Search is one of the most vital – and misunderstood – components of a content distribution strategy.

The ongoing algorithm shifts initiated by the search engines make it hard to be confident that you’re doing everything you can to optimize content performance.

As part of CMI’s new Mastering Content Marketing video series, we asked Courtney Cox Wakefield, digital marketing manager at Children’s Health, to share her view on trends shaping the search landscape, and the challenges and opportunities they hold for content marketing.

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Editor’s note: Given the ongoing need for brands to use social media strategically, we are sharing this article updated from its original publication last year.

Concerned about how Facebook’s latest algorithm updates might affect your brand’s performance on the platform? Questioning where your Facebook ads might appear across its network of sites, including on Instagram and Messenger? Curious as to whether user trust has deteriorated to the point where social media is no longer a safe space for your brand to play at all? You’re not alone.

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It’s time to put away your avocado toast jokes and shore up your social consciousness, folks. Generation Z consumers have arrived, and they are forcing companies to rethink the terms of marketing relationships.

Born between 1995 and 2012 (though the precise years vary depending on the source), the post-millennial generation has begun to cross the threshold of adulthood and is poised to take over the workforce and the marketplace in the next few years. We’ve all heard the stories about how challenging it will be to forge strong bonds with this distracted and discerning demographic; industry pundits cite perceived short attention spans, disinterest in brand messaging, and general disregard for impersonal experiences as compelling reasons for marketers to regroup and refine their content strategies.

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Move over mobile marketing: A little voice is whispering that your time as “the next big thing” is almost up.

Actually, that whisper is more of a shout, and it’s “Echo”-ing across the digital landscape, as voice-response technology is rapidly emerging as the most disruptive force to hit the industry since the internet became a visual medium.

Just how loud will this sonic boom be? Here are a few data points about the impact voice-centric digital communication is having on consumers – and how marketers are responding:

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One of the most pervasive themes at this year’s Content Marketing World was the need for big changes in our industry. Digital marketing is always evolving, so it’s no surprise the 3,700 marketers in attendance would want to focus on the latest adjustments they should be making to their content strategies and tactics.

But one change featured prominently had little to do with upgrading to new techniques, sophisticated tools and technologies, or measuring and monetizing content’s impact. Rather, the dominant through line was the need to shift the marketing mindset to create a culture that promotes more innovative, responsive, and meaningful consumer connections.

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The great thing about social media is you can become anyone you want to be. The bad thing – at least from a brand’s perspective – is that you may not exist at all.

If your brand works with paid online influencers, you’re probably familiar with one of the technique’s biggest risk factors now: influencer fraud – a dilemma that occurs when paid tastemakers use artificially inflated follower numbers to increase their asking rate for engaging their audience on behalf of a brand.

What was once an isolated trend has exploded in recent years, to the point where the digital landscape is reeling from all that fake follower activity. To put the scope of the problem into perspective, up to 20% of mid-level influencers’ followers are likely fraudulent, according to a Points North Group study.

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What does it mean to create loyal customers in a world where your competitors can be everywhere at once, shopping habits are increasingly search driven, and a single social misstep can quickly erode the favorable reputation it took your brand years to build?
It has become all too common for brands to promote brand loyalty simply by lavishing reward points on anybody willing to identify as a customer or load an app on their phone. And when the appeal of earning exclusive deals and discounts doesn’t do the trick, there’s always the option to fall back on scare tactics that point out your competitors’ shortcomings (remember those old I’m a Mac/I’m a PC chestnuts?).

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Did you follow the #PlaneBae saga as it jumped from social media channels to national news item? If so, you saw the turn it took from lighthearted love story to a much darker reminder of the unexpected ways our digital footprints affect our (and others’) lives.

Unwanted social media exposure is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to digital privacy concerns. With health insurers peeking at our online activities and AI algorithms analyzing online behaviors to assign everything from article preferences to loan or job suitability to prison sentences, protecting personal data is something everyone should be concerned with.

This concern should also extend to the work we do as content marketers. Changing privacy laws in Europe and, now, the U.S. have given us compliance-driven motivation to be more vigilant and transparent in our handling of consumer data. (See the privacy law recently passed in California.) But it’s the trusted relationships we hope to build with our audiences that give us even more compelling reasons to care about those who willingly share their personal lives with our brands.

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