As popular as social media sites like Instagram and TikTok have become, they haven’t usurped blogging and other text-based content marketing. Copy and content remain powerful business tools. A strong SEO strategy paired with well crafted content is a priority for anyone embarking on online business ventures.
To that end, here are some of the most important content marketing stats to take into account in 2022, bearing the customer in the forefront of mind.
Every day, a whopping 4.4 million blog posts proliferate online (Tech Jury). That means 31.7 million writers are creating these posts (Statista), each taking about four hours to generate (Orbit Media). As for readers, 77 percent of internet users read blogs (Dr. John Carlson).
When it comes to word count, blog posts have an average of 1,269 words total (Orbit Media). Titles that are six to 13 words in length are the most likely to draw readers in (HubSpot). And 36 percent of readers want to see numbers in those headlines (Conversation XL).
If your website has a blog, you’ll pull in about 55 percent more web traffic than sites that don’t (Quick Sprout). Additionally, if you make sure to prioritize blogging as a marketer by making it your main output, you’ll see a return on your investment 13 times greater than if you don’t (HubSpot).
Keeping your blog up-to-date is also important, as that vastly increases backlinking to your site to the tune of 97 percent (Business to Community). Don’t be afraid to pay bloggers either, as posts that take six hours to generate garner better results than those that take less time (Orbit Media).
Still, images matter in the blogosphere, you can’t just leave them out. Ninety percent of bloggers use at least one image per post and see better traffic as a result (Orbit Media). In fact, doing so will generate 94 percent more hits than omitting images (MDG). Keep this mind when publishing.
What are the majority of B2C-focused marketers paying attention to? For starters, leaders in the industry allocate a quarter of their budget to content marketing (Content Marketing Institute).
And what does that money go towards? Over half of B2C marketers will hire someone to assist in content creation (Content Marketing Institute). That spending is on the rise, too, as 68 percent of marketers spent on that in 2019, and 85 percent did so in 2020 (Content Marketing Institute).
As for tools, B2C industry leaders are using social media analytics (84 percent), analytics tools (83 percent), and email marketing (72 percent) to devise and direct their content marketing strategy (Content Marketing Institute).
Regarding marketing tactics, the same folks are using social media posts (94 percent), blogging (80 percent), and email newsletters (74 percent) (Content Marketing Institute).
Company spending on content marketing is on the rise, with over half of B2B and B2C institutions anticipating an annual increase of over 50 as of 2020 (Content Marketing Institute).
As for the specific goal of said marketing, the vast majority of companies are prioritizing the growth and proliferation of brand awareness (Content Marketing Institute). Of course, it’s impactful storytelling that makes this content especially compelling (Prezi).
Google is likely going to remain king of the internet, as over half of the content that people read is found via a Google search (Kuno Creative). Still, images will remain an important part of the content you generate, as a quarter of marketers say it’s highly important (HubSpot).
Finally, keep in mind that you can maximize content by creatively reusing it, as over half of marketers do exactly that up to five times per piece (Contently). That reduces cost and can save time too.
Given that the data all point to written material like blogs as powerful marketing tools, it’s worth it to have a healthy budget for content creation. That will increase your return on investment and ensure your business continues to thrive in the long run.