A growing number of marketing executives are incorporating blogs in their campaigns, and many bloggers say they have been contacted to become brand advocates. Yet blogs are not the first stop for most US online shoppers.
Those are the findings of several research companies that fielded blog-related studies over the past few months. Together they form a picture of a tactic with growing popularity, but one best used to accomplish specific goals rather than all of a campaign’s objectives.
More than two-thirds of US marketing executives surveyed in October 2008 by the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) said they were using blogs in their marketing efforts.
The MENG study was a good indicator of overall trends, although its sample was too small to represent all marketer activity. But other studies suggest blogs are an increasingly popular online marketing method.
Technorati published its latest “State of the Blogosphere” report in September. The company said that one-third of bloggers surveyed had been contacted by a brand or agency to be a brand advocate. About four-fifths of bloggers discussed their everyday experiences with products and brands, or posted reviews of them.
Richard Jalichandra, CEO of Technorati, told eMarketer that growing blog audiences and blogger authority resonated with marketers. However, he said there was a downside to blogs’ limited individual audiences. eMarketer predicts that more than two-thirds of Internet users will read blogs in 2013.
“Bloggers typically don’t have the reach and frequency to meet a marketer’s objectives,” Mr. Jalichandra said.
“Marketers are realizing, ‘We need to go a little bit further down the tail to kind of get a broad enough array of reach, as well as build spheres of influence.’”
So while blogs can be an important part of brand conversation, they are not usually a part of direct sales. Only 5% of US online shoppers surveyed in September 2008 by Harris Interactive for RetailMeNot.com said they used blogs to find good deals.
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