We asked our best and brightest global content strategists at SapientNitro to chime in on where content is headed in 2015 and beyond. Here’s what they had to say.
"Be prepared for a new generation of content strategy. We’ll see content that is measurable, driven by its performance, integrated into an omnichannel experience, positioned within a larger ecosystem, and will support intelligent solutions for consumers. And content marketing will be the new black. More predictions here.”
-Kevin Nichols, Director & Global Practice Lead
"A massively loved brand will demonstrate that they can do much more with less — smarter content and less of it. They are going to be the brand companies point to when they talk about what their goals for content are and how they want to proceed strategically. Content decisions will be made based on tracked metrics. A streamlined, simplified brand identity refresh and will be the catalyst.”
-Anne Casson, Director
“Companies will increasingly look for ways to ‘future-proof’ their digital content as they struggle to create and manage it across multiple devices and channels. Structured content and content modeling will be in high demand. Agencies/consultancies that offer technology solutions backed by sound content strategy will win out.”
-Sandra Richard, Senior Manager
"Social, SEO and CS lanes will continue to merge and together be indispensable to building content creation recommendations. Deeper collaboration between these three areas will give brands a more holistic view on how to create content that users want…"
-Matt Geraghty, Manager
“As more consumers cut cable in favor of direct digital viewing, content-heavy brands and video producers – from sports leagues to entertainment companies – will offer more over the top content (OTC) channels that bypass traditional cable, accelerating the cord cutting trend.”
-Sheri McLeish, Manager
“Brands have overwhelmed consumers with never-ending social feeds, company blogs, and email newsletters that add more noise than value. The goal of the content strategist in 2015 is to craft content strategies that are smart, cut out the clutter and are sustainable for creating meaningful content on an ongoing basis.”
-Marcus Lee, Jr. Content Strategist
“Original content will continue to dominate the list of consumers’ wants and needs. Those who do not provide their consumers with original content will fail to connect with them on a very basic level.”
-Agatha J. Kielczewski, Jr. Content Strategist
"Content strategists increasingly will have to deliver comprehensive strategies for brands to deliver personalized, location-sensitive content across the ‘Internet of Things’ to engage their customers on all their devices."
-Michael Restiano, Jr. Content Strategist
“Consumers don’t need a brand to love them, but they really, really dig it when a brand gets them. The future of ‘personalization’ on the Web will be less about crunching statistics to figure out who gets the right coupon for the sale and more about actually understanding users and consumers to provide content that can foster a feeling of understanding from a brand.”
-Andrea Mercado, Senior Content Strategist
“We will continue to see the rise of personalization from the implicit basics to more explicit options once we know more about the user. We’ll develop more content marketing campaigns to attract opt-ins, hook them with good content and delight them with even better, personalized content when they come back. Everyone wins.”
-Teresa Benner, Manager, Content Strategy
“I see consumers considering altruistic characteristics with regard to their preferred brands. ‘What does your organization do for me?’ will be replaced with ‘What does your organization do for the world?’”
-Elizabeth Poisson, Associate Creative Director
“Content strategy will become a field with more sub-fields and specializations. You will increasingly find content strategists who specialize in social, SEO, editorial work, planning, and technical implementation.”
-Katie Richardson, Manager
“Responsive, personalization and omnichannel experiences are the areas that will emerge fastest and push content strategists to develop full integrated solutions. Successful implementations will demonstrate that content can no longer be static but should adapt to users’ needs and expectations.”
-Shobana Manickam, Senior Content Strategist
“Content is context. The proliferation of location-based digital signage, interactive digital displays, and digital enhanced environments will push content beyond the personal screen and into the ‘real’ world. Content will surround and impact users and audiences in new and unprecedented ways, with the corresponding evolution of creative, managerial and technical content strategy.”
-David Cohen, Senior Manager
"In 2015, building global buzz through compelling content campaigns won’t
be enough. The new standard will be effectively capturing and channeling this buzz into meaningful customer interactions that drive business to the bottom line.”
-Ritwika Roy, Senior Associate
“Crafting meaningful lifestyle content that helps users discover products and keep users engaged around the brand will continue to be a focus for our clients. This is especially true of companies who are just now redesigning their eCommerce based sites after many years.”
-Felice Schulz, Sr. Manager
“Heads-up displays and mobile devices will dominate the content ecosphere. There will be an increased need for more technical understanding of platforms and devices to properly implement content across dozens of platforms.”
-Marlowe Beckley, Manager
“In terms of taxonomy, I predict that the combination of big data and improved system capabilities will lead to a decrease in the need for tagging. Instead, indexers and search engines will use taxonomies as a map, retaining the benefits of tagging yet avoiding the labor.”
-Dawn Bovasso, Associate Creative Director
“2015 will blur the boundaries of content and design. The wearable devices, the shrinking screens, the technique of contextual content mapping will treat content itself as design. ‘Content as design’ will drive the user experience and keep content strategists on their toes to think and create content that is micro personalized and relevant to users.”
-Archana Chowty, Sr. Associate
"Superb content and storytelling is just the beginning. Marketers will begin to deliver more sophisticated deliverables via geolocation push services and indoor location technology. The challenge will be delivering compelling and relevant content that benefits the customer without being invasive."
-Lee Ekstrom, Associate Creative Director
"The editors and storytellers of today will surely morph into the content aggregators of tomorrow – grafting local flavors upon global culture, sifting and pulling together real-time user content to make stories breathe in sync with users’ heartbeats."
-Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla, Content Strategy Specialist
“Big data and analytics from APIs, the Internet of Things (IoT) and all things mobile will not only influence how our clients make business decisions, but how we do content strategy, too. New ways of understanding how content performs on various platforms will allow us to create exciting new content strategies from the micro-to-macro, for powerful content experiences.”
-Christine Aiko Beck, Manager
Photo credit: Adapted from original by Bryan Ong