*Slams laptop shut and throws it out of window*
Honestly, that’s what I’ve felt like doing for the past month.
Even today, as I’m writing this article.
LinkedIn is trying to keep up with AI, and the number of hot takes being passed around like hot potatoes is overwhelming.
There’s no more room in the oven, people!
I’m seeing SEO agency leaders defending their offering until the bitter end. They’ll either pivot, jump ship, or sail toward that iceberg—knowing full well they’re going down with the ship, and too proud to act otherwise.
I’m seeing writers freaking out. Will they still have jobs this summer? What about come Christmas? Honestly, I don’t know.
What I do know is that one thing that isn’t changing is our need to consume.
We are greedy, hungry humans. And we’ve been spoiled.
Every day we live, we strive to stuff our bellies, our minds, our hearts, with something that fills us. Every day, we’re looking for a bigger and better fix.
We want to feel happier.
We want to cry harder.
Mediocre just doesn’t hit the spot anymore.
The way we’ve all been creating and consuming content has changed. But that doesn’t mean people don’t want or need it anymore. We just need to change how it’s served. Otherwise, professional content folks are going to be digging between the sofa cushions for pennies to pay for our Netflix subscriptions.
I was recently tasked with doing research for a content trends presentation to a group of marketing managers and founders. I went in deep on my research.
- I trolled social media: LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Substack (is that even social?)
- I listened to every content podcast from last December up until last week
- I interviewed (like, really, truly sat on calls and chatted with) dslx’s clients: past and present
So now I’ve put together what I consider to be a great overview of where we’re at now and where content marketing can go.
Please know that I’m writing this article as more of a journal. I’m tired. I’m overwhelmed. I’m just trying to figure it all out.
Also know I’m not afraid to pivot. Marketers have always been on their toes as tech and consumer needs evolve. AI’s now snapping at our heels, pushing us forward so hard that it’s either sprint or fall and be swallowed alive. (It’s giving Cassandra 🤖)
I’m 33. I’ve got one last sprint ahead of me before I break down in confusion: is it my knees or my heart that hurts the most? Do I need to run another race, or do I need to buy an oud and bergamot candle and have a bath?
This is me, at the starting line of the final sprint. This is what I expect to be coming our way. Pick through it, choose your Pokémon, and go fight your battles.
I hope to see you at the finish line, where we’ll sun ourselves with a Negroni in hand and laugh at the race we just ran, and how crazy we looked while running it.
Content marketing moments that rewired our industry
Let’s take a look at the content marketing trends that brought us to today.
Notion’s profile photos flood LinkedIn
A brilliant moment of brands encouraging their community to create. Notion provided the tools and guidelines, showcased that they supported the efforts, and Notion avatars popped up like poppies across LinkedIn. It was a great example of social-led growth and a resurrection of UGC within B2B.
The Visit Oslo campaign takes the world by gloomy storm
Anti-advertising from the Oslo tourism board was a firm reminder that people love the negative, the drama, the dark humour. If you haven’t seen the ad yet, then where have you been?
Oslo’s ad kicked the travel and tourism industry in the backside by finally delivering something new! I imagine we’ll see this sort of disruption across other industries this year as people tire of the “same old” being old and the same.
Google Gemini ships fast and flops hard with Dear Sydney
We started seeing more and more big tech companies introducing AI bots; the race to get to market first was on, but the fastest doesn’t always mean the best. Google proved this with its launch campaign for Gemini, which totally missed the mark and received backlash for introducing AI in what should be a very human interaction.
We’ve seen multiple rounds of uproar about AI in the marketing and creative industries, but this stands out as one of the most monumental for AI’s timeline.
Ryan Law and the ever-so catchy: ‘HubSpot Drop’
Where it all started. I blame you, Ryan Law! I blame you for the scaremongering and the downright chaos you’ve created on LinkedIn feeds across the globe. Ladies and gentlemen, Patient Zero.
Ryan Law somehow reawakened the SEO Bros from Twitter and summoned the new-era AI Bros to LinkedIn. From here, it was a zombie apocalypse, to which LinkedIn lapped up: giving algo juice to hot takes and outrageous POVs. It has resulted in C-suites “researching” from a quick scroll of their newsfeed, cutting budgets, re-strategizing, disrupting marketing team members' lives off the back of “I have a feeling”—off the back of Ryan Law.
Marketing teams weren’t given a chance to prepare or strategize. They weren’t even thrown into the deep end. They were kicked out of the pool. And those who survived were left cold, shivering, and wondering if someone’s going to bring them a towel.
Brand search volume correlating with AI mentions
Source, although not original.
You’ll likely have seen this graph and write-up drift by your newsfeed on a slow Wednesday afternoon. Research found a somewhat clear correlation between brand mentions on AI chatbots and brand search volume.
Meaning: if your brand has a higher search on other search engines, it’s more likely to be referenced by AI.
It seems kind of ridiculous that we needed this affirmation; it should really be common sense. However, it initiated a shift in marketing teams as “old” SEOs were told to go hard on brand. It’s meant that organic marketers on shoestring budgets have needed to do even more to get the brand out there and increase brand search: SEO, GEO, events, social media, YouTube, forums, community sponsorship and building. The list grew longer and purse strings got tighter.
Elena Verna’s Company Blogs blog
Fearmongering at its finest. Thanks, Elena! She writes: “Company blogs are no longer worth the investment.” I won’t link it, you can find it if you must! She follows a sad introduction with more sad screenshots of company blog visits declining. Remember our anti-advertising trend from Oslo? Here it is on repeat.
Company blogs are still worth the investment, but their metrics are not what they once were. They don’t own the majority of the market share anymore, but that’s not to say brands should stop blogging. They’re a fantastic source of truth for brand ambassadors, can be pivotal in brand recognition and increasing brand search volume (ref: my last h3), and are fantastic sales assets (BOFU).
dslx is still doing company blogs. From TOFU keywords through to BOFU product-aware walkthroughs, we’re still winning great results for our clients.
Elena is indirectly selling newsletter sponsorships. Each to their own, I get that. I just wish people were more sensitive with their clickbait headlines and considered the impact they have.
The theft of Studio Ghibli
Most recently, we’ve got the theft of Ghibli. I won’t use a visual, because that may signal I encourage it. With ChatGPT’s latest image creation feature, things got a whole lot more advanced, and plagiarism has been thrown into the ring. In order for ChatGPT to create something “in the style of” something else, is OpenAI actively encouraging and allowing plagiarism of someone else’s intellectual property? In the style of The Simpsons? In the style of Ghibli? Is it your style to directly replicate and then publish for your own benefit?
Fun fact: Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli’s co-founder, didn’t actually say this particular theft was an “insult to life itself”—this is fake news and a prime example of how people don’t do their research from what they hear on their social media feeds.
The quote was from an old clip in which Miyazaki was first presented with an AI machine that could animate still images.
However, the movement and Miyazaki’s supposed reaction have taken the creative world by storm and clarified two things:
- AI creators like ChatGPT don’t give a flying f*uck if they end up plagiarising creatives’ or businesses’ intellectual property. They’ll do it anyway because the masses will still use it.
- Misinformation spreads fast. And, large decisions are heavily influenced by social media snippets—even when those snippets are not factually legit. So, why are businesses still deprioritizing social media?
Does every marketing channel actually suck right now?
The most recent in the saga. I have to say it brought me equal parts rage as it did joy to see the redaction to this LinkedIn post. What started off as a ridiculously strong, fearmongering, algo-battling hot take got slammed, and the author quickly changed his tune to be a little more empathetic and rational. Too little, too late though; the damage was done. The seed was planted.
My two cents: every marketing channel does not suck. There are more of them. And, your current way of using them sucks. Get creative!
With all of these recent updates on the table, where do I think content teams can put their money this year? I’m pleased you asked.
A tired Founder’s guide to content trends & strategies for 2025
SEO = Brand & PR, embrace it
SEO is now a combination of “old school” (last year’s best practices), new school findings (correlations between AI chatbot mentions and brand search volume), and digital PR strategies.
Content managers should figure out how to create holistic brand strategies and approach their business, product, and people with a PR mindset. How can you get positive press in front of as many eyes as possible? The company blog is the magnet, the landing pad.
But, distribution needs to include:
- SEO / GEO
- Social media
- YouTube
- Forums: Reddit, Discord etc.
- Communities: gated, Slack, IRL
- Events
- Newsletters
Optimize for zero-click search and click search
Some of your content should be designed to win the click, and some shouldn’t. In some cases, it’s enough to get in the AI snippet and win the impression instead.
Define which content is aiming to do what, and track that metric accordingly.
Consider Founder-led content or your equivalent
This content is thriving. It’s our second-most popular, sought-after service. It’s a great option for early-stage founders—we’re talking not even a website—to start building in public and use a social media platform to garner interest from day dot.
At dslx, we specifically do this with LinkedIn, and manage everything from the account of a first-time Founder with our Linkedin personal brand account management service (I know, a ton of jargon, but let me know if you find an easier way of saying it) through to Presidents and C-suite executive accounts of much larger companies.
Here’s one I made earlier.
Topical authority > domain authority
There’s been a big shift in SEO, specifically in ranking on Google or with AI chatbots. It’s no longer about domain authority, it’s about topical authority. Google’s Jan 2025 update saw the word "original" appearing 1.5x more than in the March 2024 version.
What on earth does this mean?
It means that brands relying on domain juice they’ve acquired over the years are not as indestructible as they think. Case in point: HubSpot. Google is now better able to realize your areas of expertise and the topics you’re qualified to write about. If you’re going for a topic outside of that scope, in the hope of footfall, domain authority in general won’t help you rank.
This is why content writers always harp on about getting SMEs into their work. It’s why dslx is ghostwriting some client articles under the names of relevant internal staff members from their team, or building knowledge avenues for our own in-house writers so that when they publish content on a topic, Google can see this is an area they write about a lot and assign topical authority to the blog page because of the person writing the content—despite the domain it’s being published on.
Ask if your blog can get more personal
An accumulation of Founder-led content, LinkedInfluencers, topical authority, and AI taking a stake in search means company blogs are getting more personal, and a few are turning first-person altogether. It’s bringing that Substack, personal newsletter vibe to the corporate domain, and I’m all for it.
Saying this, not every blog post needs to be so brash or from a team member—your readers may grow numb to it.
Pick the topics your people are truly passionate about or have first-hand experience in, consider what the reader is looking for, and whether the answer they’re looking for is best delivered from an individual or from your collective business.
Email lists & community are a fossil fuel
I think this is the one thing the LinkedIn community can collectively agree on right now. Community is everything. We’re entering an era in which anyone can build a product. Any competitor can mimic one of your USPs. How can you ensure people stick with you instead of going after a lower price tag? Brand affinity. Likability. Community.
The biggest value any business has is the people behind it. In its workforce, its customer base, and its fan base. How can you make brand ambassadors at every touch point? How can you become lovable—as the world’s fastest-growing startup aptly named themselves and strive for. In a world where anyone can create or do what you do. How can you make people feel about what you do?
One thing I loved about researching this is that Zapier is/was running pickleball events! Pickleball! How many people can you really get around a few pickleball courts? It’s such an intimate, silly, fun, likable idea.
There’s so much good happening in content right now. We’re bottling it up in our newsletter—sign up here!
Content needs to ship fast & exclusively
There’s a lot of noise out there right now. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been close to throwing my laptop out the window in recent weeks. That and the cats that live downstairs. They’re so cute! 😻
To combat all of this noise, I have every confidence that exclusive communities will start popping up more and more. Invite-only, pay-walled, gated. Content will be shipped fast and exclusively to the people within these communities, and it will be valued 10x more than if it were released publicly.
The creator economy made it to LinkedIn
LinkedInfluencers, thought leadership experts, whatever you want to call them. LinkedIn has evolved, and its community has, too. It’s no longer a digital CV and a job board, it’s become a vibrant community for people to share their professional stories. And I’m here for it.
I see a lot of complaints about how people’s LinkedIn feeds are packed with mush.
Are you forgetting free will?
Remember that cleanse most of us did on Instagram a few years back for our mental health? I remember removing every model from my feed who reminded me I was aging and should not be eating that croissant in my shaky hand.
Do the same for your LinkedIn! Clear out the crap that you’ve acquired over the years and keep the people you want to hear from and those who inspire your own journey.
The creators will keep coming; you need to keep culling. You’re the only one responsible for cultivating your feed to be what you need. And, if that includes coworking with croissants, call me. 🙋♂️
Copy is getting wicked smart
I’m a writer. I’m all for language. AI is also all for language. It’s making companies do more with their words if they want to stand out. A couple of trends I predict for 2025:
- Grammar will be a choice: I’ve seriously considered adding typos to LinkedIn content on purpose to prove I am human—what have we come to!? While I don’t think (hope) this is going to be a widespread thought, I do think that businesses and people alike will become more playful with their grammar, breaking traditional rules in favor of how a reader reads. We want to jolt people out. of. their. slump.
- Reactive content will calm down: Trends are living and dying like butterflies. As soon as a brand catches a whiff, they warp it into some grotesque sales opportunity, and it's abandoned in the depths of social weeds. Content managers can’t keep up, and ‘consumers’ don’t want their one bit of fun spoiled. I imagine brands will only be publishing reactive content if it’s actually super relevant to them this year. We’re spread too thin as is.
- We’ll see more traditional rhyme—and half-rhyme!—in order for our prose to stand out. Brands that have something they want to shout about will build rhythm through rhyme.
- More word play: Word play doesn’t need to be jokey or lower a corporate tone. Puns can still be playful without being unprofessional.
- Language techniques will make a comeback: Onomatopoeia, alliteration, and rhythm will rise again. In a desperate bid to strike emotion, content writers will reach back into their dusty literary toolboxes. Expect words to hum as traditional techniques return to help readers feel more.
- Micro-storytelling & flash fiction: Building on my last beat, brands will be looking for ways to connect with their readers faster. If you’ve read any of my work, you know I’m a huge believer in storytelling, and will see this implemented in microcopy everywhere. Or, threading one larger story into chapters that weave through the customer funnel.
If you’re nodding along to this, the storytelling course is your next stop. Join the dslx academy!
Is content going backward? Or are we taking a step back?
Honestly, I’m a little worried about written content going forward. People don’t know how to navigate AI search yet; there are no experts—despite the claims on our feeds. Everyone’s experimenting, some just louder than others.
Believe you me, some of those sneaky black hat SEO tactics that many used back in the day, and Google strived so hard to cull, will slip their way back in. I imagine link-building tactics swapping for brand-building tactics as sites sponsor other topically relevant sites or large and relevant readership sites to place their brand name—not even a link anymore.
This will remove the need to add a go- or no-follow UTM, meaning Google’s going to have to really read context and figure out if mentions are authentic or not. Also meaning there’s going to be a huge amount of distrust—as if there wasn’t a lot already—from real readers, as they’re left questioning: “is this mention authentic?”
For us to enter a new era of content, people are going to continue testing what they know before they step into what they don’t. There are tactics that will work that we haven’t even ideated or formulated into vocabulary yet. It’s kind of exciting to think content marketers are going to need to innovate—that hasn’t happened in a while, and the cookie-cutter playbooks will be left to wilt on the window sills, bleaching in the sun.
My advice? Keep delivering authentic, useful, knowledgeable content. (AUK).
Don’t be influenced by the noise—listen to your customers, instead.
Stick with the format they love.
Host it.
And distribute it wisely. SEO is distribution, but so is social, so is your newsletter, so are forums.
71.5% of consumers use ChatGPT for searching, but as a complement to Google—not a replacement. 63% of websites receive at least some traffic from AI sources, but this represents only 0.17% of total visits to sites, with top performers currently reaching 6%. What’s more, 90% of B2B marketers are clicking on AI chatbot references, so you should be battling for “zero-click search” as much as you’re battling for other digital spaces—they’re not so zero-clicky after all.
All the rest of your traffic has got to come from somewhere else!
Value topic performance across collective channels, rather than individual channel performance. Distribution channel shares are diversifying, but that doesn’t mean you need to leave one channel behind and go for the other. Implement your checklist to distribute across them all. And, measure the success of your topic as you go.
And, hire my agency if you made it to the end of this read, or it’s seven years bad luck. Guaranteed.
Got ya.
