Survey Reveals The Importance Of Distinguishing Content And Advertising

It often pays for B2B marketers to pay close attention to B2C content marketing research. Here’s a good example:a recent survey from MediaBrix, a social and mobile advertising solution provider.

The survey focused on “the perceptions about ads that attempt to appear as part of the content in any medium,” including print and digital.

Specifically, consumers had this to say about their attitude towards specific “native ad” content:

  • 45% of the consumers surveyed said they found Twitter promoted tweets to be misleading;
  • 57% said they found Facebook sponsored stories misleading;
  • 66% said they considered sponsored “advertorial” content misleading;
  • 86% said they found sponsored video ads that appear to be content misleading.

The vast majority of those surveyed also said that this type of advertising had a major negative impact on how they perceived a brand.

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether these findings are directly relevant to B2B content marketers. My take is that it can serve as a timely warning: Pay careful attention to how you use social media to promote your content, and always consider the context in which you present or promote your content. Consumers are more sensitive than ever before to content marketing that fails to ring true, and you can be sure that B2B buyers are even less forgiving of mistakes in this area.

-Matthew McKenzie

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