• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 24, 2013

According to MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) reporting their research into the emerging trends in the B2C content marketing space, it’s a good year for B2C content marketers in that 90% of B2C marketers are using content marketing, compared with 86% last year. 34% consider themselves effective at content marketing, up from 32% last year.  

Adoption rates of content marketing are on the rise and confidence has grown:  

• B2C marketers have rated many tactics higher in effectiveness this year; in-person events and eNewsletters top the list of effective tactics  
• B2C marketers are using all social platforms more often, with LinkedIn use registering the biggest jump (from 51% to 71%) 

This confidence in content marketing also shows in terms of investment: 60% of B2C marketers plan to increase the amount they allocate to content marketing. Surprisingly, says the report, the least effective B2C marketers plan to increase their content marketing budgets more than the most effective ones (69% vs. 55%), an indication that marketers believe in the principles of content marketing. 

How B2C Marketers Rate the Effectiveness of Their Organization’s Use of Content Marketing

• 5  Very Effective 7%
• 4  27%
• 3  44%
• 2  20%
• 1  Not as all effective 1%

  Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

39% of B2C marketers have a documented content strategy, and 60% of the most effective B2C marketers have a documented content strategy, compared with 12% of their least effective peers. In addition, small B2C companies are more likely than large B2C companies to have a documented content strategy (46% vs. 41%).  

Percentage of B2C Marketers Who Have a Documented Content Strategy

• 39% Yes
• 52% No
• 9%   Unsure

 Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

85% of the most effective B2C marketers have someone who oversees content marketing strategy, compared with 50% of their least effective B2C peers.  

Percentage of B2C Marketers with Someone Who Oversees Content Marketing Strategy

• 67% Yes
• 26% No
• 6%   Unsure

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

72% of B2C marketers are producing more content than they did one year ago, while 77% of the most effective B2C marketers are creating more content than they did one year ago, compared with 64% of their least effective peers.  

Change in Amount of B2C Content Creation (Over Last 12 Months)

• 32% Significantly More
• 40% More
• 21% Same Amount
• 4% Less
• 3% Unsure

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

The report says that B2C content marketers have increasing confidence

 in the effectiveness of all these tactics, with the exception of blogs, which is down two percentage points.  For the second year in a row, B2C marketers have rated in-person events as the most effective tactic. The most effective B2C marketers, however, rate eNewsletters as the most effective tactic (91%), followed by in-person events (81%).  

Confidence Gap  Effectiveness Ratings of Tactics Among B2C Users
Tactic	Believe It’s Effective	Believe It’s Less Effective
In-person Events	74%	26%
eNewsletters	73%	27%
Videos	65%	35%
Social Media	63%	37%
Articles on Your Website	58%	42%
Webinars/Webcasts	58%	42%
Mobile Content	56%	44%
Online Presentations	56%	44%
Blogs	55%	45%
Case Studies	54%	46%
Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

  B2C marketers are using social media more frequently than they did last year, using an average of six social media platforms, vs. four last year.  LinkedIn had the biggest jump in B2C usage: from 51% last year to 71% this year. 

Percentage of B2C Marketers Who Use Various Social Media Platforms to Distribute Content

• 89% Facebook
• 80% Twitter
• 72% YouTube
• 71% LinkedIn
• 55% Google+
• 53% Pinterest
• 32% Instagram
• 19% SlideShare
• 18% Flickr
• 18% Tumblr
• 16% Foursquare
• 16% Vimeo
• 13% StumbleUpon
• 13% Vine

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013 

Brand awareness is the top organizational goal for B2C content marketing, replacing customer retention/loyalty (which was 77% last year) as the top goal for B2C content marketing.  

74% of the most effective B2C marketers cite engagement as a goal, compared with 43% of their least effective B2C peers.  

Organizational Goals for B2C Content Marketing

• 79% Brand Awareness
• 71% Customer Acquisition
• 65% Customer Retention/Loyalty
• 51% Sales
• 64% Engagement
• 62% Website Traffic
• 50% Lead Generation
• 33% Thought Leadership
• 28% Lead Management/Nurturing

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

 For the second year in a row, B2C marketers have cited Web traffic and social media sharing as their top two content marketing metrics  

Metrics for B2C Content Marketing Success

• 66% Web Traffic
• 52% Social Media Sharing
• 46% Time Spent on Website
• 44% Direct Sales
• 43% Qualitative Feedback from Customers
• 41%SEO Ranking
• 40% Increased Customer Loyalty
• 35% Subscriber Growth
• 29% Benchmark Li_ of Company Awareness
• 27%Benchmark Li_ of Product/Service Awareness
• 27% Sales Lead Quality
• 27% Inbound Links
• 23% Sales Lead Quantity
• 14% Cross-selling
• 11% Cost Savings

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

60% of B2C marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months, a higher percentage compared with last year (60% vs. 55%). 69% of the least effective B2C marketers plan to increase their spend, compared with 55% of the most effective. 

B2C Content Marketing Spending (Over Next 12 Months)

• 15% Significantly Increase
• 45% Increase
• 28% Remain the Same
• 2%   Decrease
• 10% Unsure

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

  Lack of budget, while still an issue, is no longer the top challenge for B2C content marketers. The top three challenges last year were lack of budget (52%), producing enough content (51%), and producing the kind of content that engages (49%). B2C marketers are less challenged in all areas listed here than they were last year, except for lack of time (new this year), producing the kind of content that engages, and lack of buy-in/vision.   

Challenges that B2C Content Marketers Face 

• 57% lack of time
• 51% producing the kind of content that engages
• 48% lack of budget
• 45% producing enough content
• 36% inability to measure content effectiveness
• 36% producing a variety of content
• 33% lack of knowledge and training
• 31% lack of integration across marketing
• 23% lack of buy-in/vision
• 14% lack of integration across hr
• 13% inability to collect information from smes
• 10% finding trained content marketing professionals

Source: Content Marketing Institute/Marketing Profs, October 2013

 For more from the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, please visit here