Gone are the days when content writing was a marketing tactic used by a few elite brands. It’s a tried-and-true strategy that has been shown to boost traffic, brand recognition, and authority for any business. Whether newly launched or seasoned firms, solopreneurs, or corporate, content writing is integral in the new age digital world.
However, consumer behaviors and preferences have also changed with the ever-evolving digital landscape and that requires brands and entrepreneurs to stay updated with the latest content writing trends.
Hence, this article will reveal the content writing trends one must adopt to stand out in the market and level up their content strategy.
#1 Content Based on Social Listening
Social listening is going to top the list of 2023 content writing trends. That is due to its importance for creating highly targeted content. The term “social listening” refers to observing and paying attention to conversations on social media platforms. In marketing, where the customer is the king, social listening helps write and create content that matters to the target audience.
Customers mostly buy from a brand to which they can relate. Therefore, social listening helps in gaining the attention of the brand’s audience by creating content that interests or concerns them.
To use social listening to their advantage, content writers of the leading brands create content that births from topics mentioned in direct customer feedback, public forums, and comments on social media posts and blogs. It helps them address their prospects’ problems and issues through detailed blog posts, how-to guides, and white papers. Hence, social listening has become vital, one of the quickest ways to build a deep connection with the target groups.
#2 Long-form Content Still Rules the Content World
When it comes to content writing trends, long-form always stays on the list. Thanks to its several advantages, be it better SEO results or the potential to rank or convertible copies. While many argue that attention span is shrinking, the statistics tell a different story. Nearly 12 million search results on Google were analyzed, showing that the average first-page result length was around 1400-1500 words. Also, LinkedIn posts with an average size of 1900-2000 words performed the best, showing the analytics.
Expert marketers opine that it is not a good sign if the audience still has doubts after reading the sales copy. Therefore, the content strategy must include well-researched and detailed long-form articles, blog posts, and sales copy.
However, even with the long-form content, it’s a long way to go. The content must be engaging, add value to the audience, and solve the purpose of the readers. For instance, landing page content should convey all the information the audience needs. It must include the benefits, features, social proof, and proper call-to-actions, answering the audience’s problems. Other examples of long-form content are detailed case studies, real-data-based surveys, and insightful commentaries that audiences can use for their benefit.
#3 Personalized Content Writing
Another content writing trend that will rule the content market in 2023 is personalization. It has been a major force in the rise of many digital marketing trends. Since the internet is evolving into a more personal medium, one can’t win over readers with generic writing. That is where personalization comes in. For example, if the brand’s target audience is generation Z, the content writers adapt to their tone and style and even use slang. It makes the readers feel they are talking to someone their age or someone who understands them.
What makes it a great content writing practice is that it puts forward the brand’s individuality and forges meaningful connections with its audience. Moreover, it beats machine-generated content and gives a human touch to the brand. Rarely do people know that their audience craves a sense of familiarity and comprehension from them. In a world where generic ads and recycled content dominate social feeds, everyone yearns for meaningful interactions with real people and brands.
#4 Primary Research is Taking the Lead
While companies publish blogs and articles based on secondary research (information already available in the market), first-hand knowledge is what many tech companies are using to create fresh and valuable content.
With AI-generated content, the standard issue is that it utters what has already been said instead of helping the readers with their real-life problems. However, service-based companies bring together their team who understand the product and the responses from the users to get the needful insights. When companies create content based on these insights, they make life-long investments with their content assets.
That is also one of the reasons people prefer to ask questions on social listening platforms like Quora, what it means for businesses to bring fresh perspectives and address real-life questions to build strong connections with their audiences.
Creating the right content for the target audience is more important in content writing. Recklessly creating a massive amount of content will only lead to cash burn and burden the companies’ content marketing budgets. To stand out, start-ups and well-established brands will have to invest time in recording the insights of their executives and users to write content that not only relates to their target audience but answers their more complex and user-based questions.
Q&A sessions and focus group discussions can be excellent sources for creating fresh content. For instance, with the help of executives, content writers can create product guides that serve as contemporary customer support, especially for B2B software sellers.
#5 Enthralling Scripts for Video Marketing
It’s no secret that videos are making history in digital marketing. This trend will accelerate significantly by 2023. Businesses whose wares are visually focused or need in-depth product tutorials must always pay attention to the power of video content.
However, many individuals need to see the importance of a well-written script, which is the backbone of any compelling and successful video. To make a captivating video, the content writers put much into storytelling. Moreover, a well-written script encourages people to maintain the brand’s tone of voice, connect more deeply with the intended audience, and drive home the message. Their lines and signals are crucial to effectively communicating the brand’s messages.
In addition, establishing a consistent voice, tone, and points of view and structuring the ideas and thoughts into a well-structured plan are all crucial steps to creating a great film. Therefore, it is high time that brands get skilled content writers and specialists to create an excellent script for their video content marketing.
#6 Adding Case Studies
Be it a unicorn start-up or a renowned brand like IBM, companies are leveraging their content marketing strategy with case studies on their official website. They are engaging narratives of how the brand’s products made the clients’ jobs/businesses easier or solved significant business issues. Moreover, they effectively demonstrate the company’s expertise and credibility.
Often referred to as an example of work, case studies are a primary media used within a thorough content strategy. Content strategy is only complete with this public evidence, whether offering products or services. In 2023, case studies can generate excellent outcomes during the consideration stage of the buyers’ journey. They can be turned into brilliant content assets to convert potential customers when used strategically.
#7 Increasing Focus on Evergreen Content
Finally, one of the emerging trends that most content marketers focus on is writing evergreen content. While many still wonder about it. Evergreen content is the one that will stay valuable and relevant for a more extended period, with only a few updates required.
One of the most incredible benefits of evergreen content is that it helps establish a good presence on search engine results pages. Other upsides include creating future-proof content, increase in website traffic, generating leads, and ample opportunities for re-promotion. Moreover, with evergreen content, the brands will have great opportunities to repurpose their content by repackaging it in different formats.
A few examples of evergreen content are how-to guides, industry resources, case studies, testimonials, checklists, landing pages, and tutorials. Since B2B SaaS is the newest industry that needs to focus on brand awareness, such content can effectively bring site traffic with lots of convertible leads. Many brands can cover topics for leveraging with evergreen content, original research, detailed commentary on the existing research or industry insights, and statistics with relevant insights for the audience.
#8 Rise in the Usage of AI-based Content Writing Tools
The content world is witnessing a surge in artificial intelligence-based content writing tools and conversational bots such as ChatGPT, Writesonic, Jasper AI, etc. AI-based content writing tools are software programs that generate artificial intelligence-powered yet human-like text based on user input. These tools are beneficial for content marketing and for organizations constantly producing website landing pages, blog posts, advertisements, product description ads, video descriptions, emails, and social media posts.
There are several reasons behind this surge in popularity. AI-based text summarization tools help produce more content in less time. So, they are one of the best ways to reduce the boredom of repetitive tasks. They are great for creating short-form content like meta-tags, social media posts, ad copies, and product descriptions. Remember, with more content comes more scopes to connect with the audiences.
Next, AI-based automatic article-writing tools can enhance content marketing and writing campaigns in several ways. AI-generated content can be an excellent way to start for writers with issues in coming up with ideas or organizing a topic. The automatic article writing tools include relevant ideas in broader article writing topics. They also ease the work of the writers by offering a maximum number of words on certain topics and recommending headers for the content.
Then there are AI-copywriting tools to ensure drafted articles are fully optimized. Such tools also highlight the phrases and keywords that need to be used while assisting with correcting spelling errors and checking grammar.
Writers can also use AI-based language translation tools that help translate the language of a certain content into varied languages. Besides these, there are AI tools to create different readymade templates for writers to plug in customized information.
But AI writing is not a replacement for human writers. Rather, it is a productivity tool that optimizes the work of the writers and speeds up the entire content creation procedure.
#9 Increasing Demand for Niche Writers
As the content writing arena develops, niche content has become increasingly important. It is a type of content written for a sub-category within a client’s range of service or product offerings and targets a specific demographic and can be highly technical and specialized. From de-mystifying the legal structure to explaining cryptocurrency, writers specializing in a particular niche are in huge demand.
Over the next few years, content writers should focus on developing hyper-specific niche content with two distinct attributes:
- The content will cater to the smaller audience groups
- It will bring in leads in a more impactful manner.
The future is bright for niche content creators who can be valuable for a company’s SEO efforts.
#10 The Era of Influencers (Personal Brands of Content Writers Get Attention)
Social media influencers are people with massive following on different social media platforms. And they are one of the most significant content writing trends this 2023. Because of their popularity, they can easily influence people’s perception of different brands. Therefore, more and more brands are engaging the services of content marketing influencers in their campaigns.
Using personal content generated by influencers on social media can increase website traffic dramatically. Also, content writers are now focusing on creating their own personal brands on different platforms. Content creators, especially freelance content writers know that their personal branding is critical for bagging online projects.
#11 Content Writers are Spending on Learning and Training
In the world of the internet, good quality content is king. Businesses seek different ways to apprise their customers about their products and services, with the content being one of the most common mediums. But creating premium content that outranks the competition requires a lot of research, technique, and expertise. Therefore, writers spend a good time and money training and learning different techniques to keep the readers hooked to their content.
The content writing arena is evolving today, with several departments and industries looking for professional content writers to educate and inform different target groups through their articles and blogs. Content writers are required to keep themselves abreast of the latest trends in content writing, SEO, and the content marketing world. And that’s possible only through proper training and education. Therefore, content writers are investing their time and money in upgrading their skills and expertise with various certifications, workshops, online courses, etc.
#12 More Emphasis on Human Connect in the Content
With so much content, it may become difficult for writers to make their content stand out. But they can succeed by adding a human element to their matter. This entails creating an exclusive brand voice that is emotionally in tune with current and prospective customers while engaging and recognizable. That’s important because audiences nowadays want to see real people behind brands.
Adding a human touch to your content can be as simple as developing matter from an individual perspective or promptly responding to reviews, messages, and comments. This will make your content relatable and help the audiences connect with you on a personal level. And this can further lead to an increase in overall engagement and website traffic.
Wrapping Up
Following and incorporating the essence of these content writing trends can help marketers and business owners build a robust content strategy and beyond with the right type of content writing for their businesses.
A quick snapshot of Content Writing Trends 2023
- Social listening will help in creating highly targeted content.
- Long-form content will still be relevant for better SEO rankings and engaging copies.
- Personalized content writing speaks directly to the audience and gives a human touch to a brand.
- Publishing fresh content and new perspectives with primary research is the trend observed among tech leaders.
- A well-written script is a must for successful video marketing.
- Leveraging case studies is the most influential trend for getting higher conversion rates.
- While being on-trend is excellent, evergreen content is future-proof, with ample opportunities for repurposing.
- There will be a rise in the usage of AI tools for content creation.
- There is an increasing demand for niche writers who are experts in a particular field.
- Content writers are focusing on creating their personal brands (online) and companies are also looking for influencers for their content marketing goals.
- Content writers are not shying away from spending on their skills and are investing in courses and certifications to upscale their existing competencies.
- Organizations are putting more emphasis on human connection in content in the age of AI.
You can also read and download our freelance content writing survey 2023 to understand the current state of freelance content writing and how it will affect the content marketing realm.
Author Bio:
Sakshi Massey Fernandez is a freelance content writer and a contributor at Content Assistant. Proficient in strategy and management, she brings her skills to the table, producing high-quality, in-depth content for B2B blogs, website copy, and research articles. As an aspiring content marketer, Sakshi is dedicated to delivering high-quality, engaging content that attains the company’s marketing objectives.
