Think about this: every single day, more than 27 million pieces of content are shared on the Web. That is nearly 756 million pieces a month, If there was ever a question as to whether content is still king, this statistic answers it definitively. However, content marketing is really just in its beginning stages as more people turn to it to exhibit their company brand and message. Content marketing has revolutionized totally what it means to showcase your business to the world. No longer are you promoting sales sheets or overly promotional pieces of content as your primary type of content. You are sharing photos, infographics, tips, whitepapers and more. With social channels such as Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter, it’s quick and easy to get the word out about your goods and services. Tie in the promotional tools each of those networks provide and you can expand your reach exponentially. Content marketing has turned into an art – every marketing team is attempting to create the next unique, wildly successful campaign to propel their company to the top. Creativity is key and more marketing departments are increasingly being to resemble a creative department. As marketers find new ways to reach their target audiences and technology continues to evolve, the future of content marketing continues to get brighter for businesses. Here are 10 amazing facts about this revolutionary marketing strategy that shapes the way we make purchases, evaluate services, and use the Internet each and every day.
1. Active blogs generate 67% more leads per month
This statistic highlights one key factor that anyone who uses the Web can’t ignore, though many do – people love blogs. They love them even more when they happen to find them on their favorite company’s websites. Yes – companies can and should have blogs regardless of what your business is. Why? Because blogging provides consumers with a down-to-earth view of what a business is all about. It humanizes your business. Furthermore, company blogs can quickly become a go-to resource for other people in the industry, assuming posts are always educational and relevant. Those two words are very important to remember. You are not going to get leads or even interest if all you do is blog promotional materials. Be promotional but soften it with educational material. For example, offer a whitepaper that requires filling in a form that will give you lead capture information. This is your opportunity to showcase yourself as an authority or expert in your field. Use it!
2. On average, content marketers are using 12 different tactics
Multitasking is an understatement for all marketers. It’s just part of the profession and every year, more channels of communication open up for marketing teams to use – think of all of the apps and social networking sites that have exploded onto the scene in 2014 alone. If you really want a mind blowing experience just thinking of the marketing channels that have opened up since 2000. We are moving at light speed and more and more marketing channels are becoming available. With that in mind, content marketers are using many if not most of them. On average, content marketers are using about 12 tactics to promote their content. Virtual conferences, webinars, videos, and research reports are among some of the most popular ones, and they may be worth incorporating into your own strategy.
3. About 86% of B2C companies use content marketing
Not really a big surprise as the consumer market adepts itself quiet easily for content marketing. With the number of consumers turning to social networking to make buying decisions, B2C companies are viewing content marketing as the key to expanding their client base. The value of content marketing continues to expand across multiple industries.
4. B2B marketing teams spend 33% of their budget on content marketing
While content marketing has been embraced by B2C businesses, B2B have been slightly slower at adopting content marketing and I can understand that. Promoting to businesses is very different than promoting something to a consumer. But still, content marketing can be extremely valuable to a B2B business as it accomplishes the same thing in the B2B market. It allows businesses to establish themselves as experts and authorities which many business consumers will find appealing. B2B businesses are starting to get it and so much so that it is worth 33% of their total marketing budget. While they may not have been early adopters, they are making up for it in a big way.
5. Social media sites and blogs reach eight out of 10 Internet users in the U.S.
This is a huge number with even larger ramifications, even when you aren’t taking into account the number of people who may be using these sites to make purchases. Whether your buyer persona is most frequently on LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube or Facebook, content marketers need to have a presence on social media and develop a blog strategy for outreach purposes. I have been told a number of times by some marketing executives that their businesses do not see the value of having a social media presence. Typically these are B2B type businesses. Nothing can be further from the truth. Every business should have a social media presence for the distribution of content. If your social media isn’t working than it isn’t the channel that is wrong but perhaps the way you are using it.
6. Email is the most popular form of communication
Social media networks are a big influencer in content marketing but email marketing is still the top channel for content marketing communication. For this reason, marketers need to continue to place value in their email marketing campaigns, as well as the content that they are distributing to their target audience. Having down email marketing for nearly 10 years I can personally state that content related emails such as newsletter are typically the top performers with the best open and click through rates and overall superior performance to more promotional type email campaigns.
7. Approximately 47% of B2B marketers regularly use LinkedIn
LinkedIn – the often forgotten about social media network. Maybe not forgotten but certainly underutilized by many for marketing purposes. I can hear it now – why would my business need to use LinkedIn? Even if your target audience primarily uses Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter, it’s a good idea to use LinkedIn for marketing. Business professionals turn to LinkedIn to make connections with other people in their industry and build their professional network. If you still aren’t convinced, consider this– top salespeople spend approximately six hours per week on LinkedIn. The social networking site has evolved into a very powerful sales and marketing tool that continues to grow in popularity. Make sure to use it!
8. Nearly 87% of B2B companies use social media to distribute content
While it’s completely acceptable and a best practice to offer content on areas of your company website such as a blog or resource library, you can reach a much wider audience through social media. That being said, publishing your content on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter isn’t always enough. It takes more than just publishing content. Your content marketing team needs to build a following on these social networks by providing valuable, insightful updates. You will want your updates to be something that will get their attention and not only like your page but also to keep checking it out. That will take some work – and ideally an employee who is dedicated to social networking efforts. Typically this is not very cost effective for many businesses which is where a marketing agency such as MarketingModo comes into play. The end goal of your social media and content marketing strategy will naturally be a great ROI which will come in the form of more prospects and leads, who may eventually become customers and contributors to your overall bottom line.
9. Companies that blog 15 times per month get five times more traffic than those that don’t
15 times per month which is roughly a blog post every business day of the week. This number clearly indicates one simple fact – build a blog, and people will come. Active blogs can create a breadcrumb trail for more leads and set the sales team up for success; pointing to an expert and in-house-written blog post that answers a lead’s question thoroughly and intelligently is a very helpful sales tactic. It’s up to the marketing team to ensure that the blog is always full of insightful, fresh content, and although this may take some work, the potential benefits are hard to ignore.
10. Only 44% of companies outsource their content marketing efforts
While it is easy to outsource tasks such as blogging and social networking, companies typically show a preference towards keeping content marketing in-house at least at first. What happens normally is that they give content marketing a shot doing it themselves first but this becomes very labor intensive quickly as content development can take time- lots of time and that is not even including distribution. There are pros and cons to doing content in-house, one of the cons, as just mentioned, is the time it takes to develop content and of course in-house teams are much more expensive than outsourced solutions. However, you are the experts in your business and no one can develop content as well as you can. At MarketingModo we have a number of content development experts and writers who are experts in every field imaginable but what we find works even better if to have our clients provide the content while we manage the distribution or the creation of special content such as infographics. Conclusion Content marketing isn’t just a passing fad; it has firmly established itself as a core facet of the marketing industry. Its seemingly sudden increase in popularity is due to its significant benefits to other disciplines of online marketing, such as SEO and social media marketing. Clearly, marketers have embraced content marketing and the statistics prove its value.