Article Summary 1 - Digital Influence by Lenna Garibian

Digital Influence: Blogs Beat Social Networks for Driving Purchases - Article Summary

by Lenna Garibian  |  

March 18, 2013| 

Summary: Blogs are more influential than social networks in shaping consumers’ opinions and purchase decisions, according to Technorati’s 2013 Digital Influence Report. Brands seem to be investing more on other social channels, particularly Facebook, than on blogging. The 2013 Digital Influence Report is based on surveys conducted among 1,200 consumers, 150 top brand marketers, and 6,000 digital influences.  Before making a decision on what to buy, consumers rank blogs as the third most influential digital resource (31.1%), behind retail sites (56%) and brand sites (34%).Consumers agree the value of online communities comes from sharing information and ideas but not necessarily from the size of a community: 54% say smaller communities have greater influence on a topic than larger ones.

Consumers engage with brands via social networking sites for many different reasons.  Facebook users tend to “like” brands to learn about products and services, keep up with brand-related activities, and for sweepstakes and promos, and only a few interact with brands to provide feedback.  Twitter users follow brands mostly to keep up with brand activities and learn about products and services; some  also do to provide feedback.YouTube users engage with brands mostly to learn about products and services, keep up with brand-related activities, and provide feedback.  Pinterest users follow brands primarily to learn about products and services, keep up with brand activities, and for sweepstakes/promos.  Instagram users follow brands to keep up with brand-related activities, learn more about products and services, and make purchases.

I think marketers spend more time on social networks rather than blogs because social media is a lot quicker and not much time and/or thought has to go into writing a status update or 140 character tweet. As with writing a blog, you must plan out what needs to be said with great description. Social follower levels are much more higher on Facebook and Twitter than they are on Blogger or WordPress. For example, for a busy small business owner, who directly manages their Facebook brand pages, they can post and interact in a matter of 45 minutes. Daily posting routine and interaction should take no longer than hour, so it gives them more time to attend to more pressing matters since most of them are hands-on.