We’ve made it through the second quarter of 2019, one
filled with many important B2B marketing changes and several
unexpected twists and turns that will all combine to affect how the
industry moves forward as we enter Q3 and push ahead to 2020. Q2
saw several exciting shifts in entirely new directions, and a few
seemingly slight directional maneuvers and adjustments that are
nonetheless set to make big impacts in the coming year. We’re
always working to bring you the most relevant
B2B marketing news, including weekly industry news videos from
Tiffani Allen and
Joshua Nite here on
our blog and on our TopRank
Marketing YouTube channel, and each quarter we reflect on
what’s happened and look ahead with key trends. Let’s take a look
at both the challenges and opportunities the quarter’s top B2B
marketing news has brought. The Digital Marketing Sights and Sounds
of Q2 When It Comes to Digital Marketing Spending … Forecasts
from the quarter show that global digital advertising spending is
expected to continue to climb over the next four years, including a
prediction from
Juniper Research that spending will reach $520 billion by 2023,
and that:
Spending will increase significantly from 2019’s $294
billion
Amazon’s share is projected to hit 8% — up from 2018’s
3%
Google’s digital ad revenue is expected to top $230 billion
by 2023
via GIPHY What Else?
63% of B2B companies plan to raise spending on email
marketing, with top goals being increased engagement,
conversion, and lead generation, according to survey data released
during the beginning of the quarter. (MediaPost)
By 2019 global digital advertising spending is expected
to increase 4.7%, up from the 4% predicted in December
2018, while by 2021 spend will reach $329 billion, some of the
trends of interest to digital marketers among forecast data
released during Q2 by Zenith. (Marketing
Dive)
Digital video advertising spend has seen continued
growth according to IAB study data, with the average
survey advertiser projected to spend $18 million in 2019, up from
2018’s $14.2 million, one of several items of interest to digital
marketers in the Q2 report. (Adweek)
Twitter’s advertising revenue expanded by 18%
year-over-year to $679 million during the first quarter of 2019,
while ad engagement on the platform saw a 23% increase with
cost-per-engagement decreasing by 4%, according to the social
firm’s earnings statement that came out in Q2.
(MarTech Today)
A Q2 Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report showed that
2018 was the first year U.S. digital advertising earnings
topped the $100 billion mark, hitting $107.5 billion, up
from 2017’s $88.3 billion, led primarily by the strength of mobile
and video. Users also spent 22% more time on
social media properties in 2018 than during 2017, the
report detailed. (Adweek)
Social media advertising spending has risen
27% year-over-year, topped by a 44% increase for video
ads, with accompanying impressions also up 20%, some of the results
of interest to digital marketers in report data from Kenshoo’s
trends report. (ClickZ)
The highly-anticipated Internet Trends report for 2019 was
released at the end of Q2, including digital spending data of
interest to digital marketers. For more than 21 years venture
capitalist Mary Meeker, partner at Kleiner Perkins, has researched
and put out the report, this year weighing in at 333 pages. I
recently took
an in-depth look at the report.
Digital ad sales are expected to grow by 14% in
2019, according to additional forecast data, a bright spot
in predictions showing a slowdown in the overall rate of growth for
ad sales, down from 2018’s 8% to 5%. (AdAge)
Read more on this topic:
Pump it Up: How to Maximize Your B2B Content Marketing Campaign
Investments
Around the World in 50 Captivating Digital Marketing
Statistics
When It Comes to Search Marketing … Q2 saw Google launch a search
update focused on domain diversity, by having fewer first-page
results that come from the same domain, and the search giant also
rolled out several other changes including:
Making the firm’s
mobile-first indexing the default for new sites
New guidelines for using
“how-to” structured mark-up data and related image
recommendations, offering digital marketers more precise
instructions to work towards getting pages that generate automatic
how-to rich search result entries
Best-practices for building
your FAQ pages
via
GIPHY What Else?
Google rolled out automatic transcription to certain
podcasts on its Google Podcasts app, providing a boon to
discoverability via search that will likely help attract new
audiences to podcast episodes that include Google’s new podcast
metadata. (Search
Engine Land)
Display and video ads sold with Google Ad Manager, Google’s ad
server and publisher exchange, got additional auction functionality
aimed at removing Google’s “last-look” outbidding
advantage, while also bringing new minimum pricing
strategies and rules. (Marketing
Land)
Google’s annual Marketing Live event saw the firm announce
expanded mobile-first native ads that display in a
more visually-rich view across multiple Google feed environments,
along with mobile-only gallery ads and several other features of
interest to online marketers. (Search
Engine Land)
20% of Android Google App searches now come from
voice, and SEMrush examined ranking factors including the
importance of first-page placement and other facets of voice
search. (SEMrush)
Read more on this topic:
10 Smart Question Research Tools for B2B Marketers
Hey Alexa: How Do I Bake Voice Search Into My B2B Marketing
Strategy?
When It Comes to Content Marketing … The end of Q2 saw content
marketers getting new data on the optimal times for publishing
content on various social media platforms including LinkedIn,
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Sprout Social updated its best-times-to-post study, showing
that:
Facebook content posted on Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m.
to 1:00 p.m. has the greatest engagement
Instagram also shows Wednesday as the top day, along with
Fridays between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Twitter posts have the greatest success when made on
Tuesdays and Wednesdays
*LinkedIn posts were seen to get the highest engagement on
Wednesdays between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
via GIPHY What Else?
Instagram began offering a new branded content ad
option that allows organic branded content feed posts from
creators, expanding the Facebook-owned platform’s tools for digital
marketers. The new ads contain “Paid Partnership,” and are part of
Instagram’s efforts at increased ad transparency. (Adweek)
The end of Q2 saw the release of Edelman’s annual Trust
Barometer report, showing that 75% of consumers now value
trust over trendiness, along with a wide swatch of other
digital marketing insights. (AdAge)
The hyper-personalised advertising brands can deliver with the
nascent efforts at merging DNA analysis with
marketing may be uncharted waters, but some marketers
began testing the genetic marketing waters during Q2. (Marketing
Dive)
Read more on this topic:
15 Reports Charting the Future of Content Marketing
12
Must-Have Skills for B2B Content Marketers
When It Comes to Social Media … Several Q2 reports pointed to
social media usage remaining mostly unchanged, while the way people
use social platforms has shifted, offering digital marketers new
opportunities as well as some additional new hurdles to conquer.
Instagram was the only major social media platform to
see an significant increase in usage among U.S. adults
since early 2018 according to Q2 Pew Research survey data, showing
the rest of the most popular platforms saw statistically
unchanged usage, with slowing growth across the board
aside from the Facebook-owned Instagram. (Pew
Research Center)
The Q2 Edison Research and Triton Digital Social Habit study
showed largely unchanged social media usage over the past
four years, yet some growth for Instagram among young
Americans, a drop in Facebook’s popularity, and several other
statistics of interest to digital marketers. (Convince
and Convert)
2019 will be the first year during which more people
— 51.7% — use social media platforms from mobile devices than
from computers, and those using mobile for all their
Internet usage is also expected to increase by 10.6%, according to
research data on U.S. social network users released during the
quarter. (eMarketer)
via GIPHY What Else?
Facebook advertisers and users of the firm’s Business
Manager platform got new layout changes and features,
including streamlined Ads Manager navigation and tools to improve
new client on-boarding, Facebook announced in Q2. (Marketing
Land)
LinkedIn saw revenue growth of 27% for FY19
Q3, a 24% increase in on-platform sessions, and record engagement
and job posting levels, according to report data from parent
company Microsoft. (Social
Media Today)
Q2 study data showed significant differences in social media
usage not only between traditional age group categories, but also
within generational groups, such as older Gen Xers using
LinkedIn 9% more than average consumers, while younger Gen Xers use
Instagram 11% more than average. The study offered a
variety of demographic information of interest to digital
marketers. (Adweek)
Social Media Examiner released its eleventh-annual social media
marketing industry report, offering 46 pages of statistical
data gathered from surveying over 4,800 marketers,
offering insight and interpretation on how a variety of social
media platforms and practices are working for marketers today.
(Social
Media Examiner)
U.S. adults are using Instagram more than ever, at an
average of 27 minutes daily and expected to increase
through 2020, while Facebook and Snapchat have both seen a drop in
the average number of minutes of use per day, according to Q2
forecast data from consultancy eMarketer. (eMarketer)
Read more on this topic:
The Relationship Between SEO and Social: It’s Complicated … and
Complementary
Why
Twitter Lists Are Still a Great Tool for B2B Marketers
When It Comes to Influencer Marketing … Implementation of B2B
influencer marketing continued to expand during Q2. Last month our
CEO Lee Odden examined
this growth and shared
7 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020, including:
Increased use of AI
Democratized Influence
Brandividal Media
More Engaging Content Formats
Influencer Tech Integration with other
Martech
Consumerization of B2B Influencers and
Content
Influencer Experience Management
What Else?
Influencer marketing saw success in numerous
industries, delivering strong performance to some firms in
the travel industry, and MarTech Advisor took a look at which
influencer marketing strategies have worked well in this market.
(MarTech
Advisor)
Influencer marketing statistics were explored in infographic
form, including predictions showing the practice is poised
to top the $10 billion mark by 2022, and revealing a
1,500% increase in searches for information about
influencer marketing over the past three years. (Social
Media Today)
Instagram tested the elimination of likes and follower counts
as a possible method for driving more focus to
content, and Marketing Land took a look at the impact such
a move by the Facebook-owned platform could have on influencer
marketing. (Marketing
Land)
Customized influencer apps released during Q2
from decentralized social media platform Escapex represent a new
twist on a longstanding social media theme, bringing new challenges
and opportunities for digital marketers. (Fast
Company)
Read more on this topic:
How to Intertwine Online & Offline Tactics to Cultivate B2B
Influencer Relationships
Do
Your Homework: Selecting the Right Influencers for Your B2B Brand
With Tips from the Experts
When It Comes to The TopRank Marketing Team … The team at TopRank
Marketing has had a busy, exciting, and productive Q2, and here are
just a few of some of the team’s highlights in the press during
the querter:
Marketing Influencers: Our 2019 Top 30 (ExoB2B)
Modern Marketing Influencer Series: Key Ingredients of a Great
Content Marketing Strategy for 2019 (Oracle
Modern Marketing Blog) (client)
An Undervalued Work Management Strategy: Listening (Workfront)
B2B Lead Generation Ideas: A Full-course Content Planning
Dinner (DivvyHQ)
Learn How To Solve The Experience Equation With The Right
Technology And The Right Strategy (Digitalist
Magazine)
Influencer Marketing Trends for 2019 – A live interview with
TopRank’s Lee Odden (Rival
IQ)
A Sophisticated Marketer’s Perspective: Lee Odden on Ruling
the Content Kingdom (LinkedIn)
Leading Influencer Marketing Agencies (Influencer
Marketing Hub)
B2B Influencer Marketing in 2019 (Rival
IQ)
Top 31 Best Social Media Blogs of 2019 (HowSociable)
Onalytica – The Influential Times Episode 1 [Podcast] (Onalytica)
10 branding strategies for your small business to build
awareness and loyalty (Intuit
/ QuickBooks)
How a Best Answer Content Strategy Drives B2B Marketing Results
[BuzzSumo Webinar Video] (YouTube /
BuzzSumo)
Goodbye, Q2. Hello and Welcome, Q3. B2B marketers, we hope that
your Q3 is filled with plenty of success and innovation, and hope
that you’ll join us each week and keep up with the latest industry
news, trends, and opportunities in our
Digital Marketing News Roundup, with highlights and video
commentary from Tiffani
Allen and Joshua
Nite. *Disclosure: LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.
The post
Q2 Wrap-Up: Top Changes & What’s Ahead For Marketers
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