Specifics of content marketing use by Ukrainian metal fasteners trading enterprises

Abstract

The article examines the specifics of content marketing in the Ukrainian market of metal fasteners and the use of application software interfaces to improve the quality of content and increase the speed of its updating. The purpose of the article is to identify the most common content marketing tools used in the industry, as well as the trends and problems of content marketing. The relevance of the study is attributed to the growth of the fastener trade market, as well as new challenges caused by macroeconomic factors that complicate the activities of these companies. The research materials are based on scientific articles on content marketing, secondary statistics and real cases of content marketing. The methods of systematization, comparative analysis, synthesis and generalization of results were used in writing the article. The active development of the production of dual-purpose equipment and the growth of the construction volume have increased the consumption of fasteners, which has led companies to use content marketing to gain additional competitive advantages among new consumers and as a tool for inter-industry competition. The survey results show that the dominant content marketing tools used in the industry are a website, web analytics, SEO promotion, and CRM systems. Influencer marketing, email marketing, information portals and event marketing are much less common. Website traffic of leading companies ranges from 50-150 thousand visits per month. Organic search is the main source of traffic for most fastener industry websites, while email marketing is the least effective source. The main specific type of content in the industry is product cards, which companies use to provide information to consumers and compete with each other in terms of information quality and its ease of perception. The use of APIs in integration with existing CRM systems creates a new effective tool for updating content on websites for wholesale B2B customers, but its implementation is resource-intensive and creates new challenges for businesses. This technology can significantly reduce the amount of time needed to create an order in the face of high volatility of products in stock and prices. The conclusions emphasize the importance of applying an integrated approach to content marketing, which will increase the reach of potential consumers and create closer interaction than when using a single content marketing tool. Prospects for further research are seen in developing strategies for the integrated use of content marketing tools by domestic retail companies.