Do blogs outrank social media for consumer influence?

In today’s digital world, it is impossible to ignore the importance that social media and networking sites play in spreading brand awareness.

A new report from social media ad group Technorati Media focuses on how new trends in blogging and social media are changing consumer expectations.

According to the report, a majority of brand marketers surveyed said they put most efforts into Facebook when considering influencers to work with. However, many of the influencers said they have based personal success on the number of page views to their blogs.

The report mentions the importance of fostering relationships with the smaller communities surrounding a brand. More than half of consumers surveyed agreed that advocates from less-populated communities tend to have greater influence on a subject. According to the report’s findings, blogs rank favorably with consumers for trust, popularity and even influence. The report also found that blogs are the third most influential digital resource when making overall purchases.

To gather data, Technorati conducted surveys late in 2012 on consumer behavior, branding and online influences. They sent surveys to top digital account supervisors and planners from around the world. Then, they engaged nearly three million email subscribers to gather feedback about the state of digital influence on the web today.

Additional findings from the report include:

• The top influencers in digital marketing are doing things differently. Eighty-eight percent of the influencers blog for themselves and 52 percent have more than one blog.
• Top influencers are diversifying the content that informs their blogging.
• Sixty-four percent of bloggers generate revenue using blogs themselves.
• Influencers are not just using Facebook to broadcast, but are following brands most successfully through Facebook.
• Ten percent of influencers use Facebook as a primary platform for their marketing efforts, and Facebook is the second most cited platform for following other brands.

The report concludes, “According to brand marketers, social spend in 2013 will increase substantially. Despite this increase, however, spending on social makes up only one-tenth of brands’ total digital budget. On the flip side, blogs still are one of the most influential mediums, ranking high withconsumers for trust, popularity and influence. The disconnect between brand marketers and influencers is a result of a challenge they both face – a lack of uniform metrics to effectively measure the success of influencer marketing campaigns.”

For more information, view Technorati’s Digital Report.