In a recent survey conducted by content marketing provider Skyword, nearly 50 percent of respondents said that their businesses owned a content marketing strategy. However, only 25 percent are actively measuring the result of their content marketing and online reputation efforts through social media.
Conducted by the firm Unisphere Research, this survey polled 217 readers of EContent Magazine and CRM Magazine, reflecting a diversity of business sizes and industries.
The survey detailed a number of content marketing trends, with a concentration on how organizations create and distribute content. According to the survey, the top reason that marketers are instituting content marketing is to further engage current and prospective customers. Sixty-eight percent of respondents acknowledged this as their leading goal.
-Content Marketing Strategies
At the time, 37 percent of the survey participants claimed that their businesses are currently working on the installation of a content marketing strategy. Meanwhile, 46 percent report that they have one in place.
For businesses using a content marketing strategy, 48 percent believe that their current efforts are resulting in better engagement with prospects and customers. Forty-one percent are noticing an increase in their brand awareness.
-Content Distribution Strategies
How are these respondents distributing their content? Most often, it’s social media. In fact, 70 percent of respondents have sent their materials through social-media channels, with Twitter and Facebook clearly established as the most popular sites.
-Social-Media Strategies
When asked to name their most crucial social-media tool, 64 percent of respondents put their business blog first with LinkedIn second. Following on this list were Twitter, Facebook, online forums and YouTube.
However, most businesses are struggling to track the result of their content marketing efforts through social media. Only 25 percent of survey participants claimed to have measurements available in order to determine the effective of their chosen strategies. Understanding the value of their social-media content proved to be a particular issue based on survey comments.
The constraints associated with this long-term goal include the lack of high-quality content, lack of budgets and the difficulty finding the necessary content creators.
Here are some challenges for content marketers as presented in the survey.
-Assessing User Engagement
Most respondents are tracking user engagement as opposed to business gains, with just 31 percent connecting social media success to sales or product revenues.
-Adopting a Budget
Budgetary issues seem to be a common theme as well, with nearly two-thirds of respondents (66 percent) acknowledging than less than 10 percent of their annual budgets are given to social media.
-Acclimating to the Environment
Businesses are tentatively stepping into the world of social media, with nearly half (46 percent) posting on a weekly basis. A surprisingly low total – 4 percent – post more than once each day. The ideal frequency among respondents is generally once or multiple times a day (40 percent).
-Assimilating the Right Staff
Among survey participants, more than half of them reported that their businesses are creating ten or fewer pieces of content marketing each month. A majority of them – 44 percent – hope to increase this total to at least 50 pieces each month. Several respondents (14 percent) aim for more than 50 digital assets each month.
Brands and businesses have pushed out more content in order to establish their status as an industry leader. Volume is not always the best strategy, though. Developing dozens of new content assets each month won’t get you where you need to go. An added bonus of posting information-rich content will be that customers are much more likely to share it. If Internet users are forwarding your content on their own social-media accounts, your website traffic will skyrocket and a new audience will follow you.