Welcome to the 2023 Converge B2B Content Promotion Report.
What can you expect in this year's report? More of the same, really - around 30 pages of insight from the biggest number of participants we've ever had (364 content marketers took part this year).
We have, again, shown how the results differ from the previous year's report (in red and green percentages), so you can get an idea of any major change in trends or activity, and we've invited some of our friends to share their thoughts on the results and the insights we can extract from them.
In addition to their thoughts, we'd love to see what you think of the report and how you interpret the results too, so please feel free to share them with us on social media.
Our preferred platforms are LinkedIn and Twitter (or X, I guess?). And the best way for us to see your thoughts is to use the hashtag #contentpromotionreport2023 on either of those platforms.
So, dive in at your convenience and, if you'd like to discuss anything in the report then please let me know at james@converge.today
TL:DR
- Yup, the #1 reason B2B content marketers surveyed don't promote their content enough is STILL due to a lack of available time.
- Every respondent said they used social media to promote their content. And twitter (X) sees the largest drop in percentage of any platform used by our respondents compared to 2022.
- 52.9% of respondents say they feel their content promotion budget is less than they need.
- Over 81% of respondents selected 'Brand Visibility' as the main goal of their content promotion. 'Lead Generation' was selected by 76.6% of respondents.
- Over 88% of respondents claim that content promotion has made a positive impact on their content marketing efforts.
- Over 64% of respondents spend $1000 or less on content promotion per month. Only 5.9% spend over $10,000.
Rand Fishkin (SparkToro):
"This report shows that marketers are going where they have to: away from purely SEO-keyword-focused content and toward a broader group of strategies. Away from pure lead gen toward more brand visibility and user engagement goals. Away from measuring success based on search rankings or direct conversions and toward what we used to derisively call 'vanity metrics' like social followers, engagement, and visibility.
The evolution of privacy laws, the death of third-party cookies, the shift toward zero-click everything from the major search and social platforms is driving this, and marketers are keeping up."
Time, Budget and Channels
That's a significant percentage of respondents who are spending more time on content promotion than last year - great news!
However, only around 25% of respondents spend more than 4 hours per week on content promotion. Are the other 75% spending enough time to see the results they want?
Astonishingly, the largest percentage of those that said, "Yes" - they are spending enough time on content promotion (33.3%), also told us that it's because they "don't have any more time available to do it."
So, a lack of time is, by far, the biggest reason for those that think that they either do, or don't promote their content enough.
Social media remains the number one free channel upon which people promote their content. Every single one of our respondents use it. Events saw an increase this year and blogs/websites saw a massive drop which begs the question, where are people publishing their content?
LinkedIn continues to dominate, which makes sense for B2B content marketers, but we've also seen massive increases for Instagram and TikTok - more traditionally seen as B2C channels. And there's a huge drop for Twitter (sorry, 'X') as well as a presence for Mastodon (albeit a tiny one). Probably hinting at our respondent's dip in confidence in 'X' thanks to the changes in brand, features and, dare I say it, leadership.
Some big swings in this section. Search Engine Advertising has seen the largest movement compared to 2022's report, but the thing that jumps out at us is the fact that not one respondent selected 'Native advertising'.
What's going on there? It's nice to see content promotion platforms make an appearance this year and it looks like sponsorships are on the up, too.
Mike Allton (Agorapulse):
"What's troubling is that, despite over 88% of Content Marketers seeing value and positive impact from content promotion, 65% feel they aren't spending enough time on it - with a whopping 82.1% admitting it's because they don't have enough time due to other tasks.
But here's the issue, simply creating content isn't enough today. Content Marketers, particularly in the B2B space, absolutely must be in that precious 25.6% minority who set aside more than 4 hours a week to promote their content. Anything less and the brand will see diminishing returns from their content activity in the coming years."
More swings here. A massive increase for those that feel paid promotion has some positive impact, with over half of respondents choosing that. And only 5.9% feel it has little or no positive impact.
Type, Tracking and Buy-In
After a huge increase last year, podcasts are down by nearly 20% this year. Case studies are up over 20% and we've seen a big boost to events as well, which we hope is a sign of recovery for that industry.
Andy Crestodina (Orbit Media Studios):
"I'm thrilled to see more focus on case studies, the one bottom-of-funnel format that directly impacts sales. This is great news.
I'm a little sad but not surprised to see the dip in podcast promotion. It's a tough channel and a test of endurance for a lot of content strategists. But it can be very, very effective marketers who stick with it - combine it with other formats and keep promoting it all."
There's been a marked increase in the number of respondents that said they create audience personas for their content promotion efforts, while the percentage of respondents that have different promotion strategies for each of the types of content they produce has remained very similar.
Things you love to see - less respondents feeling like their companies don't understand or prioritise content promotion.
Things you don't love to see - the drop at the other end. Looks like more content marketers aren't too sure about where their companies stand re: content promotion.
Brand visibility takes the top spot again in 2023. And there's a big increase in the number of respondents who see user engagement as a goal of their promotion efforts.
We see fairly similar numbers when it comes to whether or not our respondents are tracking KPIs, with some interesting movement regarding the typical KPIs that are tracked.
When it came to the reasons we were given when people said they didn't track KPIs, the most frequently cited reason was a lack of time and budget. But we also had some interesting responses like "not important to us" and "tracking is a waste of time".
Are people feeling more confident when it comes to content promotion? There's less of a concern about a lack of in-house expertise this year compared to last.
Regardless, the vast majority of respondents believe they can improve their content promotion efforts. Only 7% of them feel they are happy with their results.
Impact
That’s the biggie, right there. Nearly 90% of respondents say content promotion has a positive impact on their content marketing strategy. So, that makes me wonder - why isn’t it a higher priority for businesses?
Robert Rose (The Content Advisory)
"I’m struck by the marked increase in people who say they are not only happy with their results in promoting content, but the relative importance it seems to have to those who are creating the content. But, simultaneously, the vast majority believe they are not spending nearly enough time working on it. If our experience has any insight it’s that this “busy-ness” is filled with meeting the demand for ever-more content assets.
With no true repurposing, or repackaging plan in place, the demand for “more” content is always prevalent. Thus, the irony is that the team can’t spend the requisite time in promoting all the great work that’s been demanded of them. So, interestingly, the “fix” in getting content promotion right – means focusing on the entire process to the left of the publish button. If content teams can get the ideation, prioritization, management and production process optimized, they’ll have a much increased availability to get the promotion and measurement piece optimized."
Demographics
This report is based on the results of the Converge Content Promotion Survey 2023. A total of 364 B2B content marketers from around the globe, representing a range of industries and company sizes, completed the survey between 1st April 2023 and 1st of June 2023.
I hope you enjoyed this year’s report. We'd love to see what you think of it and how you interpret the results too, so please feel free to share them with us on social media.
Our preferred platforms are LinkedIn and Twitter (or X, I guess?). And the best way for us to see your thoughts is to use the hashtag #contentpromotionreport2023 on either of those platforms.
If you'd like to discuss anything in the report then please let us know at hello@converge.today.