On, On To Social Marketing

How often have you left the house or picked up a phone in search of a salesperson? Is it less often than you seek out friends, colleagues, or relatives? How often do those networks lead to a salesperson via recommendation? More often than your own initiative? If so, you'll understand what the Web is becoming.

Moms account for 55 percent of consumer electronic spending; 51 percent of food spending; 49 percent of health and beauty spending; 48 percent of home furnishings spending; and 47 percent of apparel spending. That's a powerful grouping. And 95 percent of them are online at least once day - 85 percent of them clicking on an advertisement - 86 percent of them buying something. And only 20 percent of them say that advertisers really know how to connect with them. Recent research shows that moms don't really care what celebrities are selling, though celebrity endorsement has been a staple of advertising since the beginning. Part of this, you could say is due to a concept called "demystification," which applies to political leaders too. Consumers know celebrities are paid handsomely to recommend a product and have learned not to trust them. They ultimately turn back to those they trust before buying anything. Sixty-seven percent said they'd rather get information from a peer rather than a celebrity. This phenomenon is mirrored online. Blogebrity Robert Hitwise. Over 25 percent of blog visits in the UK originated from social networks or chat rooms. Search engines sent 22 percent of that traffic. But what was more interesting is where British consumers were going after blogs. Over six percent of those leaving blogs head off to shopping and classified sites. The majority repeat the cycle by going back to search and social networks, while others are trickling over to other blogs, to their email accounts, or to news and media sites. That's a lot of opportunity to reach people along the way. Like in the outside world, the most important part of having an online business becomes the business location, and then relying on word of mouth. In the US, Hitwise says those numbers are slightly different. Net communities and chat drive nearly 60 percent of blog traffic, followed by search engines at 9.5 percent, and email with 8.4 percent. Where people go after that is more evenly split, first among social networks (17%), entertainment sites (15%), email (11%) and lifestyle sites (9.8%), and then among search engines (6.2%), news sites (6.1%), blogs (5.9%), photography sites (5.2%), portals (4.5%), and shopping sites (4%). It's easy to get lost in those numbers, but the important thing to remember is that people leave blogs and, often upon the recommendation of a trusted blogger, go to places where money is spent or products are considered. What you should really pay attention to then, is how the big players understand this traffic flow situation as well they understand the power of the peer. Did Google really overpay for YouTube? Is Facebook really worth $2 billion? Did News Corp. get a steal on MySpace? It's not so much about the price. It's about controlling the flow of traffic, and harnessing the subtle whispery power of word of mouth. Tag: Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl Bookmark Murdok: