Blogs Build Consumer Trust

Blogs Build Consumer Trust, According to Digital Influence Report 2013

Blogs Build Consumer Trust, According To Technorati Digital Influence Report

Blogs build consumer trust, are popular, and create influence according to Technorati’s 2013 Digital Influence Report (DIR).
Technorati is one of the largest social media ad networks with an advertising reach of about 130 million US unique users/month.  The 2013 DIR was produced by surveys that included over 6,000 influencers, 1,200 consumers and 150 top brand marketers.

Blogs build consumer trust, influence consumers, and are shared with nearly 1 out of every 3 consumers.

Blogs Build Consumer Trust

According to the DIR, Blogs are the 5th most trusted Online Service with 29% of consumers saying they trust the content on blogs.  You will notice that I also highlighted that Youtube is also a trusted source of content for 29% of consumers.
If that number does not seem to impressive please read on…

Here you can see that Blogs are the 3rd most likely to Influence a purchase of the online services.  Again I also highlighted Youtube at 27% of consumers saying that Youtube will influence a purchase.
Starting to see a pattern, please read on…

 In this chart you can see that Blogs are also the 3rd most shared medium by 26% of consumers.  Again, Youtube is 2nd with 40% of consumers sharing what they see on Youtube.

• 29% of consumers said that blogs build trust with consumers.
• 31.1% of consumers said that blogs influence consumers.
• 26% of consumers said that they share content from blogs.

Ok now let’s do some math:
If we average the percentages of all 3 of the categories above what do we get?

1. Facebook – 39.3%
2. Retail Sites – 33.3%
3. Youtube – 32%
4. Blog – 28.7%
5. News Sites – 28%
6. Google + – 23.6%
7. Groups/Forums – 22.6%
8. Brand Sites – 19.6%
9. Online Magazines – 16.6%
10. Twitter – 13.6%
11. Linkedin – 12.3%
12. Pinterest – 10%
13. Instagram – 3.6%

I think most businesses have a Brand Site, most of my readers will not have a Retail Site.
According to the DIR, 91% of businesses are on Facebook.
The question then is do you Blog and are you on Youtube?

Conclusion

Blogs rate overall favorably to consumers for building trust, sharing, and creating influence for online services.  But you noticed that I also highlighted Youtube.  The reason for this is because I think that it shows that the combination of the 2 can be a killer formula for building business.  Video Blogging or VLOGGING.
I posted an article recently that showed all the big corporations that are using WordPress as blogging platforms.  A reader commented that Ford.com was not built on WordPress.org.  He was correct.  The big corporations are adding WordPress blogs to their marketing arsenal, on top of their brand sites.  Perhaps they are doing this because they know that Blogs Build Consumer Trust!

http://www.jasonfox.me/blogs-build-consumer-trust/

Social Media Money Machine

Opt-In for Email Marketing Success

                                                                                                    

Running a successful email marketing campaign isn't as simple as erratically sending out emails. An ideal approach is to request that potential customers visiting your blog or website subscribe to receive company emails. This approach is known as Opt-In or permission marketing, and has a number of distinct advantages such as:

• Low-Cost Promotion
• Simple & Easy Process
• Quantifiable Results
• Direct Marketing
• Rapid Communication

Opt-In marketing is a great advantage because only interested customers fill out an email form on your website, meaning your message goes out to individuals who truly qualify as potential customers for the company. Their email subscription through the Opt-In Form is an expression of their interest in what you have to offer-- unless the Opt-In Form is clearly created with the intention of grabbing their attention.

Website visitors do not always have an inherent interest in signing up for the company’s email promotions. More often than not, they begin with building interest in the company’s products, services, or website content, and signing up for Opt-In is an extension of that interest. Therefore, an Opt-In Form should be noticeable and innovative. When constructing your Opt-In form, try to:

• Use catchy headlines
• Format content to grab attention through subtitles and bullets
• Add sharing options for social media networks
• Follow attractive font and color themes
• Insert relevant images
• Make Enticing Sidebars

http://www.volacci.com/marketing-news/opt-email-marketing-success