Internet of Things (IOT): Creating opportunities for content marketers

According to Gartner, the world will have over 20 billion IoT devices by the end of 2020. The market size for these devices will be well over $1 trillion and this is just the beginning of a future where IoT will become integrated with everything, ranging from the kitchen microwave to children’s toys, and even the clothes we wear.

One of the key areas where the IoT invasion will make a major impact is ‘Content Marketing’. The latter has become all pervasive now and estimates suggest that more than 80% of all brands include content marketing in their scheme of things today. Digital content marketing is increasingly taking centre stage in the modern era of Experiential Marketing. This is where the vast volumes of data and access points provided by the IoT devices will play a transformational role.

Data is critical to content marketing and that’s where IoT assumes greater significance. The conversions of any campaign depend on the quality of data inputs. With IoT devices making inroads into every aspect of life and all sorts of gadgets, it would be possible to obtain data relevant to various industries and create campaigns based on that data. For instance, running shoes with sensors gather data about which parts of the foot bear more weight and stress. This allows the manufacturers to come up with a better version of the shoes with superior comfort and mobility.

IoT devices provide content marketers with massive volumes of data that offer many benefits such as the following.

Creation of customised content

In the IoT age, content marketing is no longer confined to channels such as blog posts, social media, and articles, etc. Data-driven content marketing campaigns have made it imperative for marketers to become experts in creating multi-format, multi-device content as users view it on different devices. The content must be dynamic and seamlessly compatible with all kinds of devices.

Unmatched customer experience

For a content marketing campaign to achieve its objectives, it is important for the content to be engaging, important and unique. The trick is to create an emotional connection with the target audiences through the art of storytelling. The content will make more impact if the people feel it instead of simply reading it. This is where IoT is proving to be a great enabler. The humongous data generated by the IoT devices allows the content marketers to understand the mindset and issues faced by the audience regarding the product to be featured in the campaign. This insight then helps marketers specifically highlight that concern in their content marketing campaigns. This type of responsive content can drive customer loyalty and help the brand gain control of a larger share of the market.

Precision targeting

IoT devices keep generating data on the user behaviour and trends on a real-time basis. Access to such data gives content marketers a great opportunity to create campaigns that are tailor-made for different audiences. Factors such as age, location, climate, preferences and an end user’s interaction with IoT devices, etc., help generate such leads.

This precision targeting benefits companies immensely as they have the option of segregating their audiences into different buyer personas and create different ad versions according to the audience. For instance, marketers can create an ad using ‘India Gate’ or ‘Red Fort’ as a reference and show it to audience in Delhi/NCR. A version using “Gateway of India” will make a better impact on the audience in Mumbai.

In conclusion

In the IoT-enabled world, the much superior data generation and analytics enables the content marketing teams to create engaging and relevant brand stories. The creation of content as well as its delivery is becoming increasingly optimised. The constant stream of data enables the marketers to deliver relevant content on a real-time basis in case of a sudden demand or some feature updates that are of interest to a specific audience. The insights generated by data compiled by the IoT devices lead to better outcome for the sellers and buyers alike!

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of www.buzzincontent.com and we do not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)