“Marketers are getting better at distributing content, but are not getting better at creating content worth distributing”; This is the takeaway from a report by digital marketing software company TrackMaven in its latest report.

The Content Marketing Paradox looked at social media content marketing trends for paid and organic content posted to the five social platforms-Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. The report analysed 75 billion interactions on over 50 million pieces of shared content from 2013 to 2014.

The report found that nearly one out of four brand-generated blog posts (23 per cent) receive no interactions at all. Even more worrying, almost half of all brand-generated blog posts receive ten or fewer interactions (43 per cent).

The TrackMaven report found brands increased content marketing output by 35 per cent per channel last year, but across all five channels engagement fell 17 per cent.

Among the major social networks, Twitter has the lowest engagement threshold, with 73 per cent of tweets receiving ten or fewer interactions.

Instagram has the highest engagement threshold; only 10 per cent of Instagram photos and 6 per cent of Instagram videos receive ten or fewer interactions. Among the major social networks, Instagram also has the highest percentage of viral content, with 49 per cent of Instagram photos and 60 per cent of Instagram videos receiving more than 250 interactions.

Instagram might have the highest engagement ration over time, but the research illustrates that the engagement ratio for both branded Instagram pictures and Instagram videos peaked in December 2013 and February 2014, and are since on a steady decline.