Social influencers are called “digital marketing’s most overlooked and misused resource” in an infographic by oBizMedia, posted to mba-in-marketing.com. The study shows that buyers listen to what their favorite social influencers are saying, and that product and service peddlers need to pay much closer attention to what they’re saying.
According to Technorati’s 2013 Digital Marketing report, the trends and analysis reveal that brands spend the least on the outlets consumers actually trust the most: word of mouth and the friends they follow. This is probably because marketers don’t really know how to track the performance of their social media marketing strategies, but the data shows they should probably figure out how yesterday.
A few tidbits:
- 54 percent of consumers report greater influence from small communities (blogs with small but loyal followings, for instance).
- 31 percent of Internet purchases are influenced by blogs, which rank third in influence behind retail and brand sites, making them the definitive third-party influencers.
- Doing word-of-mouth marketing right isn’t exactly free.
- 65 percent of brands use influencer-based marketing using comScore and Nielsen to determine which influencers to engage with, but blogs usually get crappy ratings on comScore and Nielsen.
- Most marketers rely on Facebook “likes” to gauge the success of a social campaign, but that doesn’t translate into sales (at least not clearly).
It’s increasingly more apparent that marketers need to invest in key influencers and bloggers, because that’s who consumers are listening to. Making partnerships with these key influencers is where digital marketing should focus its efforts. Give it a try and watch your social media investment ROI tear through the roof.
Check it all out in the infographic posted below. You’ll be well on your way to cracking digital marketing if you take this stuff to heart.
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