100+ Powerful B2B Content Marketing Statistics You Need to Know in 2021

With content marketing being so prevalent today does content marketing still work?

Research by the Content Marketing Institute, Marketing Profs and other organizations seem to indicate that is the case with the majority of marketers in both the B2B and B2C space investing in it.

To help decide on that and inform your investments and strategy it would help to have content marketing statistics and trends in the one location. Below is our compilation of relevant statistics.

84% of people expect brands to produce content that entertains, provides solutions and produces experiences and events.

That said many marketers don’t know how to use content marketing and as much as 63% of businesses don’t even have a documented content strategy.

Other research also indicates that the biggest challenges for content marketing are reportedly lack of data and lack of strategy. Other content marketing statistics worth taking note of include:

• 35% of marketers report that creating engaging visual content consistently is one of their top struggles.
• 56% of businesses reported they want to increase their content creation spending
• 61% of marketers ranked improving “their ability to measure and analyze their marketing efforts” as a vital priority.
• Changes to SEO is the top concern (61%) of content marketing organizations (followed by social media algorithm changes at 45%)
• 91% of consumers are prepared to reward brands for their authenticity.
• 97% of content marketers choose to use prescriptive content.
• By 2022, mobile traffic generated from smartphones is estimated to increase by 10 times.

Content Marketing ROI Statistics

The latest CMI research report shows that 70% of B2B marketers say their content marketing is more successful than it was a year ago.

This article on social media facts and statistics indicates that there is a huge audience that consumes content and most of that occurs on mobile devices. Content marketing plays a key role in helping people consider a new business, product or even make a purchasing decision.

Also according to Contently:

• 84 percent of U.S. consumers believe good marketing can impact their purchasing decisions.
• Only 17 percent of marketers consider their video content to be “very good.”
• 75 percent of companies drive better marketing ROI when they use visuals with their content.

Statistics on SEO and Content

If you are producing content then SEO also becomes important as a number of experts would also agree.

Databox’s research also concurs and throws up some interesting perspectives like –

• Almost three-quarters of SEOs think content is the most important factor for an SEO-friendly website
• 40% of SEOs think companies under-invest in the quality/relevance of their content
• 21% of marketers write for search engines
• Keyword analysis is the most popular way to think of new content ideas
• Keyword relevance is the most important factor
• Videos help you to get 157% more organic traffic from search engines

Also according to an Ahref study, 91% of content gets no organic traffic from Google

Content Marketing and Blogging Statistics

Blog posts are amongst the most shared forms of content according to this extensive study.

That’s not surprising since 47% of internet users read blogs daily.

Other statistics to help invest in blogging and to fuel your content engine are:

• 9x more leads were reportedly generated by using long-form blog posts.
• Blog traffic generation increases up to 30% after you post 24–51 blog posts.
• 43% of B2B marketers say “blogging” is the most important content they produce.
• 47% of B2B customers read about four blog posts before talking to a salesperson.
• 55% of marketers want to focus on blog creation as their top inbound marketing priority.
• 69% of bloggers are aged 25–44.
• Long-form content (3000–10,000 words) gets shared more than short-form content.

According to OrbitMedia’s study –

• It took around 3 hours and 28 minutes for the average blog post to be written in 2018.
• 46% of blog posts were 500–1000 words long in 2018, compared to only 8% that were more than 2000 words.
• 54% of bloggers include more than one image in their posts.
• 49% of bloggers incorporate a list into their blog post.
• 34% of bloggers reported “always” utilizing analytics when tracking blog performance.

• Blog posts with images are viewed 94% more than posts without.
• Post headlines with six to 13 words bring in the highest and most consistent traffic.
• 6 – 13-word titles attract the most amount of traffic in blog posts.
• 43% of readers admittedly “skim” blog posts.
• 59% of outsourced business blogs are made up of guest posts.

Audio and Podcast Statistics

According to Statista, 45% of global internet users aged 25-34 listen to podcasts. This only serves to underscore that podcasts have become an important way to reach your target audience. It is also probably why the State of Inbound report reveals that 17% of marketers plan to add podcasting to their marketing efforts in the next 12 months.

According to Edison Research:

• Monthly podcast listeners grew from 24% of Americans to 26% year over year.
• Podcast listeners are more likely to own a smart speaker.
• 27% of men and 24% of women listened to podcasts in the last month.
• Podcasts are the number one audio source by time of consumption among podcast listeners. 

Other statistics worth noting are :

• In the US alone, almost 1 in 5 Americans listen to audiobooks, and 40% listen to podcasts.
• 50% of homes report being fans of at least one podcast and 22% consider themselves “avid” fans.
• According to Podcast Insights, 49% of podcast listening happens at home. Some 22% of people listen in their car. Also, podcast listeners are much more likely to follow companies and interact with them on social media.

Visual Content Marketing Statistics: Images

Images are a great starting point when looking at content marketing effectiveness.

That’s because content with images gets more views, making it a great way to reach a wider audience. Images also help to spread your message wider, as content with images also gets more shares.

Check out these visual content marketing statistics.

There are lots of image types you can use. A good place to start is with infographics. According to OkDork, they’re the most shared content type. And Forbes says 84% of those using infographics find them effective.

Video Content Marketing Statistics

The State of Inbound report shows that marketers are going big on video. Some 48% of marketers are making YouTube video a priority. And 46% plan to focus on Facebook video.

That’s not surprising, as video gets results. Video is trusted by 40% of millennials and half of those aged 18-34 would stop what they’re doing to watch a new video.

The CMI’s content marketing statistics show 72% of B2B marketers and 76% of B2C marketers use video. It’s pretty effective: Aberdeen Group says marketers who use video get 66% more leads per year.

According to Wyzowl (an animated explainer video company):

• 87% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool. (This figure has seen a sharp rise from 63% in 2017, and 81% in 2018.)
• 91% of video marketers consider video an important part of their marketing strategy. That’s an increase from 82% in 2017 and 85% in 2018.
• 83% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI (up from 78% in 2018.)
• 90% of video marketers feel the level of competition and noise has increased in the past year.
• But despite this – 99% will continue to use video in 2019, with 88% saying they’ll spend more than they did in previous years.

User preferences

• 96% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
• 79% of people say a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or app.
• 68% of people say they’d most prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a short video. This makes video more popular as a learning tool than text-based articles (15%), infographics (4%) presentations and pitches (4%) ebooks and manuals (3%).

Video Marketing Effectiveness

• 94% of video marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service.
• 84% of marketers say video has helped them increase traffic to their website.
• 81% of marketers say video has helped them generate leads.
• 80% of marketers say video has increased dwell time on their website.
• 41% of marketers say that video has helped them reduce support calls.

Video Trends

Check out the following video trends in order to inform your content strategy.

YouTube Video

• 87% of video marketers have used YouTube as a channel. (The same number as 2018.)
• Out of those, 80% say it’s been successful for them. (Down from 90% in 2018.)
• 88% plan to use it in 2019.

Facebook Video

• 84% of video marketers have used Facebook video as a channel. (Up from 68% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 85% say it’s been successful for them. (Down from 87% in 2018.)
• 78% plan to use it in 2019.

Instagram Video

• 51% of video marketers have used Instagram video as a channel. (Up from 41% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 88% say it’s been successful for them. (Up from 87% in 2018.)
• 67% plan to use it in 2019.

LinkedIn Video

• 51% of video marketers have used LinkedIn video as a channel (Up from 38% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 84% say it’s been successful for them. (Up from 75% in 2018.)
• 61% plan to use it in 2019.

Twitter Video

• 45% of video marketers have used Twitter video as a channel (Up from 39% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 71% say it’s been successful for them. (Up from 70% in 2018.)
• 43% plan to use it in 2019.

Webinars

• 41% of video marketers have used webinars as a channel. (Down from 44% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 83% say it’s been successful for them. (Down from 87% in 2018.)
• 37% plan to use it in 2019.

Facebook Live

• 35% of video marketers have used Facebook Live as a channel (Up from 34% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 74% say it’s been successful for them. (Down from 81% in 2018.)
• 36% plan to use it in 2019.

Interactive Video

• 23% of video marketers have used Interactive video as a channel (Up from 20% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 83% say it’s been successful for them. (Up from 78% in 2018.)
• 24% plan to use it in 2019.
• Instagram TV
• 17% of video marketers have used Instagram TV as a channel.
• Out of those, 53% say it’s been successful for them.
• 30% plan to use it in 2019.
• 360 Video
• 14% of video marketers have used 360 video as a channel. (Down from 15% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 74% say it’s been successful for them. (Up from 62% in 2018.)
• 19% plan to use it in 2019.
• Snapchat
• 12% of video marketers have used Snapchat video as a channel (Up from 11% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 50% say it’s been successful for them. (Up from 27% in 2018.)
• 10% plan to use it in 2019.

Virtual Reality

• 11% of video marketers have used VR as a channel (Down from 14% in 2018.)
• Out of those, 64% say it’s been successful for them. (Down from 67% in 2018.)
• 11% plan to use it in 2019.

Mobile Video

• An overwhelming majority of people split their video viewing time between mobile and desktop, with just 1% saying they watch ALL their video on desktop and just 6% saying they watch exclusively on mobile.
• 34% say they watch ‘mainly’ on mobile, and 17% ‘mainly’ on desktop, with 42% watching ‘pretty much equally’ across mobile and desktop.

Vertical Video

• 87% of people say they typically hold their phone ‘vertically’ for general use such as web browsing, email and texting.
• When it comes to filming something on their phones, it’s a different story. 60% say their natural instinct would be to film horizontally, vs. 40% vertically.
• When viewing videos, 75% of people prefer to watch horizontally vs. 25% vertically.
• 82% of people find it annoying or off-putting to watch videos with a ‘black bar’ where the video hasn’t been properly optimized to display in their chosen orientation.

Video-Sharing Statistics

48% of people said they’d be most likely to share video content with their friends, ahead of any other type of content. Video came out ahead of social media posts (23%), news articles (16%), blog posts (5%) and product pages (3%).

Webinar Marketing Statistics

According to Go to Webinar’s report:

• 29% of all webinars are produced by software and technology companies followed by financial services firms and educational institutions.
• 92% of GoToWebinar users agree that webinars are the best way to engage a large, remote audience.
• 36% of registrations occur between 8-10 am.
• 59% of registrations occur less than a week before the webinar
• Email drives 57% of webinar registrations this is followed by social media which drives 15% of registrations.
• 67% of registrations are for 60-minute webinars.
• 10 and 11 am PST are the best webinar times to attract attendees.
• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are popular webinar days as that is when most people are likely to attend.
• 78% of webinars have 50 or fewer attendees.
• Marketing webinars have an average attendance rate of 44%
• 78% of marketing webinars use live Q&A, but only 15% use polls.

Interactive Content Marketing Stats

This infographic from Go Gulf captures key statistics and trends around interactive content marketing.

• 53% of marketers report using interactive content.
• 93% of marketers agreed that interactive content is effective in educating its buyers versus just 70% for static content.
• 88% of marketers said that interactive content is effective in differentiating their brand from their competitors.
• 63% said they use interactive content to educate their audience.
• The number of interactive posts has increased by 33%.
• The most shared quiz in the last 5 years has gotten a total of 5.4 million social interactions.
• 81% of marketers agree that interactive content is much more effective at grabbing people’s attention than static content.
• 66% of marketers have reported greater audience engagement after using interactive content.
• 79% of marketers said that combining interactive content with other content marketing tactics increases message retention.
• 79% of marketers said interactive content can be reused a lot, leading to repeat readers.
• 75% of marketers said non-gated interactive content offers a sample of the brand and nurtures leads.
• 68% of marketers said interactive content makes it easy to repurpose passive content.
• Interactive content generates 2x more conversions than passive content.
• 54% of marketers use interactive assessments, making it the most common type of content.
• The top five most effective types of interactive content for the top of the funnel are contests, games, quizzes, interactive infographics, assessments.
• The top five most effective types of interactive content for the middle of the funnel are calculators, interactive white papers, interactive eBooks, interactive lookbooks, wizards.
• Interactive content is most commonly used on landing pages, social media platforms, microsites, and blogs.
• The most effective type of interactive content for the bottom of the funnel are configurators.
• According to research Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) traffic will increase 12-fold between 2017 and 2022 globally.

Mobile Content Marketing Statistics

• Three in four phone users turn to mobile search for an immediate need.
• 88% of mobile users searching for local information take action within a day of finding results.
• 53% of mobile users will close a website if it takes more than three seconds to load.
• People have twice as many interactions with brands on mobile than anywhere else.
• U.S adults spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes per day on their phone.
• Mobile traffic has a 125% growth rate (vs. 12% rate for desktop traffic)
• 81% of mobile search queries derive from Google.

Additional research indicates:

• 80% of internet users own a smartphone.
• Mobile devices are used for over 40% of online transactions.
• 52% of companies use a simple template that works for all devices.
• Apps account for 89% of mobile media time.
• 80% of shoppers use smartphones during physical shopping.
• 91% of users say that content is very important.
• 60% of users want fast loading websites.
• A delay of one second in page response can reduce the conversions by 7%.
• 39% of companies create a mobile responsive email template.
• Google owns 96% of mobile search traffic.
• Some 62% of businesses haven’t yet optimized for voice search. And voice search is getting more important.

Email Marketing Statistics

This infographic shares key email marketing trends and statistics.

Other statistics worth taking note of include:

• There are 3.9 billion active email users.
• American workers will receive an average of 126 emails a day.
• Nearly 60 billion junk emails will be sent each day in the next 4 years.
• Up to 61.9% of email opens occur on mobile devices.
• 82% of workers check email outside of normal business hours.
• 87% of marketers use email campaigns to nurture their audiences.
• Adding videos to emails can increase click-through rates by 300%.
• At least 50% of marketers surveyed feel their email campaigns are very poor to average.
• 35% of business professionals check email on a mobile device.
• Apple iPhone is the most popular mobile client for reading emails with 29 percent of all opens occurring on this platform. Gmail is a close runner-up at 27 percent.

Content Marketing Mediums and Tactics

• B2B marketers rate blog articles as the most effective content format in the awareness stage, whitepapers during consideration, and case studies during decision.
• 62% of marketers use stock photography/videography for their content.
• 33% of marketers report custom video drives the most engagement out of all visual content for them, but only 6% reported live video specifically.
• 64% of B2B marketers increased their use of audio/visual content in the past year, but only 43% of marketers overall actually used/developed video snippets.
• 81% of respondents claim that video is still the hardest type of content to produce.
• 70% of marketers reported that content incorporating visuals assets performed better than those without.
• Only 7% of B2B marketers report using chatbots in their marketing; Only 4% are using AI.
• 87% of marketers are using still email to nurture their audience, while only 45% are using storytelling.
• Only 23% of marketers are incorporating interactive features into their content; That number only rises slightly to 37% among top performers.
• 74% of B2B marketers created long-form written content in the past year.
• Only 37% of people dedicated time to producing social media story content in the past year.
• 64% said they prefer podcasts at the top-of-the-funnel, while 48% said webinars were valuable to them in the mid-stage of their buying journey.

Content Marketing Distribution Statistics

• 71% of the most successful b2b content marketers are using paid methods to distribute content, compared to only 55% of the least successful.
• 80% report paid distribution as an effective way to attract a new audience, while 65% report it as an effective way to generate traffic when organic isn’t delivering.
• 70% of marketers are using paid distribution on social media; 64% are using PPC or search engine advertising.

Content Marketing Budget & Reporting Statistics

• Over 50% of marketers expect to increase their content marketing budget in 2018.
• According to a study, when asked if they’re tracking their content marketing ROI, 51% of marketers either said “no” or “unsure.” — Only 25% report being extremely proficient in tracking their content marketing metrics overall.

Over to you

Do you know of other content marketing statistics and trends that help inform your decisions and strategy? Let us know in the comments below.