THATBlog

Most of the online marketing world is buzzing about how to grow communities on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and other social media channels. However, with all of the focus on the bright and shiny new toys of the internet are we missing out on opportunity provided by an old familiar friend? A recent study by Technorati produced some very interesting findings when it comes to where brands are spending time online versus the places that influence consumers’ opinions the most.

First, let’s take a peek at the breakdown of the portion of the study which analyzed where online brands are spending time.

As you can see, a majority of the brands surveyed have presences on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. It seems like many have yet to fully embrace Pinterest, LinkedIn, Blogs, Instagram and Google+. I thought this study was very interesting in that it was also found that there was a huge disconnect between where brands are spending time and the places that influence consumers buying decisions the most. Outside of retail and brand sites, blogs were the highest ranking resources on the internet according to the study. 31% of respondents in this study said that blogs influence their purchasing decisions. Blogs slightly edged out Facebook. Who would have thought that blogs would remain a decently influential tool in today’s online marketing landscape. Sure, they have always had SEO value, but this result just further drives the point home that people are always looking for rich and relevant content. If you deliver it to them, you influence their decisions. It’s simple. For laughs, let’s set the two graphs side by side to see the disconnect between where brands are and where they SHOULD be.In summary, it appears as if brands are relying on the big 3 of social media more than ever, but consumers are turning to peers and blog articles for guidance when it comes to making purchases. I was particularly surprised that blogs had more influence over buying decisions than Facebook, what about you?