Content Marketing Statistics

Marketing automation has seen the fastest growth of any CRM-related segment

By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship without talking to a human.

48% of marketers curate noteworthy content from third-party sources weekly

33% of clicks from organic search results go to the top listing on Google

54% of B2B Marketers see producing engaging content as their biggest challenge

Most B2C marketers use at least 12 different tactics for their content marketing.

In 2013, 43% of marketers converted at least one customer through LinkedIn.

24% of content marketers gauge their effectiveness through measuring customer loyalty.

46% of online shoppers depend on social media to help them make a purchasing decision.

57% of consumers read at least one content marketing piece every month.

79% of B2B marketers use content marketing to raise brand awareness.

79% of businesses report that they are embracing branded content.

Globally, about three-quarters of all B2B vendors use case studies in their marketing efforts

27,000,000 pieces of content are shared each day.

Each month, 329 million consumers read blogs.

80% of users prefer to connect with brands on Facebook rather than call them.

Conversion rates are 105% higher for consumers who interact with ratings and product reviews.

90% of the processed information that comes into the brain is visual.

Clicks from shared content are 5 times more likely to result in a purchase

68% of consumers spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in.

64% of B2B content marketers say that their biggest challenge is producing enough content.

Content that originates from reputable sources is the most shared content online.

Consumers who receive content through email marketing spend 83% more when shopping.

Content creation is now ranked as the single most effective SEO tactic by 53%.

Per dollar spent, content marketing generates approximately 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing.

B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those who don’t.

LinkedIn generates more leads for B2B companies than Facebook, Twitter or blogs individually.

32% of B2C marketers consider themselves effective at content marketing.

Only 42% of B2B marketers say that they feel they’re effective at content marketing.

50% of consumer time online is spent engaging with custom content.

Social media sites and blogs account for 23% of all time spent online.

61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content.

Brands that create 15 blog posts per month average 1,200 new leads per month.

61% of B2B marketers rate webinars as the most effective content marketing tactic

50% of B2B Marketers use content marketing for thought leadership and education

91% of B2B marketers report that they use content marketing on a regular basis

Social media sites and blogs reach 8 out of 10 of all U.S. Internet users

Blogs give websites 97% more indexed links and 434% more indexed pages

78% of CMOs report that they think custom content is the future of marketing

47% of B2B marketers say they are actively using LinkedIn to promote their business and/or products.

86% of B2C marketers use content marketing

57% read content marketing titles at least once a month

85% of B2C content marketers tailor their content.

Articles with images get 94% more views.

9 in 10 organizations market with content.

27% of B2B marketers say they are effectively tracking content utilization metrics.

37% of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content marketing.

It is estimated that 20% of users’ time is spent surfing the Internet on content-led websites

Companies with 10,000 or more employees use an average of 18 different content marketing tactics

87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content on a regular basis.

58% of consumers report that they trust editorial content and that it influences their purchasing decisions.

41% of B2B marketers use SEO ranking to measure effectiveness of content marketing

68% of consumers spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in

60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site

Blogs were viewed as “most useful” form of content

39% of customers come from organic search queries

79% of content marketers report that they produce articles on a regular basis

64% of B2B marketers believe case studies are the most effective content marketing tactics

The average marketer reported that they made 145 website content updates in 2012.

54% of brands cited increased engagement as the number one value of content

11% of B2B companies use over 20 different content marketing tactics

Image-based stories on Facebook get 37% more engagement than posts without images

83% of B2B content marketers use articles that they and others create on their website

87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content, up from 74% in 2011

Content marketers use unique visitors (88%), pageviews per visitor (76%) and total pageviews (71%) as their main metrics

At least 77% of B2B content marketers report that they use blogs as part of their content marketing efforts.

73% of consumers report that they get frustrated by irrelevant web content.

40% of B2B content marketers report that they use micro sites on a regular basis for promotion

Customers who receive email newsletters spend 82% more when they buy from the company

37% of marketers say blogs are the most valuable content type for marketing

91% of B2B marketers use content marketing

8% of B2B content marketers do not segment content

Only 1% of B2B marketers will decrease spending on content in the next year

The three content marketing tactics that deliver the highest ROI are featured articles, video and white papers

93% of B2B marketers are using content marketing—but only 44% have a documented content strategy.

80% of North American B2B vendors use enewsletters in their marketing, as do 82% of firms in both the UK and Australia

57% of marketers say content marketing is their top external social priority this year.

57% of B2B marketers use content curation as part of their content marketing strategies

35% of marketing professionals worldwide cited content marketing was their leading focus in 2013

71% of B2B marketers report that they use content primarily to generate leads

82% of businesses plan to increase spending on content marketing in the coming year

The most trusted types of content are reports and white papers produced by professional associations

Almost half of U.S. businesses said creating “metrics that demonstrate the value of social media” was vital

More than 70% of businesses use video in marketing, though (likely due to cost) video use is more common in enterprises

Only 1 out of 5 readers gets beyond your headline. And traffic can vary as much as 500% based on the headline

57% of marketers report that custom content is their top marketing priority for 2014

Nearly two-thirds of North American B2B vendors use white papers to generate leads

76% of B2B vendors in North America report that they maintain company blogs

Nearly half of enterprise marketers have not been able to formalize metrics to measure marketing optimization.

42% say they are able to measure positive results from content curation efforts

71% of B2B Marketers report that they use content marketing for lead generation

89% of B2B Marketers cite customer testimonials as the most effective content marketing

Content creation ranked as the single most effective SEO tactic by 53%

91% of email users say they have unsubscribed from a company email they previously opted in to

24.5% of survey respondents reported that they do not outsource any of their content marketing

Posts that include videos attract 3 times more inbound links than plain text posts

79% of marketers report that their organizations are shifting to branded content

77% of business buyers want different content at each stage of the product research process

Website conversion rate is nearly 6x higher for content marketing adopters than non-adopters (2.9% vs 0.5%)

48% of smaller organizations have a documented strategy, compared to only 41% of larger organizations

60% of marketers report that they create at least one piece of content each week

70% of B2B content marketers report that they use videos in their content marketing

82% of consumers report that they like reading content from brands when it's relevant to them

Year-over-year growth in unique site traffic is 7.8x higher for content marketing leaders compared to followers.

B2B marketers use an average of 5 social media sites to distribute content.

B2B marketers with a documented strategy are more likely to consider themselves effective.

54% of marketers say they will increase their content marketing spending in the next 12 months

69% of marketers report that content is superior to direct mail and PR in terms of the results they receive.

$118.4 billion was spent on content marketing, video, and social media in 2013

Top indicators of content marketing success are traffic, quality leads, social shares, and SEO.

73% of organizations have someone in place to oversee their content strategy

5% of B2B Marketers have no metrics to determine content marketing success source

34% of marketers use Twitter to successfully generate leads

87% of B2B marketers use social media to distribute content

67 percent of marketers say email is key for attracting and engaging prospects, and to increase marketing ROI

One million web pages are accessed using the “Login with Facebook” feature

Marketers will spend $8.3 billion on social media advertising in 2015

90% of organizations market with content. 86% of B2C marketers and 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing

50% of millennials use their smartphones to research while shopping

44% of direct mail is never opened - illustrating that traditional marketing falls short

70% of consumers say they prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads

75% of smartphone owners watch videos on their phones

The amount of content produced by brands increased by 78% in 2014, but engagement with each piece decreased by 60%

52% of marketers support two to four roles and buyer personas with dedicated content.

Eighty percent of customers say that ongoing content is very important after a purchase

70% of consumers say content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company

Interactive content formats increased in popularity during 2014, up from roughly 21% in 2013 to 28% in 2014.

42% of offer-related graphics on landing pages are not clickable.

Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound marketing leads have a 1.7% close rate

60% of CMO’s believe the role of culture is “very influential” in enabling the brand experience

Visual content is a key component in each of the top 5 most effective B2B marketing tactics

81% of B2B marketers use custom content on their site in their marketing efforts.

29% of B2B marketers said that producing content that engages users is still a challenge.

Publishers who use infographics grow in traffic an average of 12% more than those who don’t.

21% of marketers said social media grew more important in the past 6 months.

55% of B2C marketers plan to increase their investment in branded content.

Blogs are 63% more likely to influence purchase decisions for consumers than magazines.

82% of marketers who blog daily report positive ROI for overall inbound efforts.

Brand awareness is a goal for 82% of companies that use content marketing

61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on recommendations from a blog.

73% of all industry-specific Twitter posts include at least some form of content sharing

45% of companies rely solely on desktop devices to market content, not yet adapting to mobile

Content marketing is now a nearly $43.9-billion industry—a 9.2% increase over last year

Per dollar spent, content marketing generates 3 times as many leads as traditional marketing

1% of B2B marketers outsource all content creation and 43% use a combination of in-house and outsourced content creation

65% of B2B marketers tailor their content they create around industry trends.

B2C marketers use an average of 4 social media sites to distribute their content. B2B marketers use an average of 5

Businesses that spend more than 50% of their lead gen budget on inbound marketing report a significantly lower cost-per-lead

52% of B2C content marketers rely on content marketing to engage new customers and prospects

Companies with fewer than 10 employees typically allocate 42% of their marketing budget to content.

74% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve customer acquisition goals.

60% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve website traffic goals.

71% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve lead generation goals

45% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve lead nurturing goals

64% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve customer retention and loyalty goals

43% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve sales goals.

64% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve thought leadership goals

60% of B2B marketers use web traffic to measure effectiveness of content marketing

63% of B2B marketers use content marketing to achieve engagement goals

51% of B2B marketers use sales lead quality to measure effectiveness of content marketing.

55% of B2C marketers plan to increase content marketing spend next year

86% of B2C marketers report that they are now using content marketing

28% of B2B companies report that they use, on average, 5-9 different content marketing tactics

The use of research reports has risen from 25% in 2011, to 44% in 2012 in content marketing

Only 38% of brands report that they have a defined a content marketing strategy

20% of users' time is spent surfing the Internet on content-led websites

23% of businesses report they they use a cross-departmental approach to content marketing

80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement

On average, 28% of B2B companies use 5-9 different content marketing tactics to accomplish their goals

60% of consumers are more likely to be on the lookout for products when looking at content marketing

52% of B2C content marketers say that they feel challenged by their budget.

37% of marketing managers believe the most important channel for engaging customers is content-led websites

Companies with active blogs report that they receive 97% more leads

Content creation is ranked as the single most effective SEO technique

78% of chief marketing officers think custom media represents the future of marketing

37% of consumers report that they visit content marketing websites at least once a month

53% of B2C marketers stat that they create content entirely in-house, with no out-sourcing.

Marketers spend more than 25% of their marketing budget on content marketing

8 in 10 CMOs believe custom media should be an integral part of a marketing mix

60% are more likely to be on the lookout for products when looking at content marketing.

Spending on content marketing, video marketing, and social media will increase by 15.1% in 2013 to a total of $118.4 billion

The use of virtual video conferences rose from 10% in 2011 to 28% in 2012

Nine in 10 organizations report that they are currently marketing with content

Lack of human resources (42%) and lack of budget (35%) are key barriers to content marketing

According to 37% of marketing managers, the most important way to engage customers is content-led websites

54% of brands report that they don’t have an on-site, dedicated content creator

The overall use of video content reportedly rose from 52% in 2011 to 70% in 2012

Creating original content was seen as the biggest challenge for 69% of content marketers

The use of mobile-optimized content marketing rose from 15% in 2011 to 33% in 2012

37% of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content marketing

42% of B2B content marketers report that they segment content by stage in the buying cycle

People spend more than 50% of their time online with content and an additional 30% of their time on social channels

54% of brands report that they don’t have an on-site, dedicated content curator

57% of consumers read content marketing titles at least once a month

90% of users listen to recommendations that are shared from their friends

Articles that have images get 94% more views than articles without images

99% of people who share via social network are sharing via multiple platforms

It is reported that 40% of people will respond better to visual information than plain text

34% of marketers report that they have successfully generated leads on Twitter

Posts with videos attract 3 times more inbound links than plain text posts

The average organization spends 30% of their marketing budget on content

Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing methods do.

86% of highly effective organizations have someone in charge of content strategy.

57.4% of B2B businesses say SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation goals

58% of consumers report that they trust editorial content to help them make decisions about a company and/or purchases

Less than half of North American B2B firms use microsites (40%), mobile content (38%), ebooks (34%) or mobile apps (28%)

In a Custom Content Council study, 62% of respondents reported using video in their content marketing

95% of B2B marketers report that they use some form of content segmentation.

Mobile-optimized content marketing increased from 15% in 2011 to 33% in 2012

Marketers report that they spend nearly 1/3 of their budgets on content marketing

11% of B2B companies report that they use over 20 different content marketing tactics.

68% of consumers are likely to spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in

71% of B2B content marketers report that they use case studies to reach their customers

70% of consumers prefer getting to know a company via articles rather than ads

After the introduction of Facebook timeline for brands, photos and videos saw a 65% increase in engagement

Only 32% of marketers say they are effectively executing enough content.