Content Marketing Statistics from 2020 and Beyond

2020 was a long, strange year. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down many small businesses and forced many others to pivot quickly to work-from-home environments. Not only that, it forced most businesses to change the way they offered products and engaged with their customers. The new reality brought about shifts in marketing and other sales tactics.

But in the midst of everything that changed in 2020, content marketing proved to remain every bit as important as it has in the last several years—if not even more so. With things starting to return to a somewhat normal state, it is refreshing to see that content marketing never wavered during turbulent times. Let’s take a look at some trends and statistics we saw from the course of 2020 and compare them to data we’ve gathered during 2022 to see where the industry is at.

Digital Marketing Statistics from 2020

Before we get specifically into content, let’s look at some more general digital marketing statistics from 2020, to get a feel for the industry overall.

• 49% of all emails were opened on mobile devices. (IBM)
• 54% of all emails were classified as spam. (Statistica)
• Personalized emails got 6x higher transaction rates. (Experian Marketing)
• Cold-calling as a sales strategy has only a 2.5% success rate. (Keller Research Center)
• 1.5 billion people worldwide are on social media. (McKinsey and Company)
• 55% of buyers do research via social media. (IBM)
• Mobile commerce sales will make up more than half of eCommerce sales in 2021. (CBRE)
• Email subject lines of 6-10 words had the highest open rate, at 21%. (Invesp)
• 80% of users ignore paid search results and move straight to organic rankings. (IMPACT)
• Search engines (like Google) send 300% more traffic to sites than social media. (IMPACT)

Digital Marketing Statistics from 2022

Digital marketing is a tool with limitless potential for businesses of all kinds. But does the data prove it remains a vital asset?

• Email is still a reliable resource with more than 300 billion emails sent and received everyday. (Statista)
• Social media is not just for sharing funny videos. In October of 2021, there were over 4.5 billion users worldwide. It was also found that 13 new users were creating their first social media account every second. Take advantage of that market! (McKinsey and Company)
• Google is still dominating the market with 70% of all global desktop search traffic (Net Marketshare)
• Facebook ad spending was 32% higher in 2021 than 2020. (eMarketer)

Content Marketing Statistics from 2020

With some of the stats listed above alone, you can see how and why content marketing continues to be so important. Indeed, if your business hasn’t focused on content marketing up to this point, it’s a good idea to start—especially since 60% of B2C businesses are using content marketing strategies (Review42). Let’s look at a few content marketing statistics from 2020 that are particularly telling.

• Only 1 in 5 marketers say they know the best way to run a content campaign. (Review 42)
• 42% of marketers can’t measure the results of their campaigns. (Review 42)
• 72% of marketers believe branded content is more effective than traditional advertising. (Wordstream)
• 61% of customers who have made a purchase did so after reading a blog post. (Content Marketing Institute)
• 34% of bloggers have a means to analyze the performance of a blog post. (Siege Media)
• 71% of B2B buyers read blog posts. (Hubspot)
• 95% of content used in content marketing is made for social media. (Content Marketing Institute)
• Youtube is the world’s second most-visited website. (Lifewire)
• Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing (Wordstream) yet was estimated to become a $300 billion industry in 2020. (Marketing Insider Group)
• Stock photography and infographics are the most often used visual content. (Venngage)
• 53% of mobile users will close a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. (Think with Google)
• Only 66% of B2B marketers will prioritize a customer need over their own sales message in content. However, within the most successful of those B2B marketers, 88% do. (Content Marketing Institute)

Content Marketing Statistics in 2022

Content statistics in 2022 proved that content is still king, but let’s take a closer look at how 2022 stacked up to the pandemic era.

• Blog conversions to sales are still very high. Roughly 60% of people purchase a product after reading a post about it. (Demand Metric)
• 86% of people reported wanting more videos from brands. (CXL)
• For written content, word length still plays an important role. It was discovered that word count was fairly evenly distributed between top search results for topics: around 1400 words. (Backlinko)
• Over 60% of larger organizations stated that they outsource content marketing work. (Content Marketing Institute)
• Around 94% of marketers expressed that video content has helped them increase understanding around their product or service. (Wyzowl)

Content Marketing Trends from 2020

Knowing what we know from those statistics, what were some trends that we saw in content marketing that we can expect to continue on in 2021? Here are a few that are likely to dominate the industry for a while.

Video will continue to rule. It’s the top form of content marketing between both B2B and B2C marketers (Statista), and with platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and the ever-popular YouTube, video has nowhere to go but up.

Competition among content providers is going to continue growing. As more and more marketers and smaller brands start using content to market themselves, the already-crowded market is going to get even more dense. This means it will be even more important to stand out.

Mobile is going to continue its path to domination. If you aren’t creating content specifically designed for mobile viewing, it’s unlikely to perform well.

In addition to video, live streaming is on the rise among both consumers and businesses. Part of that, of course, is because of social distancing protocols enacted thanks to COVID-19, but its popularity is unlikely to wane once the world transitions back to the “old normal.” It’s easier and more cost-effective for things like conferences and makes attending something easy. While you can definitely expect people to crave in-person events, a flexible option should always exist.

Finally, cross channel marketing will become increasingly important. Cross channel marketing is all about using content across various distribution channels. Teams are already being asked to create more engaging, creative, and higher quality content, while doing it for less and less. Businesses will continue to invest in content, but efficiency will be top of mind. So sharing these pieces of content across channels, and optimizing them for each, should be a priority.

Why is Content in 2022 Important?

The content writing statistics in 2022 proved that organic content is a huge driver behind business growth. One of the biggest takeaways from 2020 and current day is how video content in partnership with strong written work will generate the most traffic for your company. Other methods will continue to pop up, but there is no better way to engage your audience than with content marketing. To stay relevant amongst the sea of content more than 50% of marketers will create more of it. Set yourself up for success by partnering with an organization like DemandJump that understands the new generation of content— pillar-based marketing.

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