SMC Ed.
Latest posts by SMC Ed. (see all)
- Updated Topic: Using Social Media During a Tragic Event - May 9, 2013
- A Tale of Customer Service through Social Media - May 2, 2013
- Your Blog Sucks: Business Blog Blunders - April 30, 2013
MarketingProfs and the Content Market Institute recently released their annual study on the state of B2B content marketing which focuses on benchmarks, budgets and trends among North American companies. So, if examining what evolved in 2012 shows us any indicators of the future, what does 2013 look like for B2B content marketing?
In short, the study says we should expect a lot more of everything. “B2B marketers are spending more, using more tactics, and distributing their content on more social networks than they have in years past,” the study states in its overview. Paired with more content, there is also more uncertainty among marketers as to whether or not their tactics are working effectively.
Averaging five social distribution channels per company (with Twitter and LinkedIn being the two most popular), the study also finds marketers are increasingly challenged with producing enough content, a change from years past when the top priority was creating engaging content.
By far, social media was the No. 1 marketing tactic, with 87% of companies using it, followed by company website articles (83%), enewsletters (78%) and blogs (77%).
LinkedIn, with its business friendly grown-up feel, went through an aggressive overhaul in 2012 to make its platform more engaging. And apparently it panned out, as LinkedIn became the most popular social network for B2B companies in 2012, surpassing previous top dog Twitter.
Most companies used content marketing for brand awareness (79%), customer acquisition (74%) and lead generation (71%). Overall, content marketing is used to achieved these and other goals more than in previous years, with the one exception being sales, which is down slightly.
Here’s the full presentation:
