It’s no secret that many of the trends that dictate our lives are in the technological arena. The fact that we use social media apps so much is because of how capable smartphone devices have become. Technology influences trends. That is a tune that has never been voiced so eloquently as it is voiced today.

A few notable pieces of technology that we need to consider are artificial intelligence, smart assistants, the internet of things, virtual reality, and augmented reality. These are some of the technologies that are highly likely to influence the marketscape so it’s important to understand how they will affect content marketing and how we can leverage these technologies to provide relevant and high-quality content to our target audience.

Artificial Intelligence

AIis arguably the most disruptive piece of technology on this list. It is what’s going to enable our machines to not only handle much more data at much quicker rates, but it’s also going to enable machines to learn from the data that they gather. User intent prediction is one of the capabilities that AI is going to bring to the table.

Whenever a search query is made, AI is going to be able to take the search context into account and it will then show results related to the user’s search intent. So, why is this significant?

Websites that are able to define their purpose (be it informative, navigational, or transactional) and are able to tailor their content toward achieving that purpose, are going to benefit much more than websites that are unable to accomplish this task. With that said, it’s also important to ensure that the links you share and the links to your site are reliable sources because these will also affect the performance of your website. By auditing links to your website, you can ensure that you are getting quality leads.

Voice Search

Although it was initially found to be gimmicky, the use of smart assistants has become increasingly popular. The ability for hands-free control was a feature that we didn’t know we needed until we tried it. The increased popularity of voice search will eventually give rise to the need to adapt to voice search SEO. Luckily, it’s not as complicated as we might imagine.

The main difference between voice searches and typed searches is that the latter function is based on keywords, while the former function was based on the context of the query. Voice searches are made in a conversational tone as in “Alexa, find me a recipe for pesto pasta.” versus types searched like: “pesto pasta recipe”

Because a good number of search queries are going to be performed in a conversational tone, it’s important to adjust your content in a similar manner. You will need to put less attention on keywords, and more attention into ensuring that your content has a natural conversational tone.

The Internet Of Things

Simply put, the Internet of Things refers to the future in which the majority of devices are interconnected through a central network. These devices will not only be able to communicate with each other, but they will also be able to interact with each other.

The key takeaway here lies in how you can now use various devices to collect user data. Because you now have more data, you also have a larger sample size with which you can conduct market research. This wealth of information will enable you to make better content marketing decisions, which in turn, leads to better audience engagement.

Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality

There's no questioning the fact that visual content is significantly more potent than written content. But with virtual reality marketing, it's important to define your marketing strategy before you commit to it.

The primary advantage of making use of virtual and augmented reality in your marketing content is the immersion in your content. Even 360 videos are enough to create a sense of immersion for a buyer who wants to digest every bit of visual detail possible from a product.

A good example of this is by putting a 360 video of a product, destination, or a property that would help prospective buyers get a good idea of what it is they're looking at.

The realm of technology is one that is ever-changing. Trends come and go, and while some trends pass, doomed to be forgotten; some trends, like the ones mentioned above, will shape our world for years to come.