40+ Content Marketing Statistics to Power Your 2022 Strategy

It’s just to accidental that the past fewer years person been…unpredictable. If anything, they’ve been downright strange. 

Shifts successful industry trends and online idiosyncratic behaviour forced businesses to accommodate their selling absorption with agility, each the portion knowing that different pivot could beryllium close astir the corner. 

In our landmark State of Content Marketing 2022 Global Report, we surveyed 1,500 contented marketers crossed selected industries and compiled thousands of information points that overgarment the representation of the contented selling landscape. Here we stock immoderate of the astir important statistic to assistance pass and assistance you marque empowered decisions successful 2022, namely:

• The usage of contented marketing
• Content selling occurrence factors
• Goals and challenges successful contented marketing 
• The interaction of COVID-19 connected contented marketing
• Content selling budgets
• Content selling teams
• Content performance 

The Use of Content Marketing

97% of our survey respondents claimed that contented was a maneuver that formed an important portion of their wide selling strategy successful 2021. We besides saw a 22% summation successful the hunt for “what is contented marketing,” on with different telltale searches that powerfully bespeak contented selling is connected the rise. 

At the aforesaid time, the complexity oregon sophistication of their strategy varied significantly. Top highlights of this conception see that:

• 57% of respondents had a documented contented selling strategy
• 19% of those reported an precocious contented selling strategy
• 42% reported they are taking their archetypal steps successful contented marketing
• 36% of respondents claimed their strategy was reasonably developed

Key takeaway: Content selling is intelligibly thing that companies and brands are doubling down on. However, a small little than fractional of our respondents indicated that they were taking their archetypal steps successful creating a content selling strategy—meaning a ample information of organizations person an immense accidental disposable this year.

Defining Content Marketing Success 

Content marketers successful 20 industries crossed 40 countries participated successful our survey, giving america a precise elaborate representation of what criteria tin beryllium utilized to benchmark contented selling success. Here’s what we learned:

• 78% of those who judge their contented selling was precise palmy successful 2021 had a documented contented selling strategy
• 73% of companies that walk from 10% to 70% of their full selling fund connected contented selling were precise successful
• 46% of companies that had highly palmy contented selling accrued their paid contented promotional fund successful 2021

These statistic uncover 3 underlying factors to success: the value of documentation, the re-allocation of much fiscal resources to enactment contented selling specifically, and utilizing further (paid) channels to beforehand content.

With that said, our respondents reported their ain content selling occurrence overall: 

• 19% believed their contented selling efforts were precise successful
• 33% were moderately successful
• 39% recovered their contented selling efforts to beryllium lone somewhat palmy successful 2021

While little than a 5th of our surveyed companies believed their contented selling was “very successful,” our respondents cited akin trends crossed the committee erstwhile it came to the tactics that brought them the astir success. Namely: 

• 55% of palmy contented selling strategies focused connected improving the quality of content
• 46% of those surveyed made SEO a priority
• 41% focused connected creating much video and ocular content

Key takeaway: Document, document, document! Having a ceremonial process for contented selling was a maneuver that the astir palmy contented marketers shared successful 2021. The adjacent precedence involves the continual betterment of the prime of your content. Focus connected improving personalization and humanizing your content, portion making definite it’s backed by coagulated probe and an knowing of who your customers are. Don’t beryllium acrophobic to amusement the property and voice of your brand, each the portion giving your assemblage a crushed to prosecute with you.

Goals and Challenges successful Content Marketing 

Inflation, the pandemic, and planetary proviso concatenation disruptions could easy beryllium described arsenic the trifecta of 2021—so however did contented marketers set their goals to accommodate to and supersede these challenges?

Goals

Our survey respondents cited the pursuing key contented goals for 2022:

• 45% privation to summation marque awareness
• 37% privation to pull much postulation to their website
• 36% are focused connected generating leads done contented marketing
• 27% of respondents privation accrued income and revenue
• 23% strive for improved lawsuit loyalty and engagement with their brand

Challenges

With much businesses and industries leaning into integer channels to scope their audiences, the pursuing were among the apical challenges faced by our probe participants:

Key takeaway: Even successful times of planetary change, economical instability, and a nationalist wellness crisis, the aforesaid halfway goals and challenges stay successful integer marketing. Brands privation to usage contented selling to heighten their online visibility, summation caller postulation and customers, and yet spot a instrumentality connected their concern (ROI); a hard spread to bridge, but 1 that’s getting easier. 

With online users becoming savvier successful their acquisition journey, brands and contented marketers should thin into creating prime contented that provides resonating, semipermanent worth beyond a sojourn oregon azygous sale. Each manufacture views the value of its contented successful a antithetic way; therefore, definitions and criteria for contented selling occurrence volition beryllium unique.

The Impact of COVID-19 connected Content Marketing

As we’ve already mentioned, the pandemic surely influenced our lives successful ways we ne'er could person imagined. It altered our attitudes astir enactment productivity, however we interact with our peers and customers, and impacted concern continuity measures crossed the board. 

Interestingly enough, our survey recovered that 30% of businesses, some successful B2B and B2C, said that the coronavirus and a imaginable assistance of restrictions would not alteration thing astir however they program to behaviour their 2022 contented selling strategy. 

Other absorbing statistic from our survey recovered that:

• 30% of businesses volition enactment successful selected events offline, portion focusing connected circumstantial online events (such arsenic webinars)
• 30% mean to make longer-term contented plans
• 26% volition power to regularly hosting and attending in-person events
• 26% are readying to put successful increasing their squad owed to the assistance successful COVID restrictions
• 20% volition follow a hybrid oregon in-office enactment mode

Key takeaway: While COVID-19 initially devastated businesses, peculiarly ceramic and mortars, selling efforts are increasing astatine a affirmative rate. Many businesses program to grow their teams, put successful contented selling activities, and reinstate in-person events. 

Content Budgets

Does ostentation power the outgo of advertising? Yes. Does it person an interaction connected the outgo of hiring contented marketers? Absolutely. Yet the question remains: Is investing much into contented selling the close choice?

According to our research, nonaccomplishment to fund for contented does travel astatine a cost. We recovered that 53% of surveyed companies that were unsuccessful with contented selling successful 2021 spent little than 5% of their selling fund connected content. Some different highlights of our probe included the following:

• 73% of companies who accrued their walk from 10% to 70% of their full selling fund to contented selling were precise successful
• 46% of companies that had highly palmy contented selling accrued their paid contented promotional fund successful 2021
• 72% of companies program to summation their contented selling fund successful 2022

With lone 2% of respondents expecting to alteration their budget, it’s wide that the whopping bulk of businesses program to put much earnestly into their contented selling efforts. The apical 3 areas of concern are social media and assemblage building, improving the quality of content, and content promotion and distribution.

Key takeaway:Companies are realizing that it takes time, resources, and further walk to genuinely marque their contented resonate. In bid to summation effectiveness, they are prioritizing societal media, improving contented quality, investing successful contented selling spend, contented promotion, and distribution.

Content Performance

What contented fared the champion successful 2021? From strategy to format, our study reveals intriguing findings that emerged past year. 

But earlier we dive deep, present are immoderate details astir the mode companies measurement contented performance:

• Only 66% of brands assertion to measurement contented show successful immoderate way
• The apical 3 content selling occurrence metrics see Organic Traffic, Search Rankings and Leads

The Power of the Content Audit

Content audits took halfway signifier successful this year’s study, revealing that:

• 65% of companies that win successful contented selling tally contented audits much than doubly a year
• 46% of companies whose contented selling was unsuccessful successful 2021 ne'er tally contented audits

If you’re not moving contented audits connected the regular, you mightiness beryllium missing out. To boot, respondents shared their results aft updating their contented pursuing an audit.

Auditing and pruning your existing contented is 1 of the astir effectual ways to summation engagement, rankings, and postulation without having to walk further resources connected caller content. 

Most Successful Content Types by Format

From video to occurrence stories, guides, and more, these were the top-performing contented types successful 2021:

Key takeaway: Pruning existing contented is an fantabulous and cost-effective method to reinvigorate what you already person and make speedy wins. We’re besides seeing bigger gains for lawsuit studies, occurrence stories, video, and different contented formats that supply archetypal research. Focus connected authentic contented arsenic portion of your strategy to gain lawsuit loyalty and trust.

To larn much astir creating palmy content, research the 2022 Anatomy of Top-Performing Organic Content.

Content Teams

The companies we surveyed had anyplace from 1 to 1K+ employees, giving america a bully scope of however assorted organizations constructed their contented selling teams:

• 42% of companies person 1 to 3 specialists
• 21% deficiency a contented selling idiosyncratic oregon squad entirely
• 20% person 4 to 10 specialists in-house
• 48% mean to summation the size of their selling squad successful 2022, 49% accidental it volition enactment the same, and lone 2% judge they volition downsize

Key takeaway: Content selling is becoming a bigger precedence for brands crossed the board. With the emergence of much searches for contented marketing-related topics, including contented selling salaries and occupation descriptions, this whitethorn bespeak that much radical are seeking to participate the contented selling field, and companies are acceptable to put successful them. 

Using Content Marketing Statistics for Long-Term Brand Growth

While our survey gathered information from a wide array of sources, countries, and industries, enactment that these statistic tin lone supply a communal backdrop of the main trends and happenings successful our contented selling world. 

What different tips, trends, and statistic tin you instrumentality into your 2022 contented selling strategy? Download the full State of Content Marketing 2022 Global Report by Semrush for much insights.