“Content is King,” as every marketer knows. The concept is straightforward. If your content speaks for itself and assists people in finding the answers they seek, you’re set.
However, given the significant evolution of online marketing over the last decade, many now believe that content marketing may not be as relevant in 2022 as it once was.
This may appear to be accurate at first glance. Video has become the preferred medium for both creators and audiences. TikTok and Instagram Reels have fueled the explosive growth of short-form videos.
Is the opportunity for doing content marketing with more substance gone for good, with people accustomed to bite-sized videos providing them with the required information?
That assumption could not be more incorrect. If people stopped searching for information online, Google, the world’s leading online search engine, would significantly drop in traffic.
That has not happened. Search engine searches continue to increase, demonstrating that content marketing is far from over.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing encompasses all types of content, not just blog content. People who post videos on YouTube and other platforms are content marketers who prefer using different media. However, these are new additions to this strategy.
Blogs are still widely regarded as the primary form of content marketing. That is how this aspect of online marketing began. Marketers and brands would create relevant blogs, articles, lists, and other materials to attract as many as possible, searching for applicable terms on Google.
What makes blog content marketing so effective?
Google is still one of the world’s most popular traffic sources. The search engine will send you highly qualified traffic if you can rank your blog for high-traffic keywords. That traffic will convert into leads, and a portion of those visitors will become customers.
This is one of the reasons why marketers place such a high value on SEO (search engine optimization). Taking a piece of content and optimizing it to outrank the competition on Google is more art than science. That is also what makes it so effective.
Although the Google search results page has evolved into more than just ten blue links on every page, video content still does not receive as much exposure on the results page. A TikTok video cannot be ranked on Google. The company displays limited YouTube results because its parent company, Alphabet, also owns YouTube. Similarly, videos on Facebook cannot be ranked by Google.
Take a moment to consider this. Compelling video content is one of the world’s most crucial high-quality traffic sources. This allows blog content to shine through, as Google’s goal is to direct people to websites that provide the most relevant information to their query.
The entry barrier is relatively low.
Writing blog content does not require a significant initial investment. Therefore, it is an excellent choice for small businesses with a limited marketing budget. They will almost certainly already have a website. They must first create a blog to accompany their website, after which they can begin posting content based on their products and services.
Other forms of content marketing, particularly video, are not the same. People are now accustomed to seeing high-quality, well-produced videos on the internet. The better the quality, the more likely it is to gain traction on platforms such as YouTube.
Small businesses frequently lack the resources to hire professional presenters, invest in high-end camera equipment, and purchase powerful computers for processing and editing. It makes the cost prohibitive, even before the company can determine whether its content strategy will yield positive results.
The simplicity is unrivaled.
Another reason blog content marketing is still a popular choice for small businesses is that it is relatively simple compared to other formats. Even a small company with only one employee can implement this strategy without much equipment. For precisely this reason, most new small business owners rely on this marketing strategy.
It simply requires a thorough understanding of how the company’s product or service makes the lives of its customers easier. Then it’s just a matter of explaining that through posts and helpful articles that help potential customers understand the advantages of doing business with that company.
This is something that can be completed entirely by one person. It’s even better for those who are hesitant to put themselves out there by creating video content. They can stay in their comfort zones with blog content marketing while also ensuring that their business has a good chance of expanding its visibility online.
Content marketing will thrive in 2022 and beyond.
Those who predicted the end of blog content marketing have already been proven wrong. The figures don’t lie. People are still searching for information online in more significant numbers than ever before. They are actively seeking content that will assist them in solving a problem or answering a question.
For this reason, some of the world’s leading brands continue investing heavily in content marketing. There is no reason for small businesses to abandon it just because video appears to be the type of content that performs well online.
Content marketing is not going away. It will thrive in 2022 and beyond, and the only thing left for small business owners to do is take the plunge and begin realizing its full potential.