No matter what type of business you are in, inbound marketing can help you increase your reach,generate more leads and land new business. 
Content marketing is a vital piece of the inbound marketing formula for success, and content marketing is performed best with the latest data and information at your fingertips. With data on your side, you will be surprised by the great strides you can make with your content marketing. MarketingProfs recently published the results of a new survey, the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends. The report contains useful data and a number of great insights, which I will share and discuss with you now.
According to the report, B2B marketers are spending more, using more tactics and distributing their content on more social networks than ever before. On average, B2B marketers are spending 33% of their marketing budgets on content marketing, up from 26% last year, and 54% plan to increase content marketing spending next year. All content marketing tactics are being used more frequently than ever before—with the biggest jumps in the use of research reports, videos and mobile content. The majority of B2B marketers use five social distribution channels; LinkedIn is used the most, surpassing Twitter as the most popular social distribution channel over the last two years. The biggest challenge for B2B marketers is currently producing a high volume of content, while it used to be producing engaging content. However, it is important not let quality suffer in the name of quantity.
As you can see, social media is now the most popular content marketing tactic. It is important to not let your competitors leave you in the dust, so take full advantage of distributing your content across social networks. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are good places to start. Then, look into content syndication sites like Business 2 Community and Social Media Today, which can greatly increase your reach to a much wider captive audience.
The Biggest Content Marketing Challenges
1. 29% of B2B marketers struggle with producing enough content.
2. 18% worry about creating engaging content.
3. 14% cite a lack of budget as the biggest roadblock.
4. 7% see a lack of vision as their biggest challenge.
5. 6% feel that a lack of knowledge, training and resources is the biggest hurdle.
6. 5% struggle to produce a variety of content.
7. 5% cite an inability to measure content effectiveness as a major problem.
8. 4% believe a lack of integration across all marketing is the biggest problem.
9. 2% see finding trained content marketing professionals as a huge challenge.
The Most Effective B2B Marketing Tactics
B2B Marketers rated the effectiveness of various marketing tactics and forms of content.
1. 67% rate live in-person events as effective.
2. 64% believe case studies are effective.
3. 61% rate webinars as effective.
4. 59% believe blogs are effective.
5. 58% rate videos as effective.
6. 58% think e-newsletters are effective.
7. 57% see research reports as effective.
8. 57% rate whitepapers as effective.
9. 55% think ebooks are effective.
The Most Popular Social Media Sites for Content Distribution
1. 83% use LinkedIn.
2. 80% use Twitter.
3. 80% use Facebook.
4. 61% use YouTube
5. 39% use Google+.
6. 26% use Pinterest.
7. 23% use SlideShare.
8. 12% use Vimeo.
9. 10% use Flickr
10. 10% use StumbleUpon.
The majority of B2B marketers use five social distribution channels. Which are your favorites? Are you confidant in your content distribution methods? What is your biggest content marketing challenge? If you would like to amplify your content marketing, contact Innovative Marketing Resources.
