How has content creation evolved in your field?
In the ever-evolving landscape of content creation, we’ve asked ten professionals, including content creators and founders, to share the trends they’ve adopted. From experimenting with AI in art creation to prioritizing data-driven content for engagement, discover the innovative ways these experts are shaping their fields.
- Experiment with AI in Art Creation
- Implement AI for Quality Content Marketing
- Adapt to Short-Form Content in Beauty Industry
- Focus on Topic Clusters for Better Ranking
- Shift to Storytelling in B2B Marketing
- Embrace Interactive Content for Audience Engagement
- Create Short, Full-Story Video Content
- Use AI-Generated Art for Branding
- Balance AI and Human Input in Content
- Prioritize Data-Driven Content for Engagement
Experiment with AI in Art Creation
In 2023, I experimented with AI. I mostly use AI to generate art for my Instagram. The generating programs showed me how quickly creative ideas can materialize. This generated content, however, still lacks a significant amount of finesse and is highly time-consuming, with little knowledge about the outcome’s success. Many enthusiasts, however, fall for the fallacy that AI can achieve sufficient cohesion with minimal effort. However, AI has not yet proven to be a standalone tool that can cover all multimedia needs.
A professional content creator still needs to know how to storyboard, photograph, film, edit, color grade, record audio, mix and master, and much more to produce unique and compelling photo stories, film reports, podcasts, and similar content.
Outstanding content caters to a wide range of senses, and diverse multimedia skills are essential for content production. Conclusively, creating cohesive content is not only dependent on good ideas but also on skill—even in 2023.
Salome Boffi
Graduated Writer and Senior Year Content Creation Student, Self-Employed Freelancer
Implement AI for Quality Content Marketing
Content marketing has gotten smarter. Content leaders are implementing AI, raising their quality standards, and effectively using content to meet business goals.
Because of competition and Google’s quality guidelines, I’ve seen an increase in mission-driven and strategic content marketing that’s truly helpful. But I’ve also seen a turnaround from being stubborn about proving ROI to embracing that responsibility and finding ways to use those goals to make content better.
I think that’s what makes the latest trend of artificial intelligence exciting rather than harmful. We’ve learned to stay focused on the right priorities, so we’re more likely to use AI to serve those priorities, not abandon them.
That’s my approach. I’m using AI to save time on menial tasks so that we have more time for tasks that increase content quality. We’re maintaining our quality standards by focusing on highlighting our tools in only helpful ways. And everything we do is mapped to a business goal.
Sydney Myers
Content Marketing Manager
Adapt to Short-Form Content in Beauty Industry
Content creation has quickly become chief in the beauty industry’s marketing and brand activations.
As a content creator of over a decade, I’ve seen the main platforms change from YouTube to Snapchat, to Instagram, and now to TikTok. Short-form content is shorter than ever, and there is a huge trend of initial shock value and hopeful virality, making quality content harder to come by. There are more content creators now than ever, and in every field and niche imaginable.
Well-known brands, in and out of beauty, are now tapping into content creators as opposed to celebrities or spokespeople for their campaigns, preferring a more authentic “talking to the camera as a friend” moment. There are endless ways to generate revenue as a content creator, and now more than ever, there is a space for everyone and their specialty.
Karol Rodriguez
Pro MUA and Content Creator, Karol Rodriguez
Focus on Topic Clusters for Better Ranking
One notable trend that has been implemented by more bloggers and small businesses is the focus on “Topic Clusters” or “Pillar Content.” I used to write individual posts for specific keywords or topics. However, semantic search and user intent seem to be more important and have changed the traditional approach.
Topic clusters are a comprehensive piece of content that covers almost every subtopic with expertise, and the pillar content delves into subtopics from the topic clusters. Then, topic clusters and the pillar content will be linked with each other via internal links.
By adopting this method, search engines will reward the site with in-depth and comprehensive content. Furthermore, it will be a signal about your expertise and authority to boost your E-A-T and your rankings.
Chris Wu
Founder, Allinblogger
Shift to Storytelling in B2B Marketing
B2B marketing leaders have realized that people purchase their products, not faceless businesses. This has changed their perspective on what effective marketing content should be.
No longer are my clients looking for dry, data-heavy whitepapers and case studies full of graphs and highly technical jargon. The focus is now on storytelling through benefits-oriented scenarios that feature the customer as the hero and the product as the solution to the hero’s conflict. Data still drives the story, but it’s presented as part of a narrative instead of as the end result.
There is now more need for quick, “snackable” content like blogs, infographics, and email campaigns. They are quick reads but memorable and action-driven. The need for customer-centric content for B2B companies has evolved how I serve my clients as a content marketing creator.
Pam Georgiana
Freelancer Writer/Content Creator, Pam Georgiana
Embrace Interactive Content for Audience Engagement
In the dynamic realm of content creation, evolution is the cornerstone of success. One trend that has gained significant momentum and is poised to reshape the landscape of content creation is “interactive storytelling.”
Interactive storytelling is a captivating fusion of traditional narrative with user engagement, often facilitated through immersive digital platforms. This approach allows content creators to craft experiences that captivate and involve the audience, transcending the passive consumption of information. By blending multimedia elements, storytellers can weave compelling narratives that invite the audience to actively participate in the conversation.
Incorporating interactive storytelling not only heightens engagement but also enables content creators to gain valuable insights into their audience’s preferences and behaviors, facilitating more personalized content strategies. As a writer, embracing interactive storytelling can infuse a new level of dynamism into your work.
Alka Gupta
Content Marketing Lead, Smartlead.ai
Create Short, Full-Story Video Content
Video content is in such high demand these days, but viewers’ attention span has not increased in the past twenty years. Television commercial producers have proven that you can tell a complete story in fifty-nine seconds.
Use short clips, fast editing, exciting music, sound effects, minimal text overlays, and edit to a script that has been timed. Viewers are watching rather than reading something else online; text always takes attention away from sound or pictures. The short-form video, telling a full story, can produce clicks on a link in the video.
Most subjects require more detailed video clips and explanations. This is where your link in the short video takes them. Create a short like you would a movie trailer, pique their interest, and make them want to see the full feature.
Michael McCune
Content Creator, Mike’s Mountain Adventures
Use AI-Generated Art for Branding
In the marketing and tech-blogging niche, where initially there was some skepticism around bot-written content, I’ve seen a huge uptake of AI content generators like ChatGPT and Jasper.
Now, in addition to AI-generated text, I’ve noticed a trend of major bloggers using AI-generated art in place of stock photos. Some of them are getting stunning results, giving their site a more branded appearance. I’m just beginning to experiment with using tools like Midjourney to create featured images for blog posts, and I’m happy about the money I’ll save.
Although the AI is far from perfect, we can count on it getting a lot better as the AI art generator market becomes more competitive.
Chloe Brittain
Owner, Monday Roadmap
Balance AI and Human Input in Content
AI tools are making content creation more competitive. With AI helping to lower turnaround times and costs, businesses must not lose sight of quality. It’s one of those “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should” scenarios. Companies now have more opportunities to create more content, but they also need to ensure the content aligns with their brand voice and goals, and isn’t just repeating what’s already been said.
The need for human creators has never been greater in the age of AI. It’s humans that will help to maintain the quality aspect so that content doesn’t run rampant and create meaningless noise. AI tools are best used by professional content creators (not DIYers) because we understand the nuances of what goes into quality content and how to cut through the sea of sameness that AI content tools are poised to create.
Alli Hill
Founder and Director, Fleurish Freelance
Prioritize Data-Driven Content for Engagement
Seasoned in content creation in marketing, data-driven content is king today, not just creativity alone. For instance, while the industry focused on broad-based content, micro-targeting using data analytics was the focus.
The result? A 40% increase in engagement rates. The trend of “evergreen content” was also bucked in favor of real-time, event-driven pieces, leading to immediate interactions and occasional virality. This isn’t mere opinion; it’s the strategy that has radically amplified success.
Roy Lam
CEO and Co-Founder, GeniusHub Digital Marketing
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