‘Content is king’ is an adage that has been proven time and again to be true in the digital marketing industry. In fact, it is even more relevant today than ever before as 4.95 billion internet users around the world can be reached, engaged, and converted by publishing great content on various channels. Content powered by content marketing software is especially effective and efficient in getting this work done.
In this article, we present critical content marketing statistics for 2022. We’ve pulled together the best and most recent research on the topic and collated the most relevant numbers to help you create an effective content marketing strategy.
Content Marketing Statistics Table of Contents
1. General Content Marketing Statistics
How many marketers are leveraging content marketing? What are the goals tied to their content marketing strategy? How much of their digital marketing budgets are they allocating to produce great content? Let’s start with answering these questions to get a good grasp of the value of content marketing today.
- From $334.5 billion in 2021, the global content marketing industry’s size is projected to grow to $416.23 billion by 2027 (Technavio, 2022).
- 82% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing (HubSpot, 2021).
- More than 9 in 10 organizations worldwide use content marketing (Statista, 2020).
- Another survey shows that content marketing is part of 97% of organizations’ marketing strategies (Semrush, 2022).
- 79% of organizations have 1 to 10 people creating content (Parse.ly, 2022).
- Between 2021 and 2022, there is a 52% increase in the number of content creators (Parse.ly, 2022).
- Creating brand awareness is the number one purpose of content marketing, according to 88% of organizations (Parse.ly, 2022).
- Increasing brand awareness is the number one content marketing goal for 2022 (Semrush, 2022).
- The majority of marketers (62%) look at page views to know how well their content is performing (Parse.ly, 2022).
- More than half of content marketers use email engagement, social media engagement, website engagement, and conversions as metrics (Parse.ly, 2022).
- 54% of organizations spent up to 50% of their marketing budget on content marketing (Semrush, 2022).
- Content marketing expenditure reached up to $10,000 for 37% of organizations (Statista, 2020).
- Half of the organizations said their budget for content increased this 2022 (Parse.ly, 2022).
- Content marketing is more likely than other digital marketing areas to be allocated 100% of the budget (Search Engine Journal, 2022).
- Organizations are spending more on content creators than tools for content management and analytics (Parse.ly, 2022).
- The three most expensive keywords in the content marketing industry are “content marketing funnel,” “content marketing agency near me,” and “content marketing Pittsburgh” (Semrush, 2022).
2. Content Marketing Software Statistics
Marketers are not limited to using only content marketing software to support content creation and distribution. They are also using email marketing software, social media software, and marketing analytics software, to name a few. As good practice, it is important to research content marketing statistics related to these other software solutions, too.
- From $3.42 billion in 2017, the global content marketing software market is projected to grow to $9.59 billion by 2023 (Markets and Markets, n.d.).
- The top technologies used by content marketing teams are social media posting (65%), website analytics tools (50%), and email marketing software (44%) (Semrush, 2022).
- The following are the top three technologies used by B2B organizations to assist with content marketing: analytics tools (83%), social media publishing/analytics (80%), and email marketing software (75%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- More than 7 in 10 B2C content marketers use the following technologies to assist with content marketing: analytics tools (82%), social media publishing/analytics (78%), content creation/calendaring/collaboration/workflow (74%), and email marketing software (71%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 63% of content marketers use Google Analytics for measuring content performance (Parse.ly, 2022).
- WordPress is the number one content management system used by marketers (HubSpot, 2021).
Source: Semrush, 2022
3. Data on Content Marketing ROI
Although content marketing has a long-established reputation for generating good ROI, it is still important to check the most recent data. This is because the changing landscape of digital marketing given the COVID-19 pandemic, may have had effects on content marketing results.
Does content marketing still bring success to marketers? How can you drive revenue with content? Read the following data points to find out.
- For 35% of marketers, understanding the ROI of their campaigns is either very or extremely important (HubSpot, 2020).
- 53% of organizations said their content is not tied to a specific revenue goal (Parse.ly, 2022).
- Advertising placement is both the most common and the most effective way to drive revenue with content (Parse.ly, 2022).
- 76% of B2C marketers said their content marketing strategy has been moderately or very successful in the last 12 months, and for 5% it has been extremely successful (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- In a parallel survey, 52% of marketers said their content marketing strategy was moderately or very successful, and only 9% said it was unsuccessful (Semrush, 2022).
- The majority (55%) of B2B marketers said their content marketing is moderately successful, and another 29% said theirs is either very or extremely successful (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- Content value is the number one factor contributing to marketing success for both B2C and B2B companies in the last 12 months (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- For the largest percentage of marketers (38%), content development is the best local link-building strategy that generates the highest ROI (Moz, 2020).
- The most successful marketers are more likely than others to use case studies (73% vs. 61%), e-books (67% vs, 56%), long articles (62% vs. 49%), and research reports (40% vs. 29%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
Source: Semrush, 2022
4. Statistics on Content Marketing Strategies
Content factors in all aspects of digital marketing. Marketers create content for blogs, social media, videos, webinars, and more. Without an effective content marketing strategy, all marketing efforts are a waste.
If you’re just in the beginning phase of creating your marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to check out our free marketing plan templates. Also, read this section to learn about content marketing strategies that work based on research.
- Content strategy is the most discussed topic along with content marketing on Twitter (Semrush, 2022).
- Improving the quality of content is the number one content marketing strategy that led to success in 2021, according to 55% of marketers. It is also the one that helped most with ranking organically (Semrush, 2022).
SEO Content Statistics
- Depth and accuracy of content is the 3rd most important ranking factor for SEO professionals and content freshness is the 5th (Search Engine Journal, 2022).
- According to SEO professionals, content strategy is the most requested client service. Meanwhile, content production ranks 7th on the list (Search Engine Journal, 2022).
- Local content development ranks 4th in local marketing strategic priorities (Moz, 2020).
- 31% of marketers outsource localized web content creation and optimization (Moz, 2020).
- Making changes to SEO/search algorithms is the most important content marketing-related area for B2B and B2C organizations (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
Social Media Content Statistics
- 217,247 tweets in 2021 are related to the topic of content marketing (Semrush, 2022).
- #contentmarketing was used 3,981 times in 2021 (Semrush, 2022).
- 88% of marketers use social media posts for marketing purposes, making it the second most common content marketing activity (Parse.ly, 2021)
- The majority of marketers (41%) said social media and community building are key areas of content marketing investment for them this 2022 (Semrush, 2022).
- The three most popular social media marketing tactics are social listening (62%), hashtags (48%), and live video (46%) (HubSpot, 2021).
- Instagram is the most popular social media platform among marketers in 2021 (HubSpot, 2021)
- One study shows that Facebook generates the best ROI among social media platforms (HubSpot, 2021).
- Facebook is the most popular organic social media platform for distributing content among B2C marketers and is also the one that produced the best results in the last 12 months (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- Among B2B marketers, the most popular organic social platform is LinkedIn. It is also the one that produced the best results (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
Video Marketing Statistics
- Compared to only 61% in 2016, 86% of businesses leveraged video content as a marketing tool in 2021 (Wyzowl, 2021).
- Video content is predicted to have the most B2B and B2C content marketing investments this 2022 (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- More than 9 in 10 marketers agree that video is an integral part of their marketing strategy (Wyzowl, 2021).
- 6.06 minutes is the average length of videos in 2020 (Vidyard, 2021).
- 60% of videos in 2020 are below 2 minutes in length (Vidyard, 2021).
- The most common types of video investments among businesses are product demos (63%), how-to videos (51%), and explainers (51%) (Vidyard, 2021).
- The top three video formats that produced the best results for B2C organizations in 2021 are how-to videos (38%), interviews with industry experts (37%), and webinars/webcasts/web series (31%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- For B2B companies, the ones that produce the best results in video content are the same top three in a different order: webinars/webcasts/web series (51%), interviews with industry experts (36%), and how-to videos (33%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- Social media is the most common distribution channel of video content (Vidyard, 2021).
Webinar and Interactive Content Statistics
- The use of webinars has increased from 46% in 2020 to 62% in 2021 (Wyzowl, 2021).
- For the majority of B2B marketers (58%), virtual events/webinars/online courses generated the best results among content marketing assets in 2021 (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- Virtual events/webinars/online courses are third on the list of B2B content assets that produced the best results in 2021, according to 51% of marketers (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
B2B Content Marketing Statistics
- 43% of B2B marketers will reallocate event marketing funds not used due to the COVID-19 pandemic to content creation (eMarketer, 2020).
- 73% of B2B content marketers have a content marketing strategy and 4 in 10 have it documented (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 87% of B2B marketers said they prioritize their consumer’s informational needs over their organization’s sales and promotional messages (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 78% of B2B marketers said they differentiate their content from their competitors (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 62% of B2B marketers said they create content to match the specific stages of the buyer’s journey (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 9 in 10 marketers have created and used articles with less than 3,000 words in the last 12 months (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 90% of marketers use their B2B organization’s website to distribute content. In addition to this, they also use blogs (68%), email newsletters (69%), and other emails (68%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 81% of B2B marketers used paid methods to promote content, the most popular of which is social media advertising/promoted posts (77%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- For 76% of organizations, the B2B content marketing budget either increased or stayed the same (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- When measuring content performance more than half of B2B marketers look at the following metrics: website engagement (69%), conversions (67%), website traffic (65%), email engagement (64%), and social media analytics (51%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- B2B marketers have achieved the following goals through content marketing in the last 12 months: creating brand awareness (80%), building credibility/trust (75%), and educating audiences (70%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- B2B content marketing budget would increase this 2022 for 66% of organizations (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
Source: Content Marketing Institute, 2022
B2C Content Marketing Statistics
- 7 in 10 B2C content marketers have a content marketing strategy and 39% have it documented (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 65% of B2C marketers said they prioritize their consumer’s informational needs over their organization’s sales and promotional messages (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 62% of B2C marketers said they differentiate their content from their competitors (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 49% of B2C marketers said they create content to match the specific stages of the buyer’s journey (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- Articles with up to 3,000 words are the most used content asset by B2C marketers in the last 12 months (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- B2C marketers use the following owned-media platforms for distributing content: the organization’s website (89%), blog (68%), and email newsletters (67%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 78% of B2C content marketers use paid methods to promote content (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- Spending on paid content distribution channels has increased for 43% of organizations (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- The top 5 metrics that have provided B2C marketers insights into content performance are website engagement (67%), conversions (65%), email engagement (63%), website traffic (62%), and social media analytics (58%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- By using content marketing, B2C marketers have achieved the following top 3 goals: creating brand awareness (80%), building credibility/trust (72%), and educating audiences (68%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- 61% of B2C marketers said their content marketing budget in 2022 would be higher than that of 2021 (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
Mobile Marketing Statistics
- 69% of B2B marketers said 40% or more of their traffic came from mobile devices (Wpromote, 2020).
- More than 60% of marketers in 2020 planned to optimize their organization’s website for mobile use (Wpromote, 2020).
5. Content Marketing Challenges Statistics
Creating an effective content marketing strategy, knowing how to leverage the talents of content creators, and balancing these with robust marketing software solutions are some ways to get the best out of your content marketing efforts. Still, even if you’ve mastered all these, it would be best that you are familiar with the common challenges brands face with content marketing in order to avoid certain pitfalls.
- The number one marketing challenge is attracting quality leads with content (Semrush, 2022).
- Although 83% of marketers use metrics to measure the performance of content, only 51% understand how their content is performing, and the remaining 17% either don’t use metrics or don’t know if metrics are tracked (Parse.ly, 2022).
- 40% of marketers still don’t have their content marketing strategy documented and another 3% are not sure whether they have it documented or not (Semrush, 2022).
- More than 4 in 10 B2B organizations are finding it hard to create content that appeals to multi-level roles and access subject matter experts to produce content (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- For B2C organizations, the top two challenges are creating content that appeals to different segments (42%) and internal communications between teams (41%) (Content Marketing Institute, 2022).
- The biggest challenge on social media for marketers is to consistently produce creative social content (Hootsuite, 2021).
Optimize Content with Statistical Data
The content marketing industry is growing and becoming more competitive. It is essential for marketers to study content marketing statistics when crafting and implementing their marketing strategies to make sure they are optimized and can generate the best results.
Statistical data can help guide marketers at every stage of the content marketing process—from planning content to measuring content performance to recalibrating content strategy. By combining statistical data with technology, talent, and strategy, marketers can always be one step ahead of their competitors.
If you’re looking for more statistical information to optimize your content, look no further as we have an article on digital marketing statistics.
References:
- Content Marketing Institute (2022). 12th Annual B2B Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends. Content Marketing Institute.
- Content Marketing Institute (2022). 12th Annual B2C Content Marketing: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends. Content Marketing Institute.
- eMarketer (2020). How B2Bs Can Continue Selling in a COVID-19 World. eMarketer.
- Hootsuite (2022). Social Trends 2022. Hootsuite.
- HubSpot (2021). Not Another State of Marketing Report. HubSpot.
- Markets and Markets (n.d.). Content Marketing Software Market by Component (Software and Services), Content Type (Social Media, Blogs, Videos, Infographics), Organization Size (SMEs and Large Enterprises), Industry Vertical, and Region – Global Forecast to 2023. Markets and Markets.
- Moz (2020). State of Local SEO Industry Report 2020. Moz.
- Parse.ly (2022). Content Matters 2022 Report. Parse.ly.
- Search Engine Journal (2022). State of SEO: Insights, Opportunities, & Threats 2022. Search Engine Journal.
- Semrush (2022). The State of Content Marketing. 2022 Global Report. Semrush.
- Technavio (2022). Content Marketing Market by Objective, Platform, End-User, and Geography – Forecast and Analysis. Technavio.
- Vidyard (2021). 2021 Video in Business Benchmark Report. Vidyard.
- Wpromote (2020). 2020 State of B2B Digital Marketing. Wpromote.
- Wyzowl (2021). The State of Video Marketing 2021. Wyzowl.
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