If you’re in demand gen, chances are you’ve tried to find benchmarks before and you’ve come up empty. It’s really tough to find good data when trying to benchmark your paid campaigns.
That’s why we decided to build our own report using Metadata.
We assembled a three-man team to dig into our annual B2B Paid Social Benchmark report and talk about how we’re generating demand with our own platform data.
Join Mark Huber, Head of Brand & Product Marketing, Jason Widup, VP of Marketing, and Justin Simon, Senior Content Marketing Manager at Metadata, as they talk through everything that went into creating it and how you can use a core pillar like this in your own content strategy when coming up with new campaigns.
Tune in to hear useful insights from Metadata’s B2B paid social benchmark report or read the key takeaways from the episode below.
Watch the full episode
Three top takeaways:
Takeaway 1: A research report is a living, evolving document
It’s safe to say that last year’s benchmark report was a solid first step, but it was basic compared to what we produced this year. We still used a bulk of the same stats as a baseline, but there’s always room to grow year over year.
For example, this year we expanded our data to include Linkedin Conversation Ads as well. When we released the report last year, we didn’t have the data to support those findings.
As each year goes on (and we add more functionality to the platform) we’ll be able to include more and more data in our report.
Takeaway 2: Un-gating your report serves you better
It may seem like gating your report is the way to go. But that can make it difficult for your audience to access the content. Then, further down the line, it makes it harder to share or refer to it.
The truth is, you want this report to get around, so don’t hide it. The other problem with a gated PDF is that it is completely hidden from search engines. Which will limit the impact and reach your research has.
If you have to gate it, an alternative is going halfway. Justin recommends creating a downloadable or printable PDF version that’ll serve as a content upgrade. You can gate it off and keep it separate from your blog, but also allow all the content to be accessed for free.
Takeaway 3: Expect it to take more time than you think
If what you’re going for is a comprehensive piece of content, then get ready to buckle down and put in the time. Besides the in-depth research and analysis that goes into putting together a report of this size, there’s a lot of back and forth.
The analysts, Tableau developers, data engineers, the writers, and everyone on deck all have to pass information back and forth until the report becomes a solid document.
Bottom line, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill research paper. There are lots of moving parts, and you should prepare to put in the work.
If you can, start planning your own research, survey, or data report as much as six months in advance. This will give you time to do the research, put the report together, and create a plan to share it with your audience.
