Report: 74% of B2B content marketers have a strategy; only 22% rate it effective

According to Content Marketing Institute’s latest B2B enterprise content marketing report, 74 percent of the content marketers surveyed said they have a content marketing strategy in place, but only 22 percent rated their content marketing efforts effective.

Based on survey responses from 335 respondents that identified as B2B enterprise marketers across “a full range” of industries, the report covers content marketing tactics, benchmarks and budgets.

Eighty-seven percent of the survey respondents said they use some form of content marketing. Of the 74 percent of respondents that claimed they have a content marketing strategy, only 35 percent document their strategy.

While 22 percent rated their efforts effective or very effective, the majority of respondents (52 percent) were “neutral” when asked to rate their content marketing effectiveness on a scale from 1 to 5.

B2B enterprise content marketers rate effectiveness of their content marketing:

The top three most used content marketing tactics included in-person events, videos and social media content.

B2B Enterprise marketers’ content marketing tactic usage:

At 94 percent, LinkedIn was the most popular social media platform for distributing content marketing among the B2B enterprise marketers surveyed. YouTube came in second, followed closely by Twitter.

Social media platform used to distribute content:

Survey respondents used an average of six social media platforms to distribute content. In addition to the top five (LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Google), respondents also listed Slideshare, Vimeo, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and Periscope.

When rating the effectiveness of the social media platforms used for content marketing distribution, survey results followed suit, with LinkedIn in the lead, followed by YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Search engine marketing (SEM) was the most popular paid distribution method used by the survey respondents, followed by banner ads. Fifty-eight percent of respondents ranked SEM as their most effective paid distribution method for content marketing, followed by content discovery tools, promoted posts and social ads.

B2B enterprise marketers rate effectiveness of paid advertising methods for content marketing distribution:

Seventy-four percent of the respondents said they plan to produce more content this year, and 47 percent said they plan to increase their content marketing budgets over the next 12 months.

As far as priorities, 73 percent listed “creating more engaging content,” while 66 percent listed “better understanding of what content is effective – and what isn’t.”

B2B enterprise marketers’ top 5 content marketing priorities:

The full report can be downloaded from Content Marketing Institute at: B2B Enterprise Content Marketing 2016 Report.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues was a senior editor for Third Door Media, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land, Search Engine Land and MarTech Today. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs, SoftwareCEO, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.