Content marketers are pursuing a robust agenda. But their tools may not be equal to the challenges, judging by Strategies, Tactics and Trends For Organic Search & Social Media, a study released
on Friday by Ascend2.
The top content objective for those polled is increasing traffic to websites and/or blogs — 59% cite it. Yet that task is rated as challenging by 47%.
Second among the goals, specified by 54%, is improving brand awareness/preference. But 42% list that as a challenge.
More daunting is the task of increasing leads generated/converted.
Equal percentages — 46% — say is it is an objective and a hurdle.
Some chores are apparently more trouble than they are worth. For instance, 37% say improving the search and social
metrics tracked is a challenge. But only 29% call it an objective.
The study shows that 90% of firms are increasing their organic search and social media budget, but only 23% are making
significant boosts.
In general, the best results for 47% are gained from using organic search and social media equally. But 35% feel that way about mostly using organic search, with some
social media.
The most effective tactics are:
- Search engine optimization — 50%
- Quality content creation — 50%
- Social media
posting/marketing — 47%
- Keyword research management — 42%
- Content marketing — 41%
- Mobile/local search optimization — 22%
- Blog posting/guest blogging — 20%
The most effective metrics are:
- Visits/unique visitors — 54%
- Traffic sources/conversions —
54%
- Content downloaded/shared — 44%
- Keyword rankings — 42%
- Bounce rate/engagement — 30%
- Domain or page authority — 17%
- Backlink quality and quantity — 16%
Ascend2 surveyed 278 marketing influencers.