Content Writing in 2020: Trends, Best Practices and Future Outlook
The content marketing landscape has evolved rapidly over the past decade. What was once focused mainly on blogging and organic search is now much more diverse and strategic. As we head into a new decade, content writing in 2020 and beyond will need to keep pace with changing consumer behaviors, emerging technologies, and new expectations from businesses. This comprehensive guide explores the major trends currently influencing content creation and shares best practices for writers looking to thrive professionally.
Hyper-Personalization is King
As customers spend more time online and demand hyper-relevant experiences, personalized content will be crucial. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are giving marketers unprecedented abilities to understand audiences and tailor messages accordingly. In 2020, top content writers will find ways to personalize at scale. This could mean dynamically generating content based on user data or publishing variations of the same article targeted to different personas. Personalization allows building deeper connections with readers, increasing engagement and optimizing performance.
Video Everywhere
People are consuming more video content than ever before across all devices. According to Cisco, global internet video traffic will account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022. As a result, many websites and blogs now feature short explainer, how-to or promotional videos alongside articles. Looking ahead, advanced technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality will bring video experiences to new immersive heights. Content writers must become comfortable crafting scripts and working with multimedia formats to make videos that effectively convey information and brand messages. The ability to write for visual storytelling will prove invaluable.
Conversational Content is Critical
Chatbots, messaging apps and voice assistants are ushering in an era of conversational commerce. To power these interactions, content needs to be structured for natural language understanding using techniques like dialog flows and contextual responses. Leading brands are already hiring “conversation designers” to craft messaging. In the future, content writing jobs may evolve to encompass more conversational content creation. Writers should start learning how conversational AI works and experimenting with new formats like Amazon Alexa skills or Facebook Messenger bots to gain experience in this emerging space.
Long-Form Still Reigns Supreme
While snippets and skimable content have their place, in-depth long-form articles continue attracting high-intent audiences. Well-researched long-form content demonstrates expertise, helps build authority and trust with readers and supports content marketing strategies over the long run. Topics like thought leadership, how-tos, case studies and industry reports work well in long lengths. With attention spans decreasing, strong storytelling and narrative structures are key to keeping readers engaged throughout long articles. Writers should focus on deeply covering topics readers are eager to learn more about.
Content Must Deliver Business Value
All content efforts in 2020 and beyond must directly link to quantifiable business goals like lead generation, sales or customer retention. Rather than pushing out constant output, brands are adopting strategic content frameworks grounded in data and customer insights. Writers need to communicate constantly with stakeholders to understand desired outcomes for each piece. Key performance indicators (KPIs) around metrics like time on page, social shares or conversions will inform what kind of content succeeds and should be scaled. Writers must craft compelling calls-to-action proven to move people further down the sales funnel.
Link Building Gets Smarter
While organic search still matters greatly, it has become more difficult to rank pages through blind link building alone or sheer volume of content. Google now emphasizes relevance, authoritativeness and rich user experiences over brute force SEO tactics. The future of link building relies on creating topical assets like bespoke infographics, case studies or checklists that gain natural social shares and backlinks when placed on appropriate industry sites and communities. Writers can focus discussions around their long-form content to build contextual links from high-quality sources.
Constant Testing and Iteration
Data and experimentation are revolutionizing how content performs online. Performance analytics allow tracking metrics like time on page, scroll depth and engagement over time to compare versions of the same content. Writers should adopt a culture of constant testing – whether A/B tests of headlines, calls-to-action or page layouts. Iterating content based on audience reactions helps maximize results. Emerging technologies like dynamic content personalization also enable testing thousands of variations at scale. The best content strategies rely on ongoing learning from multivariate testing and data-driven optimization.
Diverse Talent and Specialization
As content roles diversify into new domains like conversational design, immersive storytelling or analytics-driven optimization, companies require specialists with niche skillsets. Rather than generalists, top content teams in 2020 feature experts in visual storytelling, technical writing, podcast production and more. Writers should consider developing specialties that add unique value, whether domain expertise in a hot industry vertical, fluency in an emerging format or data analysis proficiency. Those able to contribute specialized knowledge will stay highly relevant as content teams scale.
Always Put Readers First
No matter the trends or technologies, the core principle of putting readers at the center of content experiences remains constant. Relevance, resonance and genuine value for audiences will always drive the best performing content. Writers should continually refine how they view content from the reader’s perspective, anticipating questions or pain points and crafting easy-to-understand solutions. Adding a human touch with storytelling, humor and empathy keeps readers engaged on a personal level even amid data and automation. Approachable, helpful long-form guides tend to see highest levels of readership retention over time.
Final Word on Content Writing in 2020
The rapidly evolving content landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for forward-thinking professionals. As digital experiences increasingly blur traditional lines between content, design and technology, writers must expand their toolkit to include multimedia, data and code. At the same time, human skills like empathy, curiosity and creativity remain mandatory for conceiving truly engaging content experiences. Success comes down to a mastery of both the analytical and artistic sides of the craft. Versatile storytellers immersed in strategic thinking, open to new skills and constantly learning from analytics will thrive as content drives business value deeper into the next decade.
Andrew Stroud