WOM Research #2.19
- Consumer-Generated Media: Influencing Over Half of Us
- DoubleClick: Aim New Media at Influencers
- Moderating Communities Encourages Site Participation
- From the Archives:
Dispersed Buzz Better Than Concentrated Buzz
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1> Consumer-Generated Media:
Influencing Over Half of Us
More than 50% of respondents to Compete Inc.'s recent Spark! study, titled "Embracing Consumer Buzz Creates Measurement Challenges for Marketers," indicate that they use CGM to make or narrow their decisions, while 23% say they use CGM to confirm a decision and 15% claim to use it to determine their top choice. According to Compete, consumers are relying heavily on messages from other consumers to influence their buying decisions.
Other findings:
* 71% of car and travel consumers are influenced by CGM.
* Just 35% of those same consumers say they are influenced by brands.
* Auto buyers (35%) prefer customer ratings and reviews over company websites (32%) and car dealers (32%).
* Two-thirds of travelers prefer consumer reviews.
* Approximately $2 billion in travel spending is influenced by CGM.
Learn more (Complete Inc.)
Learn more (Biz Report)
Learn more (ClickZ)
2> DoubleClick: Aim New Media
at Influencers
According to DoubleClick, the latest company to release research supporting the importance of "influencers," online marketers should use new and emerging media to influence word of mouth among consumers. The company's December 2006 research report, titled "Influencing the Influencers: How Online Advertising and Media Impact Word of Mouth," indicates that influencers are more likely than other internet users to consider online advertising a key part of their shopping research -- which makes reaching them via advertising a surmountable task.
Other findings:
* 23% of non-influencers say they spend 5+ hours a day online, compared to 39% of influencers.
* Influencers say they are more likely to take actions to control their exposure to advertising -- using DVRs, pop-up blockers, etc.
* 76% of influencers say they pay attention to advertising when they are shopping for relevant products compared to 63% of non-influencers.
* Influencers are more likely to do internet research after viewing an ad, to talk about ads of interest with their friends, and to acknowledge that ads often contain valuable product information.
Learn more (Double Click)
Learn more (Spanner Works)
3> Moderating Communities Encourages
Site Participation
People are more likely to contribute to an online community when a moderator is present and when the messages are interactive and posted at a slow rate, claims a November 2006 University of Missouri-Columbia study. Even the "quiet" presence of a moderator assures potential posters that the community will not fall apart or be "hijacked" by people with malicious intentions. Alternatively, participants are drawn to communities where there are high levels of interactive postings, but only if the response rate is slow enough to give "lurkers" a sense of opportunity to add something to a discussion.
Because online communities have the propensity to become either inclusive or exclusive -- to the detriment of increased participation -- it is important that companies, marketers, and brands understand which features encourage participation, and to cultivate those features in their own online communities.
Learn more
4> From the Archives:
Dispersed Buzz Better Than
Concentrated Buzz
Companies using buzz management techniques as part of their marketing mix are better served by instigating more dispersed buzz than by allowing the buzz to stay siloed in just one area, according to David Godes and Dina Mayslin's 2004 Marketing Science article, titled "Using Online Conversations to Study Word of Mouth Communication." The authors, who set out to prove the viability of using online conversations to measure word of mouth, ended up finding this causality. They also investigated the relationship between online and offline communications -- especially as they relate to word of mouth.
Research findings:
* People make offline decisions based on online information.
* Online conversations may be a proxy for offline conversations.
Learn more |
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