(This month’s Analysis Spherical-Up is devoted completely to the newest B2B content material consumption report from NetLine Company. NetLine publishes this report yearly, and it persistently offers a wealth of real-world insights relating to how enterprise professionals really devour content material.)
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| Supply: NetLine Company |
Over the previous twenty years, content material advertising and marketing has grow to be probably the most broadly used strategies in B2B advertising and marketing. Right this moment, nearly all B2B firms are utilizing content material advertising and marketing in some type.
Sarcastically, the recognition of content material advertising and marketing has make profitable content material advertising and marketing harder to attain. As firms produce increasingly content material, the entire quantity of content material out there to potential patrons will increase exponentially. And so does competitors for purchaser consideration and mindshare.
In these circumstances, understanding how enterprise professionals really devour content material is important to success. The 2022 State of B2B Content material Consumption & Demand Report by NetLine Company offers quite a few beneficial insights on this important problem.
NetLine operates a content material syndication platform, and this report relies on information about 4.6 million content material registrations that occurred on the NetLine platform in 2021. This analysis is especially beneficial for 2 causes:
- It captures the real-world content material consumption behaviors of enterprise professionals. The info used for the NetLine report was not derived from a survey or interviews, however from precise engagements with B2B content material.
- The report relies on first occasion information. The enterprise professionals who use the NetLine platform voluntarily share details about themselves and the organizations they work for in trade for entry to the content material assets out there on the platform.
NetLine tracks content material consumption for greater than 400 job capabilities, 24 industries and group dimension. Due to this fact, the NetLine report produces a wealth of detailed details about content material consumption behaviors, and I encourage you to evaluate the complete 65-page report. Listed here are just a few of the report’s highlights.
Content material Consumption Continues to Develop
General B2B content material consumption in 2021 elevated greater than 9% in comparison with 2020 ranges. Final yr’s development adopted a 22% enhance in 2020 in comparison with 2019. So total consumption was up 33% in 2021 in comparison with 2019. Content material consumption by C-level executives can also be on the rise, rising by 15.8% in 2021 in comparison with 2020. In 2021, C-level executives represented 14.8% of NetLine’s complete viewers.
Most Well-liked Content material Codecs
The ten most requested varieties of content material on NetLine’s platform in 2021 have been:
- eBooks
- Guides
- Cheat Sheets
- Ideas and Tips Guides
- White Papers
- Analysis Studies
- Kits
- Webinars
- Checklists
- Articles
Collectively, these ten content material codecs accounted for 87% of all content material registrations on the NetLine platform final yr. The three hottest codecs – eBooks, guides and cheat sheets – accounted for greater than 60% of complete registrations in 2021, and eBooks alone accounted for greater than 43% of complete registrations.
Measuring the Consumption Hole
One of the vital helpful insights supplied by the NetLine report pertains to the consumption hole, which NetLine defines because the time between the second content material is requested and the second it is opened for consumption. This information level is vital as a result of it ought to be used to information the timing of follow-up contacts with potential patrons. In any case, it makes little sense to contact a possible purchaser a couple of content material useful resource earlier than she or he has really reviewed the content material.
In 2021, the typical consumption hole throughout all job classes was 33.3 hours, up from 29.7 hours in 2020.
eBooks vs. White Papers
NetLine’s information relating to eBooks and white papers illustrate why entrepreneurs should think about a number of components when evaluating the efficiency of content material property. As famous earlier, eBooks accounted for simply over 43% of all content material registrations on NetLine’s platform final yr. In the meantime, white papers represented solely 7.41% of all content material registrations.
Clearly, eBooks are way more common total with enterprise professionals than white papers, and entrepreneurs is perhaps tempted to cease producing white papers primarily based on this information. Nonetheless, NetLine’s evaluation additionally discovered that enterprise professionals who registered to entry white papers have been extra probably than different registrants to expect to make a purchase order within the following 12 months.
Due to this fact, the consumption of white papers is a robust indicator {that a} potential purchaser is actively “in-market” and expects to make a purchase order within the comparatively close to future. NetLine discovered that on-demand webinars and reside webcasts have been additionally good indicators of short-term buy intent.
Past functioning as a very good indicator of buy intent, white papers and different extra “weighty” content material codecs play an vital function within the later levels of the shopping for course of. As potential patrons extra additional into their shopping for course of, they have an inclination to hunt extra detailed data, and information-rich content material assets corresponding to white papers fill this want.
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Content material advertising and marketing is a crucial a part of the advertising and marketing technique at most B2B firms, and the NetLine report offers information that entrepreneurs can leverage to enhance the efficiency of their content material advertising and marketing efforts.
