As a blog developer and website developer, I frequently participate in my clients’ discussions about their marketing strategies – especially their online marketing strategies. They rely on me to bring them up to speed with what is hot and what is not on the Internet. We prepare lists of “To Dos” for the upcoming year, and prioritize and schedule the tasks.
Now that my clients have blogs and have built readership, they are looking to use their blogs to contribute to the bottom line. One way, of course, is to include advertising in their blogs. The big question is whether advertising in blogs is an effective use of corporate dollars for the advertisers they will target?
So let’s take a look at who is responding to advertising in blogs and for which products, so you can determine if that audience will appeal to your target advertisers.
The most recent information I have I learned November 20, 2008, when I attended a webinar, Consumers and the Influence of Blogs: What it Means for Your Marketing Mix. The webinar was sponsored by BuzzLogic and presented with ClickZ and Jupiter Research. Barry Parr of Jupiter Research and Rob Crumpler of BuzzLogic were the presenters, and Kevin Ryan of Search Engine Strategies moderated.
Summary
Blog advertising leads to further action – especially for males age 35 and under making $75K and greater per year. Blog posts, comments and advertising influence their purchasing decisions. They find the blogs first via recommendations from friends, second through links from other blogs, and third from performing searches. They trust comments in blogs more than comments at social networking websites. About half of them will take action after seeing advertising on a blog. The top 7 business segments benefitting from their interest are:
- Consumer Technology
- Consumer Hardware and Software
- Media and Entertainment
- Games, Toys and Sporting Goods
- Travel
- Automotive
- Health Products
Details…
Here’s some of the statistics reported by Mr. Parr and Mr. Crumpler. The sources were research studies, findings in their own daily work, and reports by third parties like Technorati. Three groups of Internet users were referenced:
- Online consumers (Internet users)
- Blog readers
- Multi-blog readers
The Statistics…
- The use of blogs from 2004 to 2008 has quadrupled
- 20% of online consumers read blogs more than 1 time per month. These consumers are the “multi-blog readers”
- 71% of multi-blog readers read more than 1 blog per session
- 45% of blog readers are males 35 and under making $75K and above
- 48% of multi-blog readers are males 35 and under making $75K and above
With regard to the purchasing cycle:
- 50% of blog readers and 62% of multi-blog readers use blogs to formulate an opinion about the product(s) they are looking to purchase.
- Multi-blog readers tend to trust comments on blogs more than comments at social networking websites
- 40% of blog readers took action after seeing advertising on a blog
- 50% of multi-blog readers took action after seeing advertising on a blog
Are you in one of the top 7 product segments? Is this the audience your target advertisers want to reach? Are you trying to make a decision where to put your money – in social media arena? Hope this information helps your decision process.
Happy Blogging and Happy Thanksgiving!