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What’s the next step for content marketing?

Written by Tom Ryan

Photo: Getty Images

According to the 2016 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper report, product information — both from retailers and other shoppers — is only increasing in its importance as an e-commerce tool for buyers. Yet only 57 percent of shoppers are satisfied with the ability to see user-generated content or uploaded consumer images. Asked about the influence of different types of content on a retailer's website, product reviews ranked first, with 77 percent of respondents finding them influential, up from 73 percent in the 2015 study. But the influence of content grew significantly in just over the last year in several other areas as well. These include:
  • Q&As: 54 percent finding them influential, up from 48 percent in 2015;
  • Photos submitted by consumers: 49 percent versus 42 percent the prior year;
  • Product and brand videos: 49 percent, up from 47 percent;
  • Communities/forums: 40 percent versus 31 percent;
  • “Trending now” products: 35 percent versus 30 percent;
  • Retailer’s blogs: 34 percent, up from 28 percent;
  • Podcasts: 29 percent, up from 22 percent.
The study, based on a survey of 5,330 comScore panelists in January and February, found that the younger the audience the more likely they are to be influenced by product reviews, Q&As, photos submitted by consumers and videos. A survey of marketers earlier this year by ClickZ Intelligence found content marketing to be the most significant digital marketing trend in 2016, agreed to by 24.6 percent. In the report, ClickZ said content marketing has been gaining momentum in the last five years and expected it to reach maturity as a discipline in 2016. “Evidence of a more grown-up approach will include greater adoption of dull-but-necessary processes, organizational structures and measurement rigor as companies seek to scale their content activities,” wrote ClickZ. “The reality of ad blocking will ensure that advertisers focus more on native formats. The growing challenge of getting content seen and heard will increasingly make paid-for distribution of content via publishers and social networks an essential part of the mix.”

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