Engagement, conversion are top content mktg initiatives for B2B players
B2B (business to business) marketers are creating more content and using various tactics to promote and distribute content to their respective audiences. This specific section of marketers wants their content to drive stronger results, with a specific focus on engagement and conversion. A new study from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, sponsored by Brightcove, shows that 69 per cent of B2B marketers rank creating engaging and higher-quality content as their top initiative, with better website conversions right behind at 63 per cent. According to the study, creating engaging content has been the top challenge for marketers year-over-year.
“As content marketing evolves, B2B marketers are learning that it’s not just about producing any type of content; more thought needs to go into it to be effective. Without a strategy it is difficult to determine the best direction, but our research shows B2B marketers are refining their thinking around content marketing and that will pay off in increased effectiveness,” said Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute and author of Epic Content Marketing.
“It’s an interesting time in marketing as there’s a clear shift in thinking from if content marketing should be implemented to how we can do it better. With engagement and conversion as top initiatives, and video’s immense success in driving these two factors, Brightcove will be a key partner to companies looking to be successful in this next stage of content marketing,” added Steve Rotter, Vice President of Digital Marketing Solutions at Brightcove.
According to the study, 86 per cent of B2B marketers use content marketing, but only 38 per cent say they are effective at it. High percentages of B2B marketers cite the following goals for content marketing: brand awareness (84 per cent), lead generation (83 per cent), engagement (81 per cent), and sales (75 per cent). Steady with last year, B2B marketers use an average of 13 content marketing tactics, with social media – other than blogs (92 per cent) remaining the top tactic and marketers using an average of six platforms. Other tactics include eNewsletters (83 per cent), articles on a company’s website (81 per cent), blogs (80 per cent), in-person events (77 per cent), case studies (77 per cent), and videos (76 per cent).
B2B marketers also use on average three paid advertising methods to distribute/promote content, with 80 per cent using at least one. Of the paid advertising methods used, B2B marketers have the most confidence in search engine marketing (SEM – 52 per cent). Next in terms of effectiveness is promoted posts (e.g. promoted Tweets – 41 per cent), social ads (e.g. LinkedIn ads – 38 per cent), and content discovery tools (e.g. Outbrain, Taboola, nRelate – 36 per cent). And while 49 per cent of marketers use traditional online banner ads, only 26 per cent find them effective.
Other findings from the report include:
● 70 per cent of B2B marketers are creating more content than they were one year ago
● Though majority (83 per cent) say they have a strategy, only 35 per cent have it documented. The 35 per cent who have documented their strategy are more effective in all aspects of content marketing than those who have not
● Infographics continue to grow in usage jumping to 62 per cent this year from 51 per cent last year
● Website traffic has been cited as the most often looked to content marketing metric for five consecutive years
● 55 per cent of B2B marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget in the next 12 months
● Google+ was the social media platform with the biggest rise in usage growing 9 percentage points to 64 per cent
● 42 per cent of B2B marketers publish new content multiple times per week or daily
