Marketers say search engine marketing and social media advertising are the most effective paid channels for distributing content, according to recent research from Ascend2.

The report was based on data from a survey of 243 marketers (57% work for B2B-focused firms, 27% for B2C-focused firms, and 16% for hybrid firms).

Some 63% say search engine marketing is an effective channel for distributing content, and 50% say social media advertising is an effective channel.

Online banner ads are ranked third (37% cite them), followed by native ads (33%) and promoted social posts/tweets (32%).

Some 41% of marketers say the effectiveness of paid content-distribution channels is increasing significantly over time, and 40% say it is increasing marginally.

Marketers say they measure the success of their content marketing efforts by looking at lead generation (53% cite it as a useful metric) and customer engagement (50%).

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 243 marketers (57% work for B2B-focused firms, 27% for B2C-focused firms, and 16% for hybrid firms).