The state of content: 2022

We all work so hard in this crazy content marketing world and rarely ever stop to see where we're headed. We plan, strategize, research, write and design. But nowhere in this process is a step whereby we stand back, look at the data, and think. So this morning I took a moment to read a new report about the state of content to see what's working, what's not and where this whole content train is headed. Then I quickly checked another one to see if it was consistent (it mostly was).

The first report was created by Parse.ly, a technology company that provides web analytics and content optimization software for online publishers. It was based on digital surveys conducted in November 2021 that garnered 832 respondents across various roles, industries, company types and geographies (70% US). I then read SEMRush's "State of Content Marketing" report which covered many of the same topics and added a few more. I’d like to stress that two reports do not equal hard truth or "the new reality" or anything grandiose or newsworthy. Consider this another input that you can stick in your brain-file-thing for later. More of a "huh" than a "wow!" Here it comes...

Demand for content is high. Content teams are understaffed. Most organizations are struggling to marshall the resources and money to create the amount of content they dream of having. Most content teams are under 10 people, even at large organizations. But companies are starting to invest more to grow those teams. 50% of companies grew their content budgets in the past year.?So if you're advocating for more people and more spending on content then you're in very good company.

Content weighted towards building awareness OR consideration phase: Content can help an organization at any stage of the funnel. The Parse.ly report respondents are primarily using it at the tippy top - for acquisition. To create awareness, build trust and educate. However, the SEMRush report claims that middle-funnel content is more prevalent. This seemed to be the only topic where these two reports were directly at odds. Whatever the case, content is a great way to generate awareness, nurture leads, build loyalty and tell a compelling story. There's literally no part of the business that it can't help improve.

Blog, social, email. Rinse. Repeat. The content realm has much to offer, but companies have been sticking pretty close to: blog articles, emails, social media, videos, case studies, success stories, and webinars. The two reports had them in a different order, but they were essentially the same in both. Personally, I'd like to see brands experiment more with the formats as there's a lot out there in the world of ideas that has yet to be discovered.

Everyone wants video. Nobody wants to pay for it. We see this all the time at Pinwheel. Video is a complicated and naturally expensive content format that takes time. Most clients don’t understand the many types of people and functions that it takes to do decent video work (take a moment to watch the credits of a movie and you’ll often see hundreds of jobs and names) and hence don’t understand why it costs what it does. All of that said, clients are beginning to harmonize their expectations to their budget levels (i.e. lower quality... thanks TikToc) while technology is getting better at making decent video affordable. In that middle ground zone, the report predicts a lot more video activity in the months ahead.?

Not enough performance tracking. It sounds crazy because it is crazy: half of the content marketers surveyed don’t know how their content is actually doing for them. Some aren’t looking at the right metrics while others (albeit a minority at 19%) aren’t even tracking it. We find that clients often say they’ll be testing various strategies, but the results of those tests never materialize. If you’re a content marketer who’s testing, learning, improving and optimizing, then you’re doing grrreat. Clap clap.?

Quality is key. According to the SEMRush report, the top goal in 2022 among content marketers was to improve the quality of the content (number 2 is SEO). More brands pledged to invest in better writing in 2022. Cue the happy dance.

Content strategy isn’t always strategic: Without performance tracking, the loudest voice often wins. Hence, requests from other teams (internal "stakeholders") and C-suite-ers tend to override any sort of strategic plan. This is a pity because it’s hard enough to broadcast a strong signal as a brand without everything being ad hoc like that. SEMRush's report emphasized that telling a consistent story over time and through all channels is critically important - yet (my take) very few clients actually do it. So when someone finally comes along and does that content audit, they're going to be scratching their heads wondering who the crazy person was who was driving the bus (pro tip: groupthink doesn't have an onboard navigation system).

A lot of brands are outsourcing: Since it's so hard to keep up with demand, brands are turning to outsourcing content. This only came up in the SEMRush report. The top five services being outsourced, in order, are: design, video, copywriting, editing and SEO. Shameless plug, we do all of these things.

It’s hard to tie content performance to revenue. This was always the case because human behavior just doesn’t work like a machine. We don’t read an ebook in one sitting, immediately sign up for a demo, and then buy the product. We're kooks who behave randomly. So it’s naturally tough to track the ROI. That said, marketers who ARE able to tie content to revenue are seeing an increase in the demand for that revenue-producing content. Unsurprising.?The SEMRush report concurred with Parse.ly's that content will be seen more and more as a revenue generator.

Advertising is still a big driver. Brands that do see revenue from content are primarily promoting their content (mostly on the social platforms) through paid ads. Second and third place were sponsored content (still paid) and driving traffic directly to the sales teams.?Personally, this makes sense and I doubt this will change anytime soon.

There's a lot more to see in there. For example, very long articles perform better than very short articles, articles with lots of images do better than articles with none, headlines with under nine words perform better than longer headlines, etc. etc. Feel free to click into the reports and see for yourself.

If you disagree with any of these insights for whatever reason, feel free to shout about that in the comments. I’m listening, so let's discuss.