News

Content marketing budgets will continue to dedicate a significant proportion of investment in blogs in 2012.

This was one of the findings of the State of Social Media Marketing report by software provider Awareness. It found nearly three in ten marketers will increase investment in blogs this year and many organisations plan to give blogs more prominence in their content strategies; 91 per cent of respondents said they will use blogs more. Marketers also use blogs to stay on top of their industries, with eight in ten saying blogs give them crucial sector and best practice information. 

The importance of visual content marketing also emerged as a key trend. Nearly a fifth of marketing budgets will allocate more resources to online video for YouTube, a channel that 86 per cent of respondents said they will use more this year.

Blogs and content marketing ROI

With more budget being allocated to social media marketing, questions are being asked about proving return on investment. The Awareness research highlighted it as the second biggest challenge to marketers, only behind the lack of sufficient resources.

Nearly six in ten people said measuring the ROI of social marketing programmes was a problem. "Marketing support levels are asking for investment, but executives are looking for ROI before dedicating more resources," the researchers said.

Increased website traffic should lead to more sales, provided the web design and usability of the site contribute to the visitor's experience. Blogs are an excellent way of boosting site traffic; sites with blogs report an increase of 55 per cent in footfall on their site and a 97 per cent rise in inbound links.

Our infographic The Anatomy of Content Marketing also notes that 37 per cent of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content for marketing.

Do you agree? Do you find blog posts boost your content marketing activities and sales? Share your thoughts below.

Additional reading about blogs and content marketing:

Investing in content marketing  Keeping social media channels updated requires an investment of time, resources and effort, but it's an investment worth making.
Small business online marketing budgets will grow  44 per cent of organisations will spend more on digital marketing in 2013.
Reasons small businesses need to blog  Whether you're a B2B or B2C organisation, blogging gives your company a personal face.