Marketers have predicted that content marketing will be the most important digital marketing activity during the remainder of 2016, with more than two-thirds revealing that they are already running content campaigns to boost engagement, a new study by recruitment specialists Ignite Digital shows.
In February, 29 per cent of respondents to a survey of marketers in Canada said that content marketing would be the primary marketing initiative this year. This is 10 per cent more than those who chose social media engagement and 16 per cent more than those who chose search engine optimisation (SEO).
SEO and campaigns focused on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are currently the most popular form of marketing, with 83 per cent revealing that they are currently engaging with customers and clients in this way. Website development was next with 80 per cent, ahead of content marketing (69 per cent) and email marketing (69 per cent).
Despite the recent buzz around mobile apps, just 26 per cent are currently prioritising mobile app development. Social media remains one of the most popular outlets for engagement, as nearly two-thirds said that they monitored these platforms by keeping track of new trends and developments and interacting with customers.
Creating content such as videos and blog-type articles was also a notable contributor to marketing success, with 78 per cent saying that content management and personalisation was a critical activity for them. Once again, marketers also placed a similar emphasis on the value of social media and SEO as part of an effective digital marketing campaign.
The data was published as part of Ignite Digital’s Canadian Marketers 2016 Outlook Report, which also found that 83 per cent of marketers are aiming to do more this year and that 43 per cent of enterprises believe they will have a higher budget for marketing efforts compared to previous years.
