B2B marketers are struggling to produce enough content amid the pandemic
35 percent of B2B marketers have trouble producing the content needed to reach and engage audiences, while 68 percent are confident with their approach to content marketing, and only some 8 percent said they were able to attribute return on investment (ROI) to their content plan, according to recently-released survey data. The Drum

Google Launches Updated Google Analytics, Including Improved Reporting and Data Tracking Options
Google has given a significant overhaul to its popular Google Analytics website traffic analysis platform, adding a smarter artificial intelligence (AI)-infused approach including new insights such as churn probability and a variety of additional new predictive metrics, the search giant recently announced. Social Media Today

Facebook Is Removing Its Restrictions on Text Content in Facebook Ad Images
Facebook will be relaxing strict text-in-ad-image ratio enforcement, while still encouraging the use of images that contain text in less than 20 percent of the image’s visible area, a move that could pave the way for new more text-heavy image options for marketers. Social Media Today

Google launches a work-tracking tool and Airtable rival, Tables
Google has rolled out Tables, a utility that provides new work-tracking options for uses including customer relationship management (CRM), project management, lightweight database without coding, automation and more, the search giant’s Area 120 incubator recently announced. TechCrunch

US B2B Digital Advertising 2020
B2B advertisers are relying more than ever before on paid ads, with a 22.6 percent increase for 2020 in B2B digital ad spending, contributing to a total spend that is expected to top $8 billion in the U.S. alone by the end of the year, according to newly-released forecast data of interest to digital marketers. eMarketer

The ‘Purpose Gap’ Facing Many B2B Brands
86 percent of senior-level B2B professionals see clear brand purpose articulation as important, however just 24 percent see activated purpose within their organization — two of several insights of interest to online marketers in new survey data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and others. MarketingProfs

Now Is the Time for B2B Content
During the pandemic, video and webinar content has seen the largest increase in views according to recently-released survey data, while views of unique content assets during March through May climbed by 40 percent compared to earlier in 2020, with the average number of sessions per visitor up some 43 percent. ANA

Google Shares Exclusive Data On How B2B Buyers Changed, Adapted During COVID-19
64 percent of B2B buyers have increased their use of online video during the pandemic, with overall online marketing use rising by 88 percent including 45 percent who started using digital for the first time during the global health crisis, according to newly-released report data. MediaPost

75% of people unlikely to use branded hashtags, survey finds
A quarter of consumers have engaged with customer reviews over the past 30 days, while 26 percent said they are likely to review a business on a third-party website — two of several finding of interest to digital marketers in recent survey data examining the performance of user-generated content (UGC) for brands. Mobile Marketer

Merkle: How Much Loyalty Customers Have Depends On Several Factors
When it comes to driving brand loyalty, 35 percent of millennials and Gen Z desire badges and 27 percent want leaderboards — as the demographic values competition and achievement, while older consumers prefer writing online reviews, taking surveys, or attending events — two of the findings of interest to digital marketers in newly-released report data. MediaPost

COVID-19 drives more business to B2B marketplaces
Global marketplace growth is being led by the B2B segment, with sales expected to hit $3.6 trillion by 2024 — up from $680 billion in 2018 — according to recently-released report data of interest to digital marketers, which also showed that 89 percent of purchasing managers are spending at least the same or significantly more because of pandemic circumstances. Digital Commerce 360

How Committed Are Big Advertisers to Content Marketing?
Over the past two years major advertisers have doubled their commitment to content marketing, with 52 percent of senior-level marketers saying their firm is strongly committed to content marketing — up from 26 percent two years ago, according to recently-released survey data from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and The Content Council. MarketingProfs

The Majority of B2B CMOs Expect to Increase Their Spending on A Variety of Digital Channels Next Year
Nearly 69 percent of B2B marketing CMOs will increase digital advertising spending in 2021, including email and mobile marketing, paid search, website ads, organic SEO, and social media marketing, according to recently-released survey data from Gartner of interest to digital marketers. MarketingCharts

US B2B Digital Advertising Thrives amid the Coronavirus as Traditional B2B Spend Plummets
B2B firms will spend over $8 billion on digital advertising in 2020, a 22.6 percent increase from 2019’s total, according to newly-released forecast data, also showing that 43 percent of U.S. B2B marketers said they plan to reallocate live event spending to content creation. eMarketer

The Most Significant Challenges to B2B Brand-Building
Unclear strategy, performance measurement unsurety, low priority brand-building and foggy messaging are the leading brand reach amplification challenges faced by B2B marketers, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers. MarketingProfs

‘You get 2 seconds to engage consumers online’: Mars neuroscientist shares key findings
Digital marketers have just two seconds to capture consumers’ attention and five to make an impact, according to newly-released neuroscience study data, also showing that memory encoding is key as duration time has dropped. The Drum

Facebook Adds New Paid Events Options for Businesses and Creators
Facebook has made direct in-stream purchase options available for eligible Facebook business pages in 20 countries including the U.S., offering digital marketers new monetization and event marketing options, the social media giant recently announced. Social Media Today

B2B Buyers’ Top Challenges With Their Current Vendors
51 percent of B2B buyers have changed their vendor preferences during the global health crisis, and they find that slow and inefficient inquiry responses from vendors is their biggest challenge — two of several findings of interest to B2B marketers in recently-released survey data. MarketingProfs

Facebook Adds New Sponsored Post Options for Groups
Facebook has launched a new option for digital marketers allowing paid partnership posts in Facebook Groups, giving admins new branded post advertising opportunities, the social media giant recently announced. Social Media Today

eMarketer: US B2B digital ad spend soars 22.6%
Bucking the overall pandemic ad spending trend, 2020 B2B digital ad spend in the U.S. is expected to rise over 22 percent from 2019 figures, a significantly better performance outlook than the 1.7 percent forecast increase in overall U.S. digital ad spend, according to newly-released B2B ad spending findings. The Drum

Study: Most Americans Permanently Changing Brands During Pandemic
45 percent of U.S. consumers have switched at least one brand preference during the global heath crisis, and some 62 percent believe that their brand change will become permanent — two of several items of interest to digital marketers in recently-released survey data. MediaPost

How microsegmenting boosts B2B conversion rates
Micro-segmentation helps both B2B sellers and customers, with better conversion rates and more relevant customer experiences, with some 68 percent of B2B buyers noting that it’s important for vendors to present relevant content throughout the buying cycle without having to rely on salespeople, according to recently-released Forrester report data. Digital Commerce 360

‘The downloads are back’: Podcasting finishes the first half of 2020 strong
Podcast downloads have come back to pre-pandemic numbers, increasing from 625 million in March to 825 million over the past two months, while podcast advertising is still expected to increase by 15 percent for the year, according to recently-released report data. DigiDay

LinkedIn Revenue Up 10%, Sessions Up 27%, in Latest Performance Update
Double-digit quarterly revenue growth of 10 percent over the previous quarter has been reported from LinkedIn (client), accompanied by user platform session growth of 27 percent, the Microsoft-owned firm recently announced. Social Media Today

Programmatic Advertising Trends: Top Tactics, Challenges, and Metrics
61 percent of marketers view return on investment (ROI) as their top programmatic advertising metric, while 46 percent said that their top challenge in executing programmatic strategy is audience targeting, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingProfs