Do Blogs Influence Female (and Male) Consumers?
I'm very happy to report that blogging has now "officially" become mainstream among the general population (and women in particular), making blogs an attractive destination for marketers looking to reach and influence consumers through advertising and word-of-mouth.
According to a BlogHer/Compass Partners study (covered in Advertising Age, Internet Retailer and eMarketer), 35% of all women in the US participate in the "blogosphere" at least once a week. Of all women who spend any time online, 53% read blogs (80% on at least a weekly basis), 37% post comments to them and 28% write or update them (58% on at least a weekly basis).
In regards to advertising, women blog writers are much more likely (40%) to click on an ad vs. readers (29%), although their reasons are the same - to learn more about a product or service (80%), to get a free product or service (50%), to get a discount (50%) and because the brand advertised was one they knew and trusted (47%).
When it comes to purchasing decisions, 29% of female blog readers made a decision to buy (and nearly the same number decided not to buy) a product based on info they found in a blog, compared to 38% (and 32%) of blog writers. 12% of women who read blogs for new information consider bloggers highly reliable, 34% very reliable, 50% somewhat reliable, 3% not very reliable and 1% not at all reliable (similar numbers for those who read blogs for advice or recommendations.)
Related studies about US adult blog readers in general (covered in eMarketer) show that:
- More than 43% of blog readers have noticed advertisements on blogs - 47% of males, 40% of females and an even higher number of those who are 18 to 34 years old.
- The average age of adult bloggers is 37.6 and the younger the user, the more likely he or she was to read or keep a blog on a weekly basis.
- Bloggers searching for company/product information rely on other bloggers (63%), company Web sites (26%), corporate blogs (6%) and company press releases (5%).
Posted by Universal Ad
The same is true not only for blogs, but the Internet in general.
Overwhelmingly - women are the dominant force in terms of purchasing merchandise via the Internet.
Most of my new products, i.e., ebooks and other websites will cater to women only.
To all you ladies who are advid bloggers and web surfers - I thank you all! You truely are my best customers!
With Regards..
Robert C - The Wholesale Products Guy
Reply to this
This blog Is very informative , I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog . It helped me with ocean of knowledge so I really belive you will do much better in the future . Good job web master .
Reply to this