News from a just released Forrester Research report, led by Jeremiah K. Owyang, indicates that Social Media Marketing is poised for top-of-the-class growth in Interactive Marketing in 2009! The study which surveyed more than 100 mid-market sized companies (with 250+ employees or more), found that 95% of companies plan to keep or increase spending in 2009:
While many marketing budgets are being cinched, more than 50% of interactive marketers say they will increase their spending on social marketing. Why? These inexpensive tools can quickly get marketing messages out through interactive discussion and rapid word of mouth and, properly managed, can deliver measurable results.
If your business has considered social media (w/out action taken) or if you are an in-house marketer trying to champion the cause for your company to invest into new media marketing strategies such as social media, organic search, blogging, etc — then use independent, 3rd party studies like these to your advantage! Today’s “traditional business owners” can still use some educating.
For more statistics, verifiable results and information on how your company can take its efforts to the next level, please contact TDM to speak with an Account Exec.
Comments
Check out the Today Show’s bit on digital mom’s and the value they can deliver to trusted brands. Wal-Mart, Dell and K-Mart leverage mom bloggers effectively, while the likes of Motrin have seen these efforts backfire. An Avenue A Razorfish director along with an established mom blogger are interviewed and cover many key topics from brand-consumer opportunity engagements, how to leverage social media, influencers, sponsored conversations, product reviews, etc.
For brand advertisers considering word-of-mouth online, this is a great video. For moms considering connecting to social networks, voicing their passions and earning legitimate income, this video is of value.
Comments
A Deloitte media usage survey has found that 70% of American consumers, in all age groups, are watching user-generated video on the Internet. The suvey titled “State of the Media Democracy” polled more than 2,000 Americans, of which 40% said they would download even more user videos if broadband connections were faster. Here are a couple of key highlights:
- 14-25 year olds (Millenials) are the least interested in TV and traditional print media, with the majority of their time on multi-media devices including computers and cell phones
- 26-42 year olds (Gen X) is the most connected age group to computers, spending the most time online. They are receptive online marketing.
- 43-61 year olds (Baby Boomers) are the most influential consumer spenders and are pushing the adoption of new media, computers and cell phones to their own peers and parents (Matures)
- “Since 2007, consumers have been spending more than a third of their time online at sites consisting of mostly user-generated content.”
This trend should continue especially with the ongoing adoption of Baby Boomers to Internet Media, online video and consequently User Generated Video. This spells tremendous opportunity for online retailers! Not only do your customers want to watch user video, but search engines like Google want to promote them as well (aka Universal Search) within their search results. Online Marketers who can effectively leverage video, product reviews, and other engagement marketing vehicles will better capture market share, gain competitive advantages and boost consumer loyalty. A holistic approach to new media marketing is a must for today’s online marketer and their ability to leverage user generated video reviews through their own customer base can spell big success for 2009 and in the future.
Comments
According to a recent study released by Neilsen, more than 80% of online shoppers read a product or retailer review BEFORE making a purchase decision! Additionally, more than 70% felt more comfortable making their purchase decision after reading consumer product reviews.
Retailers who can garner product reviews both on-site and off-site will be ahead of the pack during the 2009 shopping season. The consumer’s desire for product reviews is not just isolated to holiday shopping but is now a common place practice before buying products online (throughout the calendar year). Not only will they look for customer feedback on a retailers site, but they will put more weight in product reviews that are outside of the retailers domain and control. Independent consumer reviews are more trusted, unbiased and perceived to be more credible by like-minded consumers. A 2007 MarketingVOX study found that 91% of moms prefer brands that other moms have recommended.
Now more than ever, with social networks and Web 2.0 channels/applications popping up all over the web and becoming popular destinations, online retailers need to get their products into the hands of active online participants who can openly discuss their experience with a product/service, thus influencing purchase decisions of like-minded consumers. It’s important to note that less than 10% of your customers are active participants & influencers while the majority of your customers sit on the sidelines & observe (making them influenced readers). Examples of popular consumer review outlets include:
- Destination sites like epinions.com, consumersearch.com, and amazon.com
- Independent bloggers and website publishers
- Video channels like YouTube
- Peer networks like Facebook & MySpace
Finally, 26% of search results are user generated content (Neilsen BuzzMetrics) which is commonly in the form of product reviews. Has your company stepped up its game with consumer product reviews? Do you have a strategy to get your product in the right hands that will contribute online? Contact a TDM Account Executive to learn more about a customized product review campaign.
Comments
On November 19th, TDM will be participating in the Internet Summit Event in Chapel Hill, NC. This is the first event of its kind in the Raleigh-Durham market and a sellout crowd of more than 600 attendees is expected for this one-day event. The speaker roster is loaded with industry experts from all walks of Internet Marketing and Web 2.0 technologies. Seating is very limited, but visit the event site for registration details.
Scott Gardner, TDM’s VP Search, will be moderating a panel on Blogging & New Media. The speakers on this panel include Brad Hill (Weblogsinc), Henry Copeland (Blogads), Tim Schigel (ShareThis) and Andy Beal (MarketingPilgrim). This promises to be a panel full of great tips on how companies can effectively execute on a corporate blogging initiative, engage influential bloggers for marketing & advertising initiatives, and tap into other New Media Marketing channels.
We’ll try to put together some insightful video snippets from the event.
Comments
A recent Jupiter Research and Buzz Logic study found that blogs were significant influencers when it comes to purchase decision making amongst consumers. In fact, the study found that blogs influence buying decisions more so than all other social media channels! A couple of key statistics advertisers need to consider from this research of more than 2,000 online consumers are:
*Blogs influence purchases: One half (50%) of blog readers say they find blogs useful for purchase information.
*Among respondents who say they have trusted blog content for purchase decisions in the past, over half (52%) say blogs played a role in the critical moment they decided to move forward with a purchase.
*One in five general blog readers (defined as consumers who have read a blog in the past 12 months) use blog links to discover new blogs.
*For frequent readers, blog links appear to have a similar impact as a trusted recommendation from a person (a response from 39% of survey participants).
This is great news for advertisers that not only maintain and operate their own blog, but who also are tapping the power of blogger outreach for unbiased product & service reviews! There are numerous studies, which we’ll be covering, that prove the impact of peer-to-peer reviews and how people of similar demographics (age, gender, geography, interests) trust other “peer” recommendations. Popular sites like Epinions.com, ConsumerSearch.com and BizRate are destination portals with countless reviews on all types of products; they’re wonderful resources to the consumer. Blogs, on the other hand, are independent, far reaching & diversified channels that tap into a deeper connection than review aggregators: peer-to-peer trust that a blogger has with their own audience.
Are you capitalizing on New Media Marketing? If you want to learn more about a creative blog marketing campaign, please contact us today!
Comments
Sounds like marketing departments and firms are planning on a significant increase in budget for Web 2.0 Marketing, and experiences for their websites.
Beyond all the cool charts and graphs from a study conducted by Adobe there are also some notable quotes which I agree with:
“With online commerce growth rates predicted to decline, companies that continue investing to differentiate themselves and deliver compelling user experiences can gain market share over their competition,” said Doug Mack, vice-president of consumer and hosted solutions at Adobe.
“Rich and innovative applications enable businesses to further engage customers with more personal and compelling online experiences, which can ultimately increase conversions and revenues.” From The Web 2.0 Marketing Article I saw.
That’s a very professional and eloquent way for Doug Mack, VP at Adobe to say ” Spend more money on some of the new ways to market your site or get left left in the dust of your competitors.” Doug is absolutely correct.
In order to differentiate your company do more and do it differently. We have many clients at Triangle Direct Media that have opted to do consumer generated product reviews, viral ads, viral videos and more. They are seeing results and reaping the rewards of utilizing social media outlets as well Web 2.0 Technologies to market their businesses.
Comments
