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
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
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
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