The only thing really “new” about content marketing is the buzz that the approach generates among new media professionals today.

‘Net workers have always leveraged content, but seemingly overnight the industry collectively realized the path to more meaningful consumer relationships (and greater profits, of course) comes from the ways brands appeal to the hearts and minds of their audience. Yes, it’s the content, but it’s not just the content.

To operate a successful Web presence and execute a successful content marketing strategy today, enterprises also need a reliable and robust content management system. It is the back-end capabilities and consumer-facing experience these software solutions help to provide that often determine an organization’s success. Yet content management systems don’t get the attention they deserve — and historically, they never really have. Sure, there are some useful “magic quadrants,” which aim to reveal the best solutions. There is also certainly no shortage of affiliate- curated lists of top vendors in the software vertical, but there is always a need for unbiased information on the actual popularity of the true leaders, as well as those that are emerging and now warrant, if not demand, attention.

Website Magazine’s Top 50 list for March 2013 focuses on the content management platforms vertical. Wildly popular open-source solutions (WordPress – #1, Drupal – #2 and Joomla – #4) and incredibly robust solutions built by leading software companies (Adobe – #3, Autonomy from HP – #6, among others) can satisfy the needs of the most demanding enterprise-level information publishers and service providers looking to make the Web their digital home.

One thing is for certain, engaging in a content marketing campaign in 2013 will require that enterprises first consider the role a CMS plays in development, execution and measurement. Doing so has the potential to dramatically shorten the virtual road to Web success.

1. WordPress.org
2. Drupal.org
3. Adobe.com
4. Joomla.org

5. OpenText.com

6. Autonomy.com
7. Oracle.com

8. DotNetNuke.com

9. Clickability.com
10. Concrete5.org
11. Squarespace.com
12. SDL.com

13. Liferay.com

14. B2evolution.net
15. SiteCore.net
16. IBM.com
17. CMSMadeSimple.org
18. OmniUpdate.com
19. Alfresco.com
20. Sitefinity.com

21. EPiServer.com

22. CushyCMS.com
23. Hyland.com
24. AgilityCMS.com
25. Modx.com
26. Ektron.com
27. SilverStripe.org
28. MadeByFrog.com
29. ASG.com
30. MovableType.com
31. EllisLab.com
32. ez.no
33. Plone.org
34. CrownPeak.com
35. Magnolia-cms.com
36. OneHippo.com

37. Percussion.com

38. Kooboo.com
39. Bitrixsoft.com
40. Nuxeo.com
41. ElcomCMS.com
42. Marketpath.com
43. HannonHill.com
44. CoreMedia.com
45. Ingeniux.com
46. DecibelTechnology.com
47. DotCMS.com
48. Contao.org
49. PegboardCMS.com
50. Gentics.com