I recently published on LinkedIn, part of the results of CMI’s annual content marketing study, “B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024”. This publication focused on LinkedIn’s dominance as the social network of choice for the vast majority of those who publish B2B content on social networks.
Every year, the CMI study looks at B2B content marketing strategies and practices. When respondents to the “B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Outlook for 2024” were asked about their content strategy (if they have one), 70% declared that their organization integrates content strategy into the overall marketing/sales/communication strategy, and 2% declared that it is integrated into another strategy.
Eleven percent said it is a stand-alone strategy for content used for marketing, and 6% said it is a stand-alone strategy for all content produced by the company. Only 9% said they had no content strategy at all.
Which social network offers the best value?
Back to my status on LinkedIn, it identified which organic social networking platforms offer the best value for organizations. Respondents (B2B marketers) chose:
LinkedIn (84%)
29% Facebook
22% YouTube
21% Instagram
Twitter and TikTok get 8% and 3% respectively.
Fig1
What strikes me most is the following graph on the types of B2B content used (Fig.2). In terms of usage over the last 12 months (2023), short blog posts come first at 94% and long ones fourth at 71%. Videos come second at 84%. So blogs and video dominate the types of content used.
And to distribute these types of content, the CMI study also looks at ALL distribution channels, not just social networks. We’re talking about efficiency here. Respondents to the CMI study identified face-to-face events as the most effective at 56%, with webinars following at 51%. Social networks came third at 44%, with blogs following at 40%.
See the interesting contradiction here? Blog posts are the most widely used type of content. But they’re only 40% effective, far behind events… So, the CMI study is very much about B2B content marketing usage.
Which is not the case with another study…
Another study on B2B content
Wanting to go into even more detail about the results, I scoured the Internet. And found this other study by Chief Marketer 2023 on the outlook for B2B marketing. It too provides interesting information on the state of B2B content marketing at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024. It provides differences and similarities with the CMI study. Here too, three graphs focus on social networks, content types and distribution channels.
But that’s where the similarities end. This other study focuses on lead generation and return on investment (ROI).
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Beyond social networks and the relative similarity of the results (91% vs. 84% LinkedIn), it’s in terms of potential customers and ROI that the two studies diverge. The second graph (the largest) verifies which types of content are most effective with potential customers. Blog posts rank first at 59%, while videos also come second at 52%. Events come in fourth at 41%.
Distribution channels
As for distribution channels, the Chief Marketer study ranks them according to the best return on investment (ROI). Thus, with 62% of respondents recognizing it as a high ROI channel, content marketing comes out on top. It’s a bit of a general channel. There’s a strange mix of genres in this graph…
As for their effectiveness, 41% of those surveyed recognize live events as a high-ROI channel. It’s becoming clear that face-to-face interaction and networking opportunities remain valuable for lead generation.
Live events enable companies to present their products or services. They also enable them to engage in direct dialogue with potential customers and establish meaningful links. Face-to-face interactions foster trust and can lead to fruitful business relationships.
In addition, social networks (24%), research (32%) and face-to-face sales (29%) also contribute to lead generation efforts with good ROI.
Oh, and a quick thought about the three charts: did you notice that TikTok and influencers had very little effectiveness and appeal in B2B content marketing? The same goes for CMI. Only 3% maintain that TiKTok offers the best value for organizations…
Content marketing predictions for 2024: AI tops the agenda
In another open-ended question, CMI asked B2B marketers, “What content marketing trends do you predict for 2024?” You’ve probably guessed the most popular trend: AI.
Many B2B marketers surveyed predict that AI will dominate discussions about content marketing trends in 2024. As one respondent put it, “AI will continue to be all the rage in 2024, until marketers realize how much work it takes to develop ‘prompts’, go through the iterative process and verify content at output.” AI can help you hone your skills, but it’s not a replacement for B2B marketing.”
The study also asked respondents how they use generative AI in content marketing. It turns out that most of them are experimenting with it: 72% of those surveyed said they were using generative AI tools.
So, how are content marketers using the tools today? Around half (51%) use generative AI to brainstorm new topics. Many use the tools to research titles and keywords (45%) and to write projects (45%). Fewer say they use AI to outline assignments (23%), proofread (20%), generate graphics (11%) and create audio (5%) and video files (5%). And finally, 28% remain non-users.
We’re not far off the 20% who are refractory or inactive according to the social technographics scale… You may be wondering about the other study. Does it offer similar figures on AI? Well, no… Not a word!
Conclusion
B2B content marketing is a powerful strategy for establishing your authority in your sector, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. By combining quality content creation with strategic distribution, you can harness the full potential of B2B content marketing to propel your business to new heights. Talk to our expertshttps://exob2b.com/en/contact/
