Express Writers

#ContentWritingChat Recap: 2019 Content Trends with Julia McCoy

by | Jan 11, 2019 | ContentWritingChat

#ContentWritingChat Recap: 2019 Content Trends with Julia McCoy

For the first #ContentWritingChat of 2019, it only makes sense that we would take time to reflect on the content trends for the year ahead.

After all, we want to make sure you’re creating your best content this year. That includes blog posts, videos, and even podcasts! These tips will help you truly stand out online.

So, are you ready to dive in and produce amazing, brand-building content that your audience will absolutely love? Then let’s check out the recap!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: 2019 Content Trends with Julia McCoy

Our guest host for this month’s chat was Julia McCoy. She’s a blogger and author, and of course… The CEO here at Express Writers! Julia is the queen when it comes to online content creation, which means she had some great advice to share for the year ahead.

Q1: What are the top trends you have your eye on for this year when it comes to the content marketing world?

To kick off the chat, we asked everyone to share the trends they’re most excited to incorporate into their content strategies for 2019. Here’s what a few of our chat participants had to say:

For Julia, she’s focused on three key things when it comes to Express Writers and her personal brand this year. She’s committed to creating high-quality content (as always), putting readers first, and knowing her why.

Jason is wondering if 2019 will be a great year for email marketing in terms of ROI. He’s also going to be paying close attention to the cost of social media advertising, as well as the platforms that are going to be popular.

Warwick is putting his efforts into both video and podcasting. Both are great opportunities for brands to expand into, especially if their audience is interested in these content formats.

Voice search, micro influencers, video, and chatbots are all hot trends to watch!

Tamara also agrees that video and micro influencers will be two of the big trends this year. She’s also watching out for artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

Interactive content could be a great way to get creative in 2019!

Thanks to some inspiration from Seth Godin, Bill is focused on intent and empathy. Very important for all brands!

Q2: 47% of buyers view 3-5 blogs or other pieces of content before starting the buying process. How can we create strong, valuable blogs in 2019?

Since blog posts play such a huge role in your business and making sales, it’s important that every piece of content is high-quality. How can we make that happen though? Follow these tips:

To ensure your blog posts are a success this year, there are a few key things Julia thinks we should all keep in mind. You need to know your keywords for each post, create comprehensive content to lower your bounce rate and increase traffic, and be focused on your reader.

For anyone who needs help with SEO, she has the perfect course to guide you! The Expert SEO Content Writer Course has all the tips every online creator needs.

If you want your content to be discovered, it’s all about effectively optimizing your content. Spend some time studying the best SEO practices and put them to use.

As Sarah mentioned, knowing your audience is crucial to your success. In order for your blog posts to be a hit, you have to create the content your audience is searching for and deliver tremendous value.

Maria agrees, as she said consumer-focused content will always reign supreme.

Take the time to answer the questions your audience is asking. In time, you’ll become the go-to resource in your niche and you’ll establish trust with your target readers.

Make sure you answer any and all potential questions your customers might have. You need to use your content to break down any obstacles that might be standing in the way of them making a purchase.

And of course, you need to ensure your website is providing a great experience for visitors. If not, they’ll be rushing to exit your website and they’ll never give your content a chance.

Q3: If you’re thinking about adding a new content format to your brand’s online presence this year, which one will you go for and why?

Is 2019 the year you add video to your content strategy? Or maybe you want to give podcasting a go? These are the content formats some of our chat participants will be focusing on:

If you’re torn between video or podcasting, Julia thinks video is the way to go. Just make sure you get strategic about what you’re posting and focus on serving your audience.

Tim agrees that it’s all about video. He said it’s great for vlogs, telling stories, sharing testimonials, etc. You can really get creative here!

For Warwick, 2019 is all about podcasting!

Tamara is also interested in podcasts because of their convenience. They’re so easy to consume, especially because you can listen while doing other tasks.

Lexi recently directed her focus onto podcasting, but she’s also going to be doing webinars this year. Both are great opportunities to connect with your audience. Plus, cross-posting your content will help you get the most traction.

Getting creative with visuals can be a great way to go this year as well. You can experiment with video, GIFs, graphic design, photography, and infographics.

One final piece of advice for you… To choose which content formats are right for your brand, consider your audience. Get to know them and what they want. How do they want to receive and consume content? Once you figure that out, you can start testing to see what works and what doesn’t.

Maria agrees! If you aren’t sure what your audience wants, ASK THEM. It’s that simple.

Q4: What are a few Google-focused SEO trends in 2019?

Getting back to the topic of SEO, these are the trends you’ll want to focus on when creating content this year:

Julia published a post on our blog all about the SEO trends to watch for 2019. Definitely check that out if you want to learn more! But a few of those trends included: being mobile-ready for mobile-first indexing, featured snippets rankings going up in value, and creating high-quality content.

Lexie agrees that having a mobile-friendly website is crucial. Considering we often access content on our phones or on tablets, we need to make sure our websites are providing a great experience for visitors.

And to convince you even more… Having a mobile-friendly set is necessary for SEO and brand success.

You’ll want to consider apps, featured snippets, structured data markup, and technical SEO.

Besides being mobile-friendly, other trends to keep an eye on include voice, page speed, feature snippets, data protection, etc. All of these are great suggestions from Gaby!

Q5: When it comes to social media, which platforms are worthy of your attention in 2019? And how can you ensure that you stand out?

With so many social media platforms, it can often feel overwhelming trying to keep up with everything. So, where should you direct your attention? And how do establish your presence and build an audience that cares? Just follow these tips:

First, you need to consider which platforms your audience is actively using. You need to be where they are, otherwise you’re wasting your time. Julia also said that trends should direct your platform habits and your audience should direct your platform placements.

Sarah agrees that it’s all about knowing your audience. For the ThinkSEM team, they love Twitter for sharing content, but Facebook is their go-to for ads.

Twitter is definitely a strong platform, but what people are missing out on is video. That’s one sure-fire way to stand out there!

For Warwick, he’s focused on LinkedIn and wants to try using YouTube Live.

Gene is focused on using Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for building relationships. He likes Twitter for chats, Instagram for DMing, and Facebook for groups.

Because it’s a powerful search engine of its own, Pinterest is worth your attention!

Q6: What strategies can all brands use in 2019 to better understand and connect with their audience?

Getting to know your audience and building a relationship with them is crucial to your success. But how do you do that? These strategies are really going to help you out!

Julia’s advice is to get strategic with your content and marketing habits. You need to have a strategy and knowledge of how your audience is and what they want.

Don’t be afraid to ask your audience questions. Whatever you want to know about them, just ask and they’ll deliver the answers.

Make sure you’re engaging with your audience regularly. You want to address their concerns, answer questions, and acknowledge what they have to say. It makes them feel appreciated.

If you aren’t listening to your audience, you’re doing it wrong!

Listen to your potential customers and current customers to determine what they want. As Annette said, they aren’t data point on a graph… They’re real people and deserve to be treated as such.

Jason’s focus? Empathy!

Get clear on your niche and work on personalizing your content to your audience. It’ll really speak to them that way.

You also need to create an experience for users, appeal to them with the right message, and solve their pain points.

Q7: It’s important to expand your knowledge, so what would you love to learn about this year?

Since we want to make sure we’re being of service to you, we asked everyone to share the topics they’re most interested in learning about this year. You just might see some of these become #ContentWritingChat topics!

Sarah would like to improve her skills on the technical side of SEO.

Chatbots, copywriting, and FB/IG/Google ads are all great topics to study!

Gene thinks it would be great to learn more about psychology, the brain, and neuroscience. These can all play a role in leadership and marketing, which is Gene’s field.

Annette is right there with Gene in having a passion for the psychological side of things.

Shelly wants to learn more about product design.

Q8: And finally, what are your content-related goals for this year? Share them now and we’ll hold you accountable!

These are the goals our amazing #ContentWritingChat community is working on this year:

Julia is busy working on her third book, preparing for some big changes for Express Writers, and plans to write for more major publications.

Tamara is aiming to be more consistent with her content this year, plus she wants to do more collaborations.

Caitlin says she wants to create long, thorough pieces of content this year. As she mentioned, these can be broken down into smaller snippets for sharing on various platforms.

And for Tony, his goal is to write one blog post per month, create one video per month, and he wants to launch a video series where he interviews entrepreneurs.

Want to join us for the next one? #ContentWritingChat happens on Twitter on the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat to stay updated.

Tags: 2019 content trends | content trends