A crystal ball take

from Contently

21 content marketing predictions for 2016The Content Strategist, ContentlyGuaranteed ....The start of the New Year brings about a plethora of predictions for the year ahead in every industry, in every field. Here are 21 from the guys at Contently, who live and breathe content. And so we think they're well placed to give some decent insight into what the world of content marketing may hold for us in 2016.

Expect predictive analytics to become a must-have feature this year. Machine learning has the ability to transform the industry by informing everything from ideation to conversion. Those who fail to embrace it will be left in the wake of those who do.

Alex Combs, Data Scientist, Contently

Next year, content marketers and media buyers will get married. Some literally, more figuratively.

Joe Coleman, Chief Executive Officer, Contently

Creative agencies will increasingly look to build, partner, or buy content technology solutions to integrate into their full creative offering.

Ray Cheng, VP of Marketing, Contently

We’ll see more branded content in the form of GIFs, interactive infographics, web series, and event live-streaming. Brands will need to experiment with just about any form of digital storytelling as the competition for attention time only gets fiercer.

Ari Kepnes, Content Strategist, Contently

"We’ll see the “10xification” of content. Yes, I just made this word up, but the point is the best brands will be 10 times better at content and relationship building than the rest of the market. There’ll be a very clear separation between the leaders and the suckers."

Paul Fredrich, VP of Product