11 Content Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2025
Demand for content is the highest it’s ever been. Every business, big and small, needs an online presence these days, and that means producing a lot of content. But consumer tastes constantly change, which means keeping up with the latest content marketing trends should be a priority.
A survey conducted by the Content Marketing Institute revealed that 46% of B2B marketers anticipate an increase in their content marketing budget in 2025, with a particular focus on video content, where 61% expect investments to grow.
And with the growth of online content, there is also increasing competition.
It is getting harder all the time to make your content stand out and get noticed. This is driving all sorts of gimmicks and trends – some will fall away but others will stick and become a staple of a good content marketing strategy.
What’s happening in the world of content marketing in 2025? Let’s take a look at the 11 top trends to bolster your content strategy and get more from your content-based campaigns.
Content Marketing Trend #1: AI Tools & Automation
AI and automation have been hanging around for some time, but it was ChatGPT’s unveiling in 2022 that helped it break into the content marketing mainstream. OpenAI’s creation spawned a surge of AI-driven tools that are reshaping how marketers approach content marketing and strategy.
The first, and perhaps the most obvious, content marketing trend for AI is that of scaling content creation. No matter how skilled a writer is, they have a finite capacity to produce high-quality content. AI can generate content at a much faster rate, but it has its drawbacks too, namely it can be repetitive, unoriginal, and simply churns out ‘new’ content based on existing content. It is not recommended to simply use the raw content produced by AI. Great content must have a human touch. Use AI for things like creative brainstorming and developing outlines for articles. Provided it is used correctly, a skilled writer with AI can work faster and smarter than without, and produce more content in less time.
AI can also enhance content marketing ROI by helping you analyze large amounts of data from various sources. Before AI, you needed to manually comb through data from search engines, social media, and competitors to find relevant keywords and topics. Now, it takes a couple of clicks. You can even ask AI to populate a content calendar with the best content ideas and optimal posting times for each channel. Having AI deal with these tasks frees up resources you can invest elsewhere.
Another area where content marketers can enlist AI’s help is SEO. What’s cool is that it works for all aspects of SEO – on-page, off-page, and technical. For example, you can ask AI to analyze your articles’ keyword density. Or you can ask it to find relevant link prospects who would benefit from giving you a backlink. On the technical SEO side, AI can help you find and fix technical errors like broken links and 404 errors, and suggest ways to improve performance metrics such as page speed.
Content Marketing Trend #2: Focus on Attention
Digital marketers have typically relied on metrics such as page visits or impressions to gauge the performance of a blog or webpage. However, those metrics lack nuance. If visitors land on your blog but leave quickly, your page visits will grow, but this won’t contribute to meaningful traffic or engagement. A much better way to measure content marketing performance is to look at whether and how users are interacting with the content.
There are several types of tools to help marketers do this:
- Heat maps offer a visual representation of where your users spend most of their time on a page, what they click on, and how far they scroll.
- Dwell time is the time a visitor spends on a page before returning to the search results.
- Session recordings allow you to watch how users navigate, scroll, click, and complete forms on your website.
- Funnel analysis helps you track how users move through different stages of your conversion funnel, such as landing page visits, sign-ups, and checkouts.
A new and upcoming metric in content marketing is attention metrics, which measure how engaged or focused an individual user is on a digital advertisement. These metrics consider factors like: how long a user looks at an ad, whether they interact with it, and whether their engagement leads to meaningful actions, such as conversions.
Traditional metrics may show reach, but they don’t always translate to effective engagement or brand recall. Attention metrics fill this gap by providing insights into how captivating and memorable an ad is to its audience. The move to attention metrics will be crucial in digital marketing campaigns, directly impacting the ROI of your content marketing efforts.
Content Marketing Trend #3: Personal, Conversational Content
In 2024, the shift towards personalized, conversational content continues. People enjoy interacting with other people, not ‘soulless’ corporations. At the same time, people also realize that they will be dealing with chatbots and automated systems more and more. They don’t necessarily have a problem with that, as long as the interaction is useful, effective, relevant, and friendly.
That’s why brands are now adopting a more personal and conversational approach in their content, mirroring human interactions. What does personal, conversational content look like? Here are some examples:
- Creating content that speaks directly to the audience’s experiences, needs, and emotions, as if it’s coming from a trusted friend or advisor.
- Encouraging two-way dialog, such as running surveys and discussions on social media, or creating community-driven online events.
- Sharing employee experiences or success stories to show how real people are working to solve the customers’ issues.
- Using marketing automation to deliver tailored content and experiences to different customer segments.
The goal is to make your brand feel more human and relatable. A brand that your customers can rely on to solve their problems. This should be an underlying driver of your content creation and strategy in 2025.
Content Marketing Trend #4: Repurposing Content
Great content is evergreen content. Content that has no expiry date and can be used again and again will generate better ROI than time-limited content that is only relevant for a few weeks or months.
The longer you can promote a piece of content, the more people will see it, and the more value it will provide.
Repurposing content means taking existing content and giving it new life by adapting and updating it for different platforms and formats.
Let’s say you created an in-depth blog post about a topic that is popular among your readers. It performed pretty well, getting good page views and engagement. Why not take some of the best parts and publish them again? For example, turn the most important quote into an X post, summarize the article in a catchy TikTok video, or even refresh the design as a downloadable PDF and promote it via your email list.
Or perhaps you recorded a fantastic podcast with a special guest. Why not take the transcript, edit it, and publish it as an article on your blog?
You already spent time and effort in creating the original piece of content. Repurposing it maximizes its shelf life and distribution. Different people have different content consumption habits – repurposing is a great way of reaching readers in all the different places you might find them online. Some people who could enjoy your content might never find it via Google search, but could run into it on YouTube or via a native ad on their favorite news site.
Plus, it’s easier than ever to repurpose content thanks to AI generative tools. There’s no excuse to not repurpose your old content that’s performed well. It’s a win-win tactic, so go for it.
Content Marketing Trend #5: Short-Form Video
Yes, video is a key content marketing trend, year after year. That’s because consumers everywhere just can’t get enough video – they continue to watch and engage with video content, so it keeps seeing wild growth.
As reported in the CMI Video & Visual Storytelling Survey of 2023, 67% of content marketers say that video has become more important for their strategy than in the previous year.
Wyzowl also concluded that 88% of marketers see video content marketing as an important part of their overall strategy.
Video’s continued dominance in digital marketing can be strongly attributed to mobile technology. Today, most people have a powerful mini “TV” in their pockets, with sophisticated 5G or WiFi access to data and content everywhere they go. Consuming video on-the-go used to be a luxury, but now it’s a commodity. With the rise of “shorts”, or biteable video clips in a continuous feed, together with shorter-than-ever attention spans, video content marketing is not just a trend, but an absolute must.
Plus, video has a wide variety of formats businesses can play with. As video continues to reign as a key tool in content marketing, marketers experiment with its potential across more platforms and diverse video ad types.
For example, Outbrain’s digital platform offers several video ad formats, such as Clip ads for short animated ads, and Click-to-Watch formats that encourage deeper interaction. Pre-roll video placed contextually within premium content is the ideal choice for brands to increase visibility and audience engagement in versatile and innovative ways.
And even more groundbreaking is Moments by Outbrain. Moments makes it easy for you to add TikTok style short-form video to any website. The platform uses smart tech to predict which audiences will engage with certain videos and displays them on publisher sites where people are already consuming similar content.
Content Marketing Trend #6: User Generated Content (UGC)
In an age where people are bombarded almost constantly with polished commercial messaging, UGC feels like a breath of fresh air.
It’s that feeling you get when you’re scrolling through social media, say Instagram or TikTok, and a post stops you in your tracks – a thought-provoking written post or a video that grabs your attention.
It doesn’t have to be a perfectly polished piece of content. In fact, it’s the raw authenticity and relatability that appeals on a human level. That’s the power of UGC.
The right mention of your brand (or a related topic) at the right time, in the right place, created by an everyday user, rather than a brand or established influencer, can work wonders from a marketing point of view.
It could be as simple as a clip of someone reviewing your product, such as a live unboxing. It can even be someone simply talking about a topic related to your offering and casually mentioning your brand. If these written posts or clips resonate with people, it’s a great way to get extra exposure.
The main thing to note with UGC is it shouldn’t feel forced. Authenticity can’t be faked. What you’re looking for is an organic moment that happens naturally.
If you find a good piece of UGC that feels real and relatable, then you can like, comment, and share from your brand account. But be careful not to overdo it, as the magic of UGC is that it works organically.
Content Marketing Trend #7: Voice Search Optimization
Although most people still type out their search queries, a growing number use voice search instead. Around 20% of people used voice search in 2024.
In 2020 there were 4.2 billion voice assistants which grew to 8.4 billion in 2024. As more and more AI-powered voice assistants hit the market, it’s likely to normalize the idea of speaking to devices.
Voice assistants like Google Assistant (or Gemini), Siri, Alexa, and ChatGPT are convenient and often have web search features built into them. The younger generation are growing up with this technology and are more likely to use voice search for educational purposes, entertainment, and general inquiries.
What does this mean for content marketers who want to optimize voice search results?
We recommend paying attention to the following voice search trends.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP improves voice assistants and search engines, helping them better understand natural language and provide more accurate results.
- Conversational Queries: Voice search is becoming more conversational, so marketers should plan for longer, more natural-sounding search phrases.
- Local SEO: Voice search is often used for local businesses, so make sure you have accurate and detailed local listings.
- Content Optimization: Content should directly answer questions and align with the type of questions people will ask out loud.
- Device Integration: Look to make your content accessible across different platforms and devices to maintain a consistent user experience.
Content Marketing Trend #8: Adapt to Change
The tech consumers use is constantly changing. As a marketer, it’s your job to stay up to speed with these changes and adapt as quickly as possible.
In 2024, Google rolled out generative AI search results. Now, at the top of the first page you get a summary of the top results generated by AI, along with a link to each source.
With this in mind, one content marketing trend to watch is directly answering the question people are searching for and being highly informative. Precision is the name of the game, as the AI picks out content that’s directly related to the search query. This could mean that broad, sweeping content topics are out and more in-depth, granular content is in.
It’s also likely that internet searches will move more to a more conversational model. This means people will ask a question about the topic they’re interested in and get some generated info, then probe further with follow-up questions to access new info, before finally clicking on a link they’re interested in. Popular search tools like Perplexity.ai are already making that possible with the ability to ask follow-up questions built in.
Content Marketing Trend #9: Niche Content Marketing
Building on the previous trend, marketers should focus more on niche content. As search becomes more conversational, users are having dialogues with their devices. This means your content needs to answer initial questions and lead into deeper, specific follow-ups related to the niche.
To do this well, you should aim to deeply understand your audience’s interests and pain points.
Use AI tools to get insights on your audience and what their search patterns look like. Then build a strategy that aims to connect with people and boost your visibility on AI-driven SERPs.
But remember – even with all these AI tools on the market, people still crave a genuine human connection. Make sure your content delivers that. Even if you’re writing about technical topics, make sure you include a human touch that makes concepts easier to understand and relatable.
Content Marketing Trend #10: Consumer Content Patterns
Dynamic, “in-the-moment” content is growing in popularity. This includes live streams and behind-the-scenes (BTS) content. The reason people like these is that they feel more “real” and they pull audiences into the action, as if they’re really there.
Live content generates a sense of urgency and exclusivity. People tune in because it’s a one-time event, and they don’t want to miss out. If you can offer “can’t-miss moments” that make people feel part of something special, then you’re onto a winner.
Live streaming also encourages interaction, such as real-time comments and reactions, which gives your content a boost.
BTS content is popular as it peels back the curtain. People love seeing how things are made and getting to know the real people behind a brand. It makes your brand more trustworthy and breaks down the barrier of formality that might otherwise be there.
Content Marketing Trend #11: Build an Engaged Community
The word “community” is bandied around a lot in marketing circles these days. And for good reason. Humans are social animals. We like to feel a sense of belonging. If you can generate those feelings around your brand, then you’re much more likely to get repeat customers.
For example, fitness brand Peloton, known for selling high-end exercise bikes, built a thriving community around their brand. Members join real-time leaderboards, take part in group challenges, and celebrate milestones together. On their app and social media, members often share stories and host virtual meetups, which often turn into real life ones too.
This approach turns everyday customers into brand advocates who feel connected with each other and feel a sense of warmth towards the brand.
Wrapping Up
In 2025, we’re likely to see a continued trending of classics such as video content marketing (especially short-form video) and personalized content, but also newer entries such as AI content creation and automation.
Old or new, you don’t have to implement all of these content marketing strategies at once, or at all, but keep your finger on the pulse of what’s out there and possible for you. This will help you create a stronger content marketing strategy, and the best one given your resources and budget.
FAQ
What is the future of content marketing?
The future of content marketing leans heavily towards personalization and use of advanced tech like AI to tailor and optimize content for individual users. Expect to see continuing trends like interactive content, voice search optimization, and immersive experiences through AR/VR.
But it’s also important that brands focus on human connection as well as tech. You should aim to create meaningful content that attracts attention, as well as creating genuine relationships with people.
Why is content marketing important in 2025?
Content marketing helps build brand awareness, engagement, and loyalty by helping and connecting with people. Good content drives traffic, generates leads, and ultimately helps you sell more. In 2025, as digital spaces become ever busier, brands that connect on a deep level will be the winners.
What are the types of content marketing?
Content marketing includes formats such as blogs, videos, podcasts, infographics, email newsletters, social media posts, webinars, and whitepapers. Each type serves different purposes and caters to different stages of the customer journey, from awareness to decision-making.
What are the 4 pillars of content marketing?
The four pillars of content marketing are:
- Strategy: Figure out what you want to do with your content and make a plan to get there.
- Creation: Make useful and engaging content that your audience will love.
- Distribution: Deliver your content to the right people on the right platforms.
- Analysis: Check how your content performs and use that info to make future content even better.
What are the 3 Cs of content marketing?
The 3 Cs of content marketing are:
- Circulate: Share your content on different platforms to reach more people and get them interested.
- Create: Make content that’s fresh, useful, and fun.
- Curate: Find and share existing content that meets your target audience’s needs.
