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To stay competitive in the business-to-business (B2B) realm, marketers must keep an eye on the landscape and optimize their strategies to meet buyer expectations.
And what do buyers expect? Content—specifically content that is relatable, informative, engaging, and valuable. In fact, 52% of buyers say they are more likely to make a purchase after reading content.
We’ve been tracking B2B content marketing trends over the last several months, and based on our analysis, we’ve curated a list of what we expect to see in 2024. Use these b2b content marketing trends to steer your 2024 content marketing strategy in the right direction.
Trend #1: AI-Assisted Content
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is here to stay, especially in the world of content marketing.
In 2024 and beyond, B2B marketers will use AI-powered software to brainstorm ideas, outline content, proofread pieces, and collect valuable data-driven insights to inform content creation and distribution. Additionally, as AI and other marketing automation tools improve, B2B marketing professionals can automate repetitive tasks, analyze customer behavior, and optimize content marketing campaigns.
As platforms like HubSpot adopt new AI technologies and existing AI-powered software gets better at mimicking human language, B2B marketers will continue to take advantage of AI-assisted content opportunities.
Trend #2: Video Content
The B2B marketplace is saturated with text-based content. For the past few years, B2B companies have treated video content as their saving grace to cut through the noise.
Is video content still turning heads? Can we expect to continue trending in 2024?
No surprises here: The answer is absolutely.
And why wouldn’t video still be a hot topic? On average, people watch 17 hours of online video content every week, and 89% of people say that watching a video has convinced them to make a purchase. B2B buyers are no different; 70% report watching videos throughout the buyer’s journey.
Marketers agree that video isn’t going anywhere—video marketing has helped them increase sales (87%), increase traffic (91%), and increase brand awareness (95%). What’s not to like?
Video content will continue to dominate the market in 2024. It is an accessible, flexible, and engaging way to grab the attention of target audiences, and it’s one of the best ways to reach a wide audience.
Trend #3: User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) has been a staple of the business-to-consumer (B2C) market for years, and it’s finally starting to trend in the B2B space.
Why? Because nothing beats word-of-mouth marketing.
Buyers view UGC as more credible and authentic than brand-created content, and in 2024, B2B marketers will take full advantage of everything UGC has to offer.
UGC refers to content that is created by customers, such as testimonials, case studies, social media posts, product use videos, reviews, comments, and more—anything that users create to promote a brand. Companies may hold photo contests, promote third-party reviews, set up user-generated answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), or ask customers to take video testimonials of their products, all of which falls under the category of UGC.
Promoting, encouraging, and rewarding UGC is a powerful way to build trust and engage with prospective buyers, which is why we expect to see a lot more of it in the coming year.
Trend #4: Interactive Content
Interactive content—which requires direct engagement from the audience and is more likely to leave a lasting impression—creates an immersive experience for buyers. This type of content goes hand in hand with increased engagement rates and expanded data collection, which are two extremely valuable benefits for B2B marketers. Next year, we expect that B2B businesses will continue to create and distribute interactive content.
What does interactive content look like? It can take a lot of different forms, from quizzes, calculators, and contests to surveys, polls, and interactive videos or infographics. Many kinds of passive content can be converted into interactive content with the addition of elements that encourage participation. Regardless of the details, the most effective interactive content is not only engaging but also informative and entertaining.
By providing interactive experiences, B2B marketers will see higher engagement rates and increased customer loyalty in 2024.
Trend #5: Conversational Content
Today’s B2B buyers are surrounded by marketing content littered with adspeak. They are craving interactions that feel human—natural, personable, relatable, and even funny. They’re tired of being talked to. Instead, they want to have a conversation.
So, in 2024, the most effective B2B marketers will stop talking to their audience and start having conversations with them.
Conversational content makes readers feel heard and understood. It makes buyers feel like they are having a one-on-one chat with your brand, makes them feel valued, and is a reliable way to build long-lasting, genuine relationships with customers.
Writing conversational content requires understanding the needs and challenges of the target audience and speaking their language. It can take any form, from social media posts that end with an engaging question or chatbots that answer customer queries, as long as it connects to the audience on a deeper level.
In the coming year, we expect to see blogs, articles, ebooks written conversationally. That means shorter sentences, contractions, active voice, simple language, and storytelling techniques.
Trend #6: Personalized & Segmented Content
Personalization and segmentation will continue to dominate the B2B content marketing landscape in 2024, especially with the rise of AI-powered technologies and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms designed specifically to help businesses personalize messaging, segment contacts, and tailor content for target audiences.
By personalizing content, B2B marketers make prospects feel individually catered to, which improves customer satisfaction and makes them more likely to convert. We expect to see more organizations leverage technology to collect data and customer insights and use the findings to create tailored content campaigns.
Segmentation, the process of dividing contacts into groups based on shared characteristics, takes personalization a step further. B2B companies will continue to segment audiences to customize content that meets the needs of the specific audience group.
Together, personalization and segmentation are powerful ways for businesses to stand out from the crowd—and as technologies improve in the coming months, we will see highly personalized content and hyper-segmentation across the B2B space.
Trend #7: Influencer Content
Influencer content continues to trend and shows no signs of stopping.
Over 25% of marketers already engage in influencer marketing and have discovered the high return on investment (ROI) they can achieve by investing in the B2B influencer space. More and more marketers are starting to notice the benefits; a whopping 82% of survey respondents indicated they would dedicate a budget to influencer marketing, up from 77% the previous year.
Influencer content marketing is such a trending topic thanks to the deep trust and genuine connections it can cultivate between brands and buyers. Influencers and subject matter experts (SMEs) play an important role in the B2B space by humanizing businesses, products, and services.
We expect to see an increasing number of B2B marketers in a variety of industries establish content partnerships with influencers, especially micro-influencers, as well as SMEs in 2024 and leverage those relationships to establish a tight bond with their audience.
Take Your Content Marketing to the Next Level by Partnering with OneIMS
Now is the time to start planning for 2024—and if you are looking for a partner to implement a content marketing strategy that sets your business apart from the competition, we can help.
At OneIMS, our team of content marketing experts has the strategies, solutions, and tools you need to optimize your content marketing strategy, from taking advantage of B2B content marketing trends to leveraging content to achieve your growth goals. Our objective is to transform your business into a revenue-generating machine through the power of content marketing.
We have a long history of working with companies in a variety of industries to develop innovative and data-driven marketing solutions, and we pride ourselves on producing measurable and sustainable results.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. View testimonials from our clients and read our blog to get an idea of our training, experience, and track record of success.
Are you ready to reach new customers, build ongoing relationships with existing buyers, find new revenue opportunities, and grow your business with strategic, data-driven content marketing? Schedule a consultation with us today to get started.
