate the 2018 and beyond.

1.Utilize User Generated Content (UGC)

User generated content is a great way to get to the hearts of your readers, because they’re the ones creating the contents.

All you do in the process is to refine or modify the contents according to their needs and present it to them on your blog in a more interesting and informative format.

What Is User Generated Content?

Simply put, user generated content is any type of content produced or contributed by consumers to your site or social media channels.

An article by Christie Barakat^[1] shows that millennial are spending 5 hours each day engaged with UGC, because they trust it 50? more than other contents, and find it to be 35? more memorable.

Furthermore, Adweek^[2] also revealed that 85? of consumers say they trust UGC than others. As you may already know, trust & credibility are most important to your marketing success.

If your audience and customers trust you, they will keep coming back for more of your content, product or services.

How Can You Get User Generated Content?

There are many ways to get UGC. You can do this by:

• Auditing your fan contents
• Searching relevant hashtags
• Identifying consumer trends in your niche
• Host events
• Leverage industry influencers, etc,.

2.Do You Have a Content Calendar?

We understand that content marketing is the primary marketing campaign for 90 percent of B2B marketers. And 52 percent of marketers who are not using content marketing in their efforts to grow their business, say they will employ content marketing to their marketing campaigns in the next few months.

It means that, before 2017 runs out, content marketing will be the main marketing strategy for more than 95% of B2B marketers.

Content Marketing Institute^[4] recent report shows that from 2016 ~ 2017, B2B marketers who saw remarkable increase in the success of their content marketing campaigns attributed 85? of their success to content creation, 72? to content strategy.

So, in-order to stand out from your competitors, you need to create a content calendar that provides you with sets of requirements for your marketing campaigns.

Ensure that your content calendar has a clear success measurement strategy that can be updated accordingly as the need may be.

A powerful content calendar will save you great amount of time and energy, keep you and your team organized, and also retain your reader’s engagement.

3.Video Marketing Will Continue To Rise

Why You Should Use Videos In Your Content Marketing Campaigns?

Video content marketing has risen over time to become the #1 go-to in terms of visual content.

Here’s what the brain behind Facebook said about videos.

“I think video is a megatrend, almost as big as mobile.” – Mark Zuckerberg

Studies reveals that 59? of business executives^[4] said they would prefer to watch videos than to read text content. It also found that by 2020 and beyond, videos will account for 80? of all internet traffic.

As you can see, video has the power to boost your marketing campaigns and increase duration, because it transforms users into promoters – in that 92? of mobile video users reshare videos with fans and friends on all social channels, thereby creating over 1,200? more shares on social than text and image content combined.

Facebook Live, Instagram video, and Twitter’s video are among the newest options to try to keep up with the rise of video marketing.

4.Micro-Influencer Marketing Will Gain Momentum

What is Micro-influencer? A Micro-influencer is a social media user who has direct personal connection with his/her followers, understand their needs, and has the power to move them to action.

When we hear of influencer marketing^[5], our first thought is usually “the use of celebrities to market our products and services” – either by way of endorsements or other marketing channels.

For example, Michael Heller, CEO of Talent Resources – told US Weekly that companies pay Kim Kardashian up to $500,000 for a post on Instagram^[6], while sisters Khloé and Kourtney get paid $250,000 per Instagram post.

Not many brands can afford that much. For this reason Micro-influencer marketing has gained momentum, because anybody as John Hall points out can be an influencer.
“Sometimes, all it takes is one person sharing a piece of content for the right publication, group, or individual audience member to amplify it significantly…” – John Hall

This is a digital edge where many locals are becoming influencers in their own rights. An influencer is no longer one who has millions of followers, but a person who has the power to move people to action.

5.Mobile Marketing Will Not Slow Down

Mobile marketing is a goldmine, so big that Mark Zuckerberg mentioned earlier, said that video is almost as big as mobile.

In fact, research found that 96?^[7] of consumers make inquiries and research about products and services through smartphones.

According to a research by StatCounter^[8], global mobile internet users surpassed traditional computer users by over 51?

As a result, StatCounter CEO said:
“This should be a wake up call especially for small businesses, sole traders and professionals to make sure that their websites are mobile friendly. – Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter.

The graphs shows that mobile will not be slowing down anytime soon, but will continue to rise even beyond 2020.

What Does This Mean For Marketers?

In simple terms, you need to optimize your website and web content to be mobile friendly.

Conclusion

Here we have the 5 trends to watch in 2018. There are many other trends that will shape digital marketing in the coming year.

However, these 6 trends are a must to consider as you plan to create your content marketing calendar for 2018, because they’ll help you grow your business rapidly.