Small Businesses Embrace Social Media In Their Content Marketing

CLEVELAND, Jan. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- More business-to-business (B2B) small business marketers are now using social media content as a content marketing tactic. That's just one of the findings in research released today by the Content Marketing Institute. B2B Small Business Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends--North America, sponsored by Rainmaker Platform by Copyblogger Media, shows how B2B small business marketers have changed their content marketing practices over the last year.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150127/171676

This year's research finds that 93% of B2B small business marketers use social media content (other than blogs) as a content marketing tactic (versus 88% last year). They're also using blogs more frequently (87% versus 77% last year), as well as infographics (60% versus 48% last year). Of all the tactics they use, 65% of B2B small business marketers say eBooks and webinars are the most effective.

On average, B2B small business marketers use six social media platforms to distribute content. Nearly all (97%) use LinkedIn, which is also the platform they say is most effective.

"It's encouraging to see that B2B small business marketers continue to embrace content marketing," says Joe Pulizzi, founder, Content Marketing Institute, and author of Epic Content Marketing and the upcoming book for entrepreneurs, Content Inc. "They're feeling more challenged with content marketing, but continue to forge ahead by working on many competing initiatives. We're confident that if they document their content marketing strategy and follow it closely, their efforts will begin to pay off in big ways."

The research also shows nine out of 10 B2B small business marketers are focused on doing a better job of converting visitors to their websites -- a higher percentage than CMI research found with other sizes of companies (e.g., 84% of enterprise marketers say they will work on conversion over the next 12 months).  This is a positive trend as it aligns with another finding: B2B small business marketers are increasingly focused on lead generation (lead generation surpassed brand awareness this year as the most often cited goal).

There are many more eye-opening findings in the full report.
Our SlideShare presentation is available for download.
Graphics, charts, pictures, quotes and more, are available in Dropbox.

About Content Marketing Institute (CMI)
Content Marketing Institute is the leading global content marketing education and training organization. CMI teaches enterprise brands how to attract and retain customers through compelling, multi-channel storytelling. CMI's Content Marketing World event, the largest content marketing-focused event, is held every September in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.  CMI also produces Intelligent Content Conference, Content Marketing Sydney and Content Marketing Singapore. CMI also publishes the bi-monthly magazine Chief Content Officer, and provides strategic consulting and content marketing research for some of the best-known brands in the world. CMI is a 2012, 2013 and 2014 Inc. 500 company. Watch this video to learn more about what we do.

Media Contact:
Amanda Subler
Content Marketing Institute
[email protected]  
216-941-5842

SOURCE Content Marketing Institute

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http://contentmarketinginstitute.com