When it comes to business recommendation sites, Yelp is undoubtedly the leader. It currently has around 86,000 local business accounts, and it attracts 135 million monthly visitors. Companies strive for good reviews on the site, as Yelp ratings can have a huge effect on sales.
A relatively new idea in the content world involves the notion that content marketing will become less and less sustainable for businesses as the amount of content on the internet continues to grow. Respected business consultant Mark Schaefer called the idea content shock last year, and it’s been widely discussed ever since.
The fact that mobile devices are taking over an industry once dominated by PCs is a well-established trend. Smartphones have been outselling personal computers for years, and 80 percent of internet users now own a smartphone.
First came the addition of mobile usability features to webmaster tools. Then it was announced that mobile usability will absolutely become a ranking factor in mobile searches. Then came the announcement that Google’s mobile-friendly algorithm will begin it’s rollout on April 21.
The notion that the absolute best content will always get noticed without needing any promotion is slowly fading away. While valuable content will always beat out content of low quality, the sheer amount of content being published every day gives even the best pieces little chance of getting noticed on their own.
The hesitation that many businesses express when deciding whether or not to execute a content marketing campaign is understandable. Content marketing is still a relatively new approach, and it can often be difficult to measure any given campaign’s return on investment.
The lack of organic reach on Facebook has been a thorn in the side of many content creators and content marketers over the past year. The percentage of people who organically see posts from brands in their News Feeds – even from brands they Like – is so low that companies have been essentially forced into paying to boost their posts or promote their page.
It’s a trend we’ve been hearing about for years now: young people are paying attention to the news less and less. This isn’t really surprising, as interest in print media and television news programs have been dwindling for decades. So, if you’re trying to attract young people to your website using content, are you forced to find a way to make a “boring” niche more entertaining? Should you even resort to mindless but popular listicles à la Buzzfeed? Not necessarily – according to a new survey, news content is actually more popular with millenials than previously thought.
