30 Content Marketing Statistics That You Need to Know
Keep up-to-date with the most recent digital marketing trends using 30 eye-opening statistics about content marketing to guide you in shaping your strategy.
Marketing strategies are still dominated by content, and evidence supports my assertion.
Content marketing is essential to any digital marketing strategy.
Content is, in fact, the lifeblood of the web and social media.
Modern SEO has become optimized content marketing—Google rewards businesses that create content that demonstrates Expertise and Authority to their customers.
Content marketing is creating and sharing valuable, relevant, entertaining and consistent content in various formats (text-based, audio, and video).
Attracting and retaining a defined audience should be the primary goal, with the ultimate goal being to drive profitable customer action.
It's essential to stay up-to-date on the latest trends in content marketing, as so much content is being created and shared daily.
Thirty content marketing statistics will help you achieve this goal.
Use of content marketing
How many businesses are using content marketing?
1. According to the Content Marketing Institute, for 73% of B2B marketers and 70% of B2C marketers, content marketing is an integral part of their overall marketing strategy.
2. 91% of the marketing professionals surveyed by Semrush were successful in their content marketing in 2021.
3. CMI conducted a B2B Content Marketing Study and found that 40% of B2B marketers had a documented strategy for content marketing. 33% have a strategy that needs to be documented, while 27% don't have any strategy.
4. Marketers say half of them outsource content marketing.
5. The pandemic caused an increase in content consumption of 207%
Content Marketing Strategy
Which strategies do content marketers use or find to be the most effective?
6. 83% believe producing higher quality content less frequently is more efficient.
7. A 2022 Statista Research Study of Marketers Worldwide found that 62% of respondents believed it was important for marketers to be "always-on" for customers. 23% felt content-led communications are more effective for personal targeting purposes.
Different types of content
Although content marketing was once synonymous with blogging, the web and content have changed to audio, video and interactive formats.
These are some stats about how different types of content are performing and what they are trending.
8. Marketing teams created the top three types of content in 2022: videos, blogs and images.
9. B2C marketers have used videos (61%) and short articles/posts (83%). These are the two most popular content types in the past 12 months. From 22% in 2012, their use of long-form content increased to 42%.
10. The most powerful type of social media content is short-form video content such as TikToks or Instagram Reels.
11. 40% of marketers stated that original graphics (infographics and illustrations) were essential to their 2020 marketing goals (Source: Venngage).
12. 72% of B2C marketers expect their company to invest in video marketing by 2022. (Source: CMI)
13. Articles of average length (900-1200 words) attract 21% less traffic and 75% more backlinks. Source: Semrush State of Content Marketing 2022
14. Interactive content receives 52.6% greater engagement than static content. Buyers spend an average of 8.5 minutes looking at static content and 13 minutes for interactive content. (Source: Mediafly)
Distribution of Content
It's not enough to create and publish content.
A content strategy must be able to distribute content through the most popular channels with the target audience.
15. Facebook was the most popular distribution channel for B2C marketers over the past twelve months and drove the highest results. (Source: CMI)
16. CMI received reports from B2B marketers that LinkedIn was the top-performing organic social media channel.
17. Pay distribution is used by 80% of B2B marketers (Source: CMI).
Content consumption
Understanding how the audience reacts to content once it reaches them is essential.
18. According to a DemandGen 2021 study, 62% of B2B buyers rely more on visual content, such as webinars and case studies, to help them make buying decisions. They also cite the more significant trustworthiness of the source.
19. Most content formats are worth at most five minutes of review by buyers. Source: DemandGen Content Preferences Survey
20. Ryan Robinson, a blogger, reported that the average reader spends 37 seconds reading a blog.
21. 65% of respondents to DemandGen's survey said they give more credence to peer reviews, user-generated content, and third-party publications/analysts vs. company-generated content.
Content Marketing Performance
Content marketing is a great way to get a return on your investment.
22. CMI reported that B2C marketers believe content marketing is a great way to build brand awareness and trust and educate their target audience.
23. Content marketing is generating 3x as many leads as traditional outbound marketing but costs 62% less (Source: CMI).
24. 56% of blogging marketers agree that it is an effective strategy, while 10% believe it has the highest ROI (return on investment). (Source: Hubspot blog research)
25. More than 60% of marketers gauge the success of their content marketing strategy via sales. Source: Hubspot State Report on Marketing, 2021
Budgets for Content Marketing
The willingness to invest and changes in the budget indicate how popular these marketing strategies are at a macro level.
These stats show that marketers are beginning to believe in the value of content.
26. CMI's 2021 survey found that 61% of B2C marketers believed their 2022 content marketing budget would be more than their 2021 budget.
27. 22% of B2B marketers said they spend 50% or more on content marketing. 43% of B2B marketers saw their content marketing budgets increase from 2020 to 2021, and 66% expect them to grow again by 2022. (Source: CMI)
Challenges
Marketing comes with its challenges. It is essential to recognize and address these issues head-on using well-thought strategies. This will help you overcome them and achieve success.
28. The top challenges were "attracting quality leads with our content" (41%), "generating enough visitors and promoting content" (39%), creating content that resonates and appeals to our audience (31%), and "proving our ROI with our content" (30%). Source: Semrush's State of Content Marketing 2022
29. B2C marketers are concerned about changes in SEO/search algorithms (64%), social media algorithms (53%), as well as data management/analytics (48%). (Source: CMI)
30. 47% of internet-enabled device users are looking for downtime due to digital fatigue. Source: EY Survey
Time To Get Started
Content marketing is a cost-effective and efficient way to generate leads, build brand awareness, and drive sales.
It is possible to reap substantial business benefits by putting in the effort to create a content strategy and then executing it by creating, distributing and optimizing high-value customer-centric content.