It was just like yesterday when we wrote about 2025 marketing predictions, emerging trends, new technologies and shifting expectations, where we discussed how marketers will target GenZ and millennials more, the normalisation of social commerce and the use of AI for content creation, among other things.
In 2025, content marketing showed strong ROI, with figures suggesting $3 for every $1 invested, and generated significantly more leads and traffic than traditional methods.
This proves that, more than ever, businesses and marketers need content to survive. But last year, content saturation was overwhelming, with AI empowering both professionals and non-professionals, and this year doesn’t promise to slow down.
But what are some of those content marketing trends that will help you stand out and make a difference in your business? That’s what this article is all about.
Keep reading!
The Content Marketing Shift That Brands Should Not Ignore
Let’s get this out of the way fast before proceeding because you’ve probably heard it a thousand times! In 2026, prioritise value over volume. Yes, consistency preachers would always recommend you post more and post every day. Well, if posting more means you get to post quality and valuable content, then by all means, do so!
But posting more alone will not get platform algorithms on your side because if people don’t find your content valuable, they’ll keep scrolling, and if they keep scrolling, then the algorithm will take note and reward you with low visibility.
What would be important is value. How useful, unique and decision-shaping content is will be the new yardstick to measure relevance and importance.
Unlike the past few years, content marketing has hit a structural limit. Old growth systems like posting more, being active on more platforms and more automations, to mention but a few, don’t produce as many results as before.
There are a number of reasons for this, including content saturation due to AI use, scepticism as a result of generic AI content, continued decline of organic content and stricter measurement yardsticks.
In 2026, the businesses that stand out won’t be the loudest; the businesses that stand out will be the most intentional.
Now that we’ve cleared the runway, let’s take off!
Trend 1: LLM Optimised Content
Due to the staggering number of people who have fully adapted to the use of LLMs like Chatgpt and Claude, you need to optimise your content for these search platforms so your business can pop up in searches.
Data from Statista Consumer Insights shows that approximately 20% of Americans alone use AI platforms to search for products while shopping.
There’s a high probability that this percentage would only get higher, not to mention the growing adoption of other platforms such as Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, Meta’s Llama, and xAI’s Grok. Businesses have to ensure that they create content that AI can consider credible sources in order to be listed during searches.
Statistics show that Google AI mode has 100 million users in the US and India. Half of ChatGPT’s cited links point to business and service websites. Experts believe this could mean that business websites are more likely to have clearer and more structured information about a service, product, or technical topic. The opportunity is to become the go-to authority in your niche that AI must reference to give a credible answer.
To optimise for AI, businesses should prioritise:
- Original expert-based content like research, guides, practical checklists, etc.
- Properly structured content, including headers, FAQs, schema markup, etc.
- Natural language and conversational tone instead of rigid repetition of keywords.
- Q&A content styles that answer questions users are searching for.
Tools like Ahrefs and Serpstat can help by providing phrases that appear in AI Overview results. This can greatly help with the creation and optimisation of content for LLM search engines.
Trend 2: SEO in Social Media
In Q2 of 2025, research by Sprout Social showed that 76% of users affirm that social media influenced a purchase in the last 6 months, with about 90% being Gen Z.
What this means is that if your business focuses on SEO optimisation for only your website or blog, you’d be missing out on nearly 40% of Gen Z users who search for products or services on social media.
Approximately 46% of Gen Z users now prefer social platforms over traditional search engines for discovery. This is why SEO for social media will become extremely important. To get ahead, use tools like TrendDiscovery for TikTok, Inflact, Hashtagify, and Meta Business Suite for Instagram, and vidIQ and TubeBuddy for YouTube.
Trend 3: UGC and EGC
User-generated content (UGC) gained traction in the past few years and will continue to be a popular way for businesses to build trust and directly impact sales through customer feedback and recommendations.
Employee-generated content (EGC), a trend closely related to UGC where employees are involved in content creation, will also be an effective way for businesses to build credibility by showing the internal business culture.
Implementing UGC and EGC will help your business showcase your brand through the lens of customers and employees, thereby ensuring unique communication that strengthens brand credibility over time.
Trend 4: Video and Audio Content.
Short-form videos, especially on Instagram and TikTok, are quickly becoming one of the leading content trends.
They generate over 2x more engagement than long-form videos and help businesses communicate value more quickly than long-form content
According to Backlinko, the number of podcast listeners across the globe reached up to 5841 million in 2025.
In 2026, the numbers will get even higher, as podcasts are perfect for practical analysis and insights, thought leadership interviews, and in-depth breakdowns of complex topics.
Trend 5: Image Search Optimisation
The way people search for products is fundamentally changing. Before now, people go to Google to type things like “best running shoes for women”.
But consumers are increasingly searching with images of the products they have in mind. So instead of searching “where to buy the best running shoes for women in Lagos”, they simply point their camera at what they see, and Google Lens identifies it with complete pricing, availability, and where to buy.
Interestingly, Google Lens now processes 4 billion searches related to visual shopping per month. This is probably why Google just introduced shopping ads directly into Google Lens results, and this implies that showing your product is now as powerful as describing it.
If you sell physical products, you need high-quality images from multiple angles and accurate product data that visual AI can read.
Conclusion
The future of content marketing in 2026 will revolve not around content volume and frequency but intent, relevance, and uniqueness.
The brands that stand out will be the ones that optimise for LLM search engines, ensure social media posts are SEO-optimised, offer unique content perspectives through UGC and EGC, optimise for visual and voice, leverage short-form advantage and diversify content formats.
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