New Content Marketing Survey Shows...
Pushing Content Is Failing To Engage
Here's a surprise....a recent survey by Rapt Media shows that content marketing is failing to personalise or engage deeply enough. Engagement is not simply firing off a salvo of content and hoping it hits the mark, it is a process and a cycle that needs careful planning by the content creators. Whilst most of us already realise that personalisation is ever more important, and that content technology gives us the ability to attain a better engagement with our marketplaces, investment in content distribution & management is still not being taken up as rapidly as you would expect. Simply pushing content out there completely fails, according to the survey. It recommends adopting a strategy that allows consumers to discover content by themselves and brands that are "too pushy" can cause resentment. The survey questioned over 1,000 respondents (in the USA) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, an overwhelming majority (95%) said that they took action to screen themselves from online advertising, 66% saying they did this regularly.
57% of millennials blocked ad content because it was too pushy
57% of millennials blocked ad content because it was too pushy and over 38% of respondents over 45 reported the same. Better than half of those surveyed believed that ad content was just not interesting and even more said they there was an overwhelming amount of ad content. Back to the millennials, who seem keener on personalisation. Over 40% said they would spend more time exposed to content if it could be tailored to their particular interests. In the over 45 age bracket, this figure dropped to 28%.
The Road to Discovery....
It would appear that letting consumers "discover" content is the key to success in content marketing. In spite of acknowledging that personalisation would drive up their engagement, 60% of respondents said that they would still prefer to discover the information themselves - with many believing that there was a big difference between the content pushed to them and the information they discovered. Consumers’ ability to discover meaningful content influences purchase decisions and brand loyalty, especially for millennials. Explicit content personalization through choice and discovery builds trust, increases engagement, and delivers a truly valuable experience starting at the point of creation.
The Future of Content Marketing Part 1: Content Creation (7 pages)
The Future of Content Marketing Part 1: Measuring Content Performance (7 pages)
The Future of Content Marketing Part 1: The Future Content Creation (9 pages)
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