Content will continue to dominate and drive all digital marketing strategies, however, the type of content we produce and its very optimization will have to evolve and adapt to meet the need of your audiences: voice researchers.
Voice activated technology is fast becoming a part of people’s everyday life. There are currently almost 120 million smart speakers in US homes (per a report by NPR and Edison Research). And by the year 2022, 55% of adults will have a smart speaker in their home, as per OC&C Strategy Consultants
Google voice search is one of the most commonly used voice assistants for mobile phones. Most people today, literally prefer voicing their search rather than typing it. Why? Because it’s quicker and you get the desired results with least of efforts: detailed typing.
Consumers want things handy and with ease. They would seek from a variety of queries, right from: “the nearest coffee shop to me” to “where do I get best quality of cabbage”! Users who speak are looking for different types of content – often quick answers and bite-sized information rather than detailed articles – than those who type searches. Rather than focusing on shorter keywords and creating long-form content, the optimal approach is to create shorter-form content with concise answers, optimized for long-tail natural language queries.
There are numerous reasons why brands should look into how they can optimize for voice activated technology users, particularly if they’re selling physical products. When optimizing and adapting content for voice activated technology users, it is important to think about the type of content you will be creating for these users.
Vital Stats
- 43% of companies invest in technology to enable voice marketing according to a survey via 2018 Digiday AI Marketing Summit
- Alpine.AI reveals there are already over 1 billion voice searches conducted every month and comScore estimates that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be voice based.
Podcasts
One of the most highly engaging ways of voice activated technology is Podcast marketing. Podcasting has garnered an immense popularity over the years. A podcast is a set of digital audio files that are available on the internet for streaming or downloading. A user can subscribe to a podcast of their interest to get the latest updates and information. Businesses nowadays are increasingly leveraging on podcast marketing to improve their overall content marketing strategy and customer engagement. There are already quite a few ad management platforms providing voice activated ads upto 10 seconds long. Podcast marketing is a powerful marketing tool and is changing the way people are interacting with brands. Podcasts have become the new talk radio on mobile devices. In fact, the increased usage of mobile phones has led to the explosive growth of podcasting.
Chatbots
Almost a potent robot! Chatbots use advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to interpret the meaning and intent of natural language queries. They can then search your content database to deliver the best content to answer the query, or answer directly with programmed responses. One of the most important things to note is to keep your language simple when you’re writing for the machines that will parse your content when looking for answers to questions. Complex grammar and long sentences are harder for AI to understand.
5 Reasons Why Brands Should Use Voice Activated Technology
- Gets your business to stand out from the competition
- Improves SEO
- Increases reach and engagement
- Improves overall content marketing strategy
- Increases selling opportunities
Voice assistants are without doubt, an emerging technology and their use is likely to evolve by leaps and bounds over the next couple of years. Some people might prefer to use their smart speakers to read out long-form content rather than just answering quick questions. So it’s best to keep your content marketing plan varied (in other words don’t just rely on short-form content and featured snippets) and regularly review what is and isn’t working for you.
