B2B Content Marketing Trends in 2013
LinkedIn released the results from a 2013 content marketing trends survey of its B2B Technology Marketing Community. The overall impression from the survey? The popularity of content marketing is increasing; however, the tactics are changing. We’ll look at B2B content marketing trends in 2013.
Here are some key findings from the survey:
- 61% of marketers use marketing automation platforms, up from 43% last year
- 93% of B2B marketers are creating their own content while 34% are syndicating or curating content and 30% are encouraging user-generated content
- YouTube popularity as a channel to engage B2B audiences is rising while Facebook is losing ground; videos are the fifth most effective content format to reach B2B audiences and 73% indicated that YouTube is an effective platform, up from 53% in 2012
- The least popular content formats are printed books, online games, and podcasts
- Whitepapers dropped significantly in perceived effectiveness, moving from second place in 2012 to sixth place in 2013
- Customer testimonials and case studies are considered the most effective B2B content tactics
- The top three marketing goals for content marketing are lead generation (71%), thought leadership/market education (50%), and customer acquisition (45%)
- LinkedIn is considered an effective social media network for reaching and engaging B2B audiences by 85% of respondents
- 65% indicated that Twitter is an effective channel; this was down from 70% last year
- 39% indicated Facebook remains an effective platform, down from 54% in 2012
- 37% of marketers use marketing automation to generate leads while 36% use an MA platform to nurture leads
- 39% don’t use marketing automation in any capacity, down from 57% last year
- 55% say the top challenge for their enterprise is to find enough time and bandwidth to create content; the next biggest challenges are producing engaging content (49%) and producing enough content variety to fulfill the needs of marketing programs (39%)
The survey was conducted in June 2013 and included 815 LinkedIn community members from a wide range of industries, locations, and employers.
