3 biggest content marketing trends in 2021

The content was and will always be the king for online and offline platforms. But due to the outbreak and progression of coronavirus around the world, it has become essential for businesses and content marketers to continuously upgrade their content marketing strategies. They have to make sound and consistent investments in content marketing because what worked last year is not going to give equal outcomes in the upcoming years.

It is of paramount importance to anticipate the trends and the transforming audience behaviour. Technology trends and updates can help us understand the audience, adjusting strategy, and stepping ahead.

Below are some content marketing trends on which we need to keep an eye in 2021.

Vernacular content holds the crown

The COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown have uplifted the internet consumption in the country which gave birth to 3Es - e-commerce, entertainment and Ed.tech. After the arrival of this new reality, a company cannot penetrate deep without a vernacular strategy in the Indian market.

A 2020 report published by ICUBE™, created after taking data and insights from Kantar, the world’s number one data, insights, and consulting organization, states that as of May 2020, rural India has more active internet users (264 million) in comparison to urban India (210 million). As a result, there is a boom in the local language content consumption in India.

In a report, Google India mentioned that 9 out of 10 new internet users in the nation are consuming online content in the Indian language. As the country is going through a digital revolution and internet connectivity is becoming cheaper, more and more population is showing interest in becoming members of online communities.

So, it has become important for businesses to incorporate vernacular language in their marketing strategy. Top-notch content generation platforms have started creating content in Hindi and other native languages. People can consume content in multiple languages by using applications such as ShareChat and DaliyHunt. Even 95% of YouTube videos are consumed in local languages, and brands like Google and Facebook are now paying more heed to regional languages.

D2C market is growing in India

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing, people are staying at home and doing online shopping. The current situation has changed consumer behaviour which led to huge growth in the D2C sector.

According to Avendus, a financial services firm, there is a huge rise in D2C brands in all categories in India. The country is estimated to have USD 100 billion addressable markets by 2025. There are more than 700 million internet users in India and online shopping is rising rapidly, showing a 24% year-over-year growth.

E-commerce platforms, improved logistics operations and elevated internet consumption among the consumers have provided an opportunity for Indian companies to reach out to their customers easily. D2C approach allows brands to reach their target audience directly, by eliminating the involvement of intermediaries and retail stores.

Brands are taking advantage of this and opting for the D2C approach. They are now saving a lot on the cost of the product. Also, they are understanding their customers better than before.

Rise of the audio format in content marketing

The pandemic has changed the way of content and media consumption. In India, people are getting more inclined towards grasping content through audio streaming platforms. So, there is a rapid elevation in the Over The Top (OTT) audio platforms.

In India, an elevation in podcast content consumption can be seen after the rise in smartphone usage, affordable mobile data and the GenZ’s and Millennials inclination towards on-demand content consumption. Applications like Spotify, Clubhouse, Ganna.com, etc. are some of the highly used platforms among Indian users. As a result, podcasting has become popular among the markers over a couple of years.

The podcast is one of the best content marketing tools for business because it helps in reaching the audience easily, is easy to produce, makes experts seem reliable, and enables better retention.