M+E Daily

Quality content is the single most significant driver of brand engagement, according to new research released by Accenture Interactive.

“The insatiable demand for quality content requires organizations to move beyond traditional advertising and to harness their ability to produce truly authentic, credible and relevant content,” the company said in a news release announcing the results of its second annual study, in which 1,082 executives from 14 countries and 18 industries were surveyed.

“Content has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe and the water we drink,” Accenture said in the report, called “You Are Your Content.” The 4 million search inquiries that people send on Google each minute reflects users’ “insatiable hunger for answers and ideas,” it said.

The average American compresses 31 hours of activity into a single day now, it said in the report, predicting that, by 2020, about 34 billion devices will be online — a number equal to nearly four connections for each man, woman and child on Earth.

Since Accenture’s first annual State of Content report last year, the percentage of companies producing large amounts of content has doubled, it said. On average, organizations are creating more than 1 million digital content assets a year and, as content volume grows, complexity is increasing with the introduction of new distribution channels, it said. That “explosion” of new content channels has impacted each industry, but only 24% of organizations felt ready to activate new distribution points, according to the findings, it said.

The study also found that 76% of companies are leveraging in-house talent to create content over the next two years, and survey respondents cited a lack of in-house talent as the number one barrier to their ability to create quality content.

“Content has the potential to become the ‘great limiter’ for many organizations as they struggle to maintain quality while managing the tidal wave of content, and reducing increased complexity plus associated costs,” Donna Tuths, global digital content lead at Accenture Interactive, said in the news release. She added: “There is no sign of demand slowing down and new channels and technology will continue to disrupt the industry. There is now a clear need for organizations to ‘get real’ and gain control of their content strategy and in order to become truly a content-first organization, both inside and out.”

Other findings of the report: Eighty-four percent of respondents affirmed the importance of content in shaping brand experience; 78% said they believed content must clearly convey everything they want external audiences to know about their companies; only 40% of executives responsible for content at their organizations reported they clearly understood the goals for their content; only 29% agreed that the content they produced was consistent in style and tone across all channels; and under a third of them said they believed their content reflected their companies’ core values.

The study also revealed that different perceptions about content existed between executives and their employees. CEOs were twice as likely as members of their management teams to indicate their organizations’ content accurately reflected the culture and character of their organizations, with less than a third of all employees strongly agreeing that the content aligned to their organizations’ true identities, Accenture said.

The digital environment is “radically decentralized, and new platforms regularly displace incumbents,” it said. Relatively new and popular online channels including Facebook Live and Snapchat are creating several ways for companies to reach consumers, but many content managers are not prepared to explore those new distribution channels, according to Accenture.

The study found that 80% of respondents believed it was necessary to master new platforms, while 35% were looking to invest more in content creation instead of paying to place their content, almost three quarters of companies invested most of their budgets on paid placement, and 65% of high-performing companies were working toward integrated plans that balance investments in content production with smart distribution approaches that activate a range of channels, both free (such as social media) and costly (such as network TV), Accenture said.

Accenture surveyed representatives from industries including media and entertainment, retail and technology in countries including the U.S., U.K., Canada for the study in July, it said.