May 2007
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Outside.in -- a website that tracks news, conversation, gossip, and rants in 62 U.S. cities and 3,245 neighborhoods -- found a correlation between local blogs and rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. Outside.in founder Steve Berlin Johnson attributes the correlation to people's interest in change, according to an article in The New York Times, especially when it concerns "every little development in their neighborhoods."
Outside.in's blog aggregation technology works as a community bulletin board, where people can find news about their neighborhood or connect with other Outside.in users and bloggers that reside in their community. Since its launch in February, the site has published a top 10 list of the most blogged about neighborhoods, with Clinton Hill in Brooklyn taking the top honor. Other neighborhoods that made the list were: Harlem; Shaw in Washington; downtown Los Angeles; Newton, Mass.; and Rogers Park/North Howard in Chicago.
Learn more (MarketingVOX)
Learn more (New York Times)
One in three internet users say that their purchase decisions are swayed by sites with social content, according to a January 2007 survey conducted by JupiterResearch for iProspect. The survey, which was commissioned to explore how consumers use social networking sites, defined a social networking site as one that allows users to post their own content, including sites with user-generated product reviews, such as Amazon.com.
The most popular social networking sites are frequented by 25% of internet users at least once a month, iProspect reports, and visitors arrive at the sites primarily through direct navigation and bookmarking. The study also shows that while less than 10% of the internet population visits niche social networks, they are a highly targeted and effective way of reaching very specific consumer groups.
Other findings:
* 72% of YouTube visitors primarily seek entertainment, while 49% of FaceBook users and 35% of MySpace users primarily seek networking opportunities.
* 56% of TripAdvisor visitors, 39% of Yahoo! Answers visitors, 39% of Craigslist visitors, and 32% of iVillage visitors actively research products or services.
* One out of three internet users turns to sites with user-generated content to help make a purchase decision.
* The majority of visitors to social networking sites (90%) don't post comments on the sites they visit.
Learn more (iProspect)
Learn more (BrandWeek)
While 25% of consumers claim the internet as their primary stop for pre-purchase information, 23% of consumers still look to friends, family, and co-workers as their first source of information when researching a potential purchase, according to a survey conducted by market research firm Campaigners for the consumer electronics publication TWICE (This Week in Consumer Electronics). Folks that turn to word of mouth for their technology information do so because their family, friends, and co-workers are "trustworthy, reliable, honest, easy to understand, and have first-hand knowledge," according to the survey.
Other findings:
* 11% of consumers turn to magazine reviews as their primary information source.
* 10% of consumers speak to someone who already owns the product they're researching.
Learn more
Social networkers would rather log on to their favorite social networking site (17%) than do just about anything, including watch TV (14%), surf the internet (10%), and play video games (9%), according to the April 2007 study, "Never Ending Friending." Commissioned by MySpace, Carat, and Isobar and conducted by TNS, Teenage Research Unlimited, and Marketing Evolution, the study also found that 32% of social networkers ages 14 to 40 have increased their internet usage since joining a social networking site. Both TV watching (16%) and video game playing (20%) decreased as a direct result of social network participation.
The survey reports that social networkers tend to sync their "real life" and virtual life social networks throughout the day, with 15% saying they're regularly on their favorite social networking site first thing in the morning, 16% before work/school, 18% at lunch, 25% at school/work, 31% after work/school, 68% in the evening, and 30% late at night. Social networkers say they use the sites to connect with their regular friends (69%), friends with whom they have lost contact (46%), family members (41%), people from outside their city (31%), and people they know only in the virtual world (27%).
Learn more (eMarketer)
Learn more ("Never Ending Friending" PDF)
Consumers young and old are using varying degrees of traditional media, the internet, and social networks to inform their decisions, according to results from the Lumin Collaborative Survey that were released in April. The survey, which was conducted by Fabrizio, MacLaughlin and Associates, indicates that purchase decisions related to higher priced and more complex products prompt internet research. Alternatively, consumers indicate word of mouth is the preferred source for food, beverage, and healthcare information.
Other findings:
* When searching for product information online, consumers are most influenced by corporate sites, search engines, product reviews, and user feedback.
* Buyers spend the most time researching consumer technology products.
* Echo Boomers (ages 18-31) rely more on the internet than traditional media and Baby Boomers (ages 42-62) value word of mouth and traditional media more than the internet.
Learn more (The Mature Market)
WOMMA's Word of Mouth Marketing Summit and Research Symposium is taking place this Nov. 13-15 in Las Vegas. With the industry's biggest thinkers and heaviest hitters all in one place, we guarantee that what happens at this conference won't stay in Vegas.
WOMMA's Word of Mouth Research Symposium is a data-packed event -- with all of the latest and greatest research and metrics for word of mouth marketing professionals. WOMMA's Research Symposium is a must-attend event for number-hungry marketers eager to prove the power of word of mouth marketing -- and we want you to be there.
>> Save the Date for WOMMA's Word of Mouth Research Symposium, Nov. 13, 2007.
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Measuring Word of Mouth Vol. 3 authors will get first pick of speaking roles. Submit your paper now to secure your spot. Email editor@womma.org for details.
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Come for the research, stay for the Summit: WOMMA's Word of Mouth Marketing Summit is the official event for word of mouth marketing, where the WOM industry comes together to discuss issues, trends, current events, and more.
>> WOMMA's Word of Mouth Marketing Summit, Nov. 14-15, 2007.
Fifty-five percent of global executives either currently use blogs as a business tool or say they plan to implement them in the next 12 months, according to a study released in March by research organization Melcrum. Survey results indicate that 63% of executives use or plan to use online video, 43% podcasts, 51% RSS, and 41% social networks. Seventy-one percent of respondents say "improved employee engagement" is the top benefit of social media for their organization, while 59% name "improved internal collaboration" and 47% "creating a two-way dialogue with senior executives."
Other findings:
* 52% of executives anticipate their social-media budgets will increase over the next 12 months, and 23% say gaining executive support is a key challenge to further adoption.
* Only 26% of executives say they know how to monitor what is being said about their organization, industry, or products online.
* 45% of executives indicate that having employees discussing their organization online poses a risk.
* 70% of executives admit they have no guidelines or policies related to blogging or other social media tools.
Learn more (Melcrum)
Learn more (eMarketer)
Because of its low cost and extreme reach, viral marketing is a media darling. Reliably designing messages that spread virally, however, is hardly a cake walk. In their May 2007 Harvard Business Review article, titled "Viral Marketing for the Real World," Columbia University sociology professor Duncan J. Watts and Jonah Peretti, founding partner of the Huffington Post, assert that it's not only difficult to craft a trigger-ready viral message, but also to predict which individuals will reproduce the message.
Because of this challenge, Watts and Peretti contend that using viral marketing tools in conjunction with traditional advertising media, something they term "big-seed" marketing, will produce greater returns, even for a viral program that has a reproduction rate of fewer than one. Traditional advertising, the authors posit, has the potential to create enormous seeds, the burnout of which can last multiple generations.
Watts and Peretti allow that their big-seed methodology "lacks the mystique" of pure viral marketing, but offer it up as a solution to the sometimes precarious task of identifying and targeting influencers.
Learn more (Havard Business Review)
Learn more (Information Week)
One of the major take-away messages from MarketingSherpa's Viral Marketing 2007 survey, which was released in April, is that marketers who have done extensive work with viral marketing are sticking with it. More than half of marketers say they are planning to launch multiple viral efforts in 2007, and more than 80% of "very experienced" marketers say that viral marketing builds awareness.
According to the survey, the majority of experienced viral players are consumer marketers -- but 48% of consumer marketers still don't have a tell-a-friend feature. Fifty-two percent of those without any viral marketing experience are BtoB marketers, and 28% of BtoB marketers classify themselves as "very experienced" with viral marketing.
Other findings:
* 37% of BtoC marketers and 27% of BtoB marketers say getting mentioned in the blogosphere is a high-impact tactic.
* 34% of BtoC marketers and 18% of BtoB marketers say posting to social communities is a high-impact tactic.
* 77% of BtoC marketers and 75% of BtoB marketers say they plan to encourage email forwarding in 2007, and 72% of BtoC marketers say they will use tell-a-friend features on their websites in 2007.
Learn more (MarketingSherpa Article)
Learn more (Viral Marketing 2007 Results -- Login Required)
Fifty-seven percent of senior executives in the media and entertainment industry point to the rapid growth of user-generated content as one of the top three challenges they face today, according to the results of a research study released in April by Accenture. Accenture's definition of user-generated content, for the purpose of this study, included amateur digital videos, podcasts, mobile phone photography, wikis, and social media blogs.
While those surveyed expressed concern about user-generated content, they are less apprehensive about the future. According to the research, 68% of respondents believe that within three years their businesses will be making money on user-generated content, and 62% believe their companies will make money through advertising and sponsorships of social media. The research also shows that 70% of respondents believe social media will continue to thrive, while only 3% say it is a fad. When asked which content type has the highest growth potential over the next five years, 53% named short-form video, 13% videogames, 11% full-length films, 11% music, 9% consumer publishing, and 4% business publishing.
Learn more (Accenture)
Learn more (eMarketer)
Learn more (WebProNews)
Social networks have changed the way that people interact with each other and with media, according to an April research report released by Fox Interactive Media. The research found that the 70% of Americans aged 15-34 who engage in social networking activity are doing so during the primetime hours. According to the research data, these social networkers aren't just dabbling; they tend to use social networks more than they use other forms of communication and entertainment. According to the report, a majority of social networkers choose interacting on sites such as MySpace as their favorite activity online or offline ahead of television viewing.
Other findings:
* 40% of social networkers say they use social networking sites to learn more about brands or products, and 28% say a friend has recommended a brand or product to them.
* 69% of users say they use social networking sites to connect with existing friends and 41% say they use the sites to connect with family members.
* More than 31% of social networkers say they spend more time online in general after starting to use a social network.
Learn more (Yahoo! Finance)
Learn more (Pronet Advertising)
Learn more (MediaWeek)
Wealthy consumers are heavy users of word of mouth marketing, according to a survey released by the Luxury Institute in April. Eighty-four percent of consumers who earn more than $150,000 a year visit ratings and review sites, according to the survey, and women and baby boomers aged 45-54 are especially inclined to seek the opinions of other consumers before
Other findings:
* 61% of wealthy consumers use online forums on retailers' sites to gather product information, and 51% use the fee-based Consumer Reports website regularly.
* 76% read blogs (up from 57% in the 2005 study) and 24% are bloggers (up from 18% in 2005).
* 55% use instant messaging, compared to only 39% of the general population.
* 31% are active on a social networking site, compared with only 16% of the general population.
Learn more (Market Wire)
Social media is inching its way into marketing mainstream, according to a Forrester Research survey of more than 170 marketers. Though it still trails online mainstays -- including email, search marketing, and display ads -- social media is getting increased cash flow. Total buy-in, Forrester reports, is being held back primarily by lack of concrete proof of social media's effectiveness as a marketing tool. "Proof of use," according to the survey, was the number one factor that would generate trial in hesitant marketers.
Other findings:
* 34% of marketers use blogs compared to 13% in last year's study.
* 40% of marketers will use or test RSS this year, compared to 10% last year.
* 25% of marketers use podcasts, 22% use consumer-generated content, and 20% use social networks.
Learn more (Brandweek)
Learn more (MarketingVOX)
Learn more (BtoB Online)
People pay attention when they feel worse than they expected, reports a recent University of Georgia study. The research, which was published in the March issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, found that while people are keenly aware when an experience under-delivers, they are less likely to notice when a product is better than expected. According to analysis of the research, too much hype can hurt a company if consumers' expectations aren't met.
The study's authors contend that satisfaction, repeat-purchases, and positive word of mouth are more impactful than brand hype, which can prove detrimental. The authors also assert that companies can help themselves by encouraging consumers to pay attention when they do feel better than expected -- something consumers are not naturally inclined to do, but can be prompted into doing.
Learn more (Medical News Today)
Over 70 million blogs are being tracked by Technorati, and new blog posts are being added at a rate of 1.5 million per day (17 blog posts per second), according to the most recent State of the Blogosphere report from David Sifry. According to Sifry, 120,000 new blogs are being created very day (1.4 new blogs per second), and splogs (spam blogs) have continued to be a blogosphere nuisance with Technorati tracking between 3,000 and 7,000 splogs created each day.
Blogs have also become increasingly popular as news and information sources, according to the report. There are currently 22 blogs ranked in the Top 100 news and information sites (based on the number of links to them), which is a sharp incline from Q3 2006, at which time only 12 of the Top 100 news and information sites were blogs.
Learn more (State of the Live Web)
Learn more (MarketingVOX)
Influencers aren't necessarily experts, in fact, according to research findings from an April CNET Networks study titled "Understanding Influence, and Making it Work for You," influencers are individuals with large social networks who gain a greater sense of self-worth by giving good advice. The study results indicate that influencers interact with 100+ people each month, compared with moderately-connected individuals, who have 10 or fewer connections with friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers.
The survey found a correlation between social network size and advice-giving. According to CNET, fewer than half of moderately-connected individuals are asked for advice versus 75% of the highly-connected. Within the highly-connected group, 84% prefer using email to interact, 88% prefer in-person discussion, 46% phone, 16% instant messaging, and 15% text messaging.
Learn more (ClickZ)
Learn more (CNET Networks)
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