8 Biggest SaaS Content Marketing Trends For 2022

The SaaS market has been constantly and rapidly evolving over the years. Nowadays in SaaS marketing, content is king.

A content preferences study by Demand Gen shows that 62% of B2B product buyers rely heavily on content for their buying decisions.

One of the reasons for this is the end-users becoming more and more active in deciding what SaaS solutions to purchase. This is also why product-led growth is possible.

Instead of talking to a sales team, most end-users prefer to do their own research by reading blogs, case studies, and other types of content.

So how can you leverage that to grow your business?
This article will talk about content marketing and the trends that you can use to grow your Saas company.

Content Marketing and Its Role In Saas

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that is focused on… well… content. Instead of pitching your product, you provide relevant and high-quality content to your audience.

The goal of content marketing is to attract and retain customers by providing valuable information. This can be in the form of how-tos, case studies, or anything that will help your audience.

So how does this apply to SaaS?

Well, SaaS solutions are complex products that can’t be easily explained unless you provide value to your audience. SaaS companies usually have a hard time acquiring new users because of this.

You see, most SaaS products are very complex and their functionalities aren’t obvious at first glance.

The solution? Content marketing.

SaaS content can help SaaS companies explain their product and build trust with their audience.

And with end-users more actively educating themselves about SaaS, content marketing will help SaaS companies acquire new customers and generate more revenue.

The thing is that SaaS content marketing in itself is constantly evolving. Audiences’ preferences change. The means of accessing content change. Trends change.

With that, here are some trends that you can leverage for your SaaS content marketing strategy:

Long-form Content

For most types of businesses, short-form content is the way to go. Quick-read blogs, social media posts, infographics. These types of content work well for most businesses.

But for SaaS, it doesn’t work that well.

It’s because SaaS products are very complex. And complex products need detailed explanations which can’t be done in a couple of hundred words.

Remember that your potential customers are looking to educate themselves well before making a purchase. They are after the information. That’s why long-form content (1000 words or more) appeal to SaaS buyers.

I want to emphasize two types of content you can create for your website: tutorials and blog posts.

Tutorials

Tutorials are the how-tos to your product. These are content that provides specific instructions on how to use your SaaS solution.

The most proven way to provide written tutorials for your customers and potential customers is through a knowledge base on your website. It’s easy to find and the articles are arranged in categories that readers can easily navigate.

Just to balance this out, you don’t have to limit tutorials to text only. You can also use other types of media to make them more engaging and understandable.

We’ll talk more about that later.

Blog Posts

Blog posts provide valuable information that can help SaaS providers grow their businesses.

This type of content doesn’t have to mention anything about your product. Imagine someone just wanting to learn more about how to find product-market fit. So they look it up on Google and they find your blog about it.

It may not mention your SaaS solution right away, but it builds your brand awareness. It starts and grows your relationship with the readers.

More than that, providing this type of content establishes you as an authority in your field. It lets your audience know that you can be trusted when it comes to these topics. And when they are ready to buy, they will consider SaaS companies who promote valuable content.

One SaaS company that does blog content so well is HubSpot. They have hundreds of high-quality blog articles written for SaaS businesses.

Moreover, they make their blog site easy to navigate by breaking it down into different categories. You can navigate through topics like sales prospecting, email marketing, remote work, and more.

HubSpot also focuses on providing news about its industry. They provide the latest updates in digital marketing, sales, and other related topics.

What’s more, HubSpot also provides tutorials and news about its products. Each blog post is clearly linked to the corresponding knowledge base articles on how to use their platform.

Search Engine Optimization

Another thing that’s been going on in SaaS content marketing is the race to the top.

The top of Google’s search results.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your content so that it appears higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

This is important for SaaS companies because most SaaS buyers start their product research on Google. It doesn’t matter how good your content piece is if it’s on page 10 of the search results. No one’s going to find it through Google.

That’s why you need to make sure that your content is SEO-friendly.

Here are some things you can do to move up the SERPs:

Do Your Keyword Research

Keyword research is your main tool to develop your content strategy. The first thing you need to do is to know what topics you need for your content creation.

You start by finding the right keywords to target.

You can use tools like Ahrefs, Google Ads’ Keyword Planner, and Semrush to find the right keywords for your content. These tools show you SEO metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, traffic potential, and more.

Some of these SEO tools even let you see what keywords your competitors are targeting. It might give you an idea of what topics are trending in your niche. You can also take advantage of it to create content that would beat them in the SERPs.

Include Target Keywords (Within Reason)

Including your target keywords in your titles and in your content will help Google understand what your article is about. This will prop you up to rank higher for those keywords.

But don’t keyword-stuff your title and your content. That’ll only get you penalized by Google.

Even worse, they might put your readers off. Forced keyword placements sound awkward most (if not all) of the time.

A couple of strategically placed keywords should do the trick.

Use Meta Titles And Meta Descriptions

Your meta titles and meta descriptions carry weight in the SERPs. The meta title tells searchers what your post is all about. While the meta description gives more information on why they should click on it.

These are the first things that searchers will see about your page. So make sure that the meta title and meta description are relevant to the keyword and would attract their attention.

Add Internal And External Links

Links are another big factor in search engine algorithm. They’re one of the criteria used by Google to determine if your page is high-quality or not.

For external links, add high-quality and trustworthy websites.

Doing so helps Google recognize the credibility of your website. However, if you add links to low-quality and spammy pages, it could end up hurting your SEO performance.

Adding internal and external links proves to Google that you have a good understanding of your field.

That’s why you should link from one article to another on your own blog whenever relevant. That way, Google will understand that they are related and will rank both of them higher.

It’ll be better for users as well since they can get more information on the topic without leaving the page.

Social Media Content

Social media content has also been a big player in SaaS content marketing. It’s one of the most effective channels for reaching potential customers early in their buyer’s journey.

Most social media platforms have algorithms that favor posts with high engagement. This means that if you want your post to reach more people, you need to create engaging content.

Posts that have a lot of likes, shares, and comments are more likely to be seen by more people. That’s why you need to focus on posting content that would get people talking.

You also need to know which social network would best reach your target buyer persona. For a B2C audience, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the way to go.

B2B marketers may use a different set of social media platforms. Although, Facebook might still be effective, especially if you’re targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMB).

However, if you’re moving upmarket or targeting enterprises, you may choose LinkedIn or Medium. The connections on these platforms are more professional in nature.

You can also post long-form content on these platforms. Not only will it enable you to engage the decision-makers in your target market. It will also help you establish thought leadership, which will further set you up as an authority in your niche.

Video Content

Visuals can be a great way to engage audiences. And video is one of the best forms of visual content. After all, it’s more engaging than plain old text.

Video content helps your target audience understand your product better, especially if it’s a difficult concept to explain using only text.

Visuals are also helpful in simplifying complicated processes and concepts into bite-sized pieces, which makes them easier to understand.

You can also use videos for your tutorials. An explainer video not only educates prospective customers. Its potential to engage your audience also serves as a great way to increase conversion rates.

One SaaS provider that utilizes videos well is Vidyard. Of course, a SaaS company offering a video creation tool would use video in their content marketing strategy. No surprise there.

Vidyard’s blog site has video guides showing how to leverage videos for sales and marketing campaigns.

But aside from the video guides, you can also find hundreds of long-form blog posts aimed to help businesses. And of course, many of these blog posts are accompanied by engaging and informative videos.

What’s so clever about this strategy is they are hitting two birds with one stone. Not only do they create engaging content for their potential customers. They also deliver value by showing the kind of videos that their SaaS solution can produce.

Interactive Content

Interactive content is another engaging form of visual content. This is because the users play a more active role.

They’re not just consuming the content, they are a part of it.
Depending on the type of interactive content you publish, it may even encourage social sharing and embedding into other websites. This builds your credibility and authority in your field.

Here are some types of interactive content you can produce:

Quizzes

Not only is giving quizzes a fun way to get your audience engaged. They also provide you with information about your target market.

For example, you can ask quiz takers what their favorite SaaS solution is. This will give you an idea of the products that are most popular in your niche. You can then create content around those products.

But you can also package your quiz in a way that further advances your authority in your chosen niche.

For example, they answer a quiz asking them about their pain points. After they answer all the questions, the quiz gives them a recommendation on what SaaS features would benefit them the most.

But those kinds of quizzes might need a little more programming than usual.

Surveys

Just like quizzes, surveys are another effective way to uncover your target market’s pain points. It also gives you insight into how to improve your product or service.

To make the most out of your survey, make sure that you design it in a way that will encourage participation.

Incentivize survey takers by awarding them with free stuff, like eBooks or free webinars. Or, you can offer them exclusive discounts or free trials for participating. Who knows? It may even lead them to buy your SaaS product.

ROI Calculators

One of the drawbacks that a potential customer may have in buying a SaaS product is the price. This is true especially for startups or small businesses where the budget is tight.

But if they see how much return on investment (ROI) your SaaS solution can give them, they will be more attracted to purchase it.

ROI calculators are a great way to do that. It shows your potential customer the value of your product.

They can also be used as a lead gen tool. You can provide prospects with a calculator that inputs their specific data.

If they like what they compute on your ROI calculator, you don’t just give them an answer to their question. You make a high-quality lead that is more likely to convert thanks to your calculator.

Mobile-friendly Content

In this day and age, more and more people are browsing the internet using their phones. This is why your website needs to be mobile-friendly.

But that’s not just limited to your website. All of your content also needs to be mobile-friendly.

This means that it should be easy to read on small screens and that it should not take a long time to load.

One of the best ways to do that is by breaking down your long-form content into smaller pieces using H2 and H3 subheadings. You can also use bullet points to make it easier for mobile viewers to read on small screens.

Podcasts

Podcasts are another great way to provide engaging content to your audience. You can interview thought leaders in your industry or talk about the latest trends in your niche.

You can also use them to promote your product or service. But make sure that your podcast episodes are not the same as your blog posts. They should be unique and can stand on their own.

What you can do, however, is use the podcast as a launching pad for your blog post. In your podcast, mention your blogs and then write content that shows your analysis of the interview.

Webinars

Webinars are a great way to connect with potential customers and show them the value of your product or service.

Like we discussed earlier, you can hold free webinars as a reward for your promotions and surveys. You’ve acquired valuable information from your target market and got an audience for your webinar.

Two birds with one stone.

Again, your webinar doesn’t have to promote your product outright. People join the webinars to learn. You can share the best practices for lead nurturing or other topics. Like in podcasts, you can also invite thought leaders to speak in your webinars.

Still, webinars are a great way to generate leads. You can offer potential customers a complimentary webinar registration in exchange for their contact information.

Once you have their contact information, you can follow up with them and convert them into paying customers.

Launching And Improving Your SaaS Content Marketing Strategy

The list of content marketing trends for SaaS can go on and on. There are so many marketing channels and methods to consider.

But if you’re serious about getting ahead in the SaaS industry, you have to take advantage of the current trends. You need to see how they can be integrated into your marketing strategy.

Finally, don’t forget to monitor your content marketing performance. After all, you measure what you value.

Track your website traffic, bounce rate, and all of the important KPIs. Use these metrics to learn which of your practices work and which don’t.

But don’t stop there. Further use that information to optimize every method, every channel, and every content piece that you have online.

For more SaaS marketing strategies to help you grow your SaaS business, visit our blog here.