Buyers Motivated by Social Media Influencers - Business Pundit

Marketers have long known that buyers are influenced by their friends and family members. Word of mouth advertising was often considered the best form of advertising long before the advent of the internet. Even in the digital age when internet users are bombarded by online advertisements, word of mouth is still a key player. This type of advertising is accomplished online through social influencers. Just how influential is a person?s social circle to their buying decisions?

Recent reports has shown that buyers still listen to those that influence them, namely their friends, but also popular influencers such as celebrities and VIPs in their online social circles. Bloggers, in particular, influence 31 percent of internet purchases. This revelation has made the marketing world take notice. The Technorati Digital Report indicates that brand managers plan to increase their digital marketing budgets. Ten percent of those budgets are planned for social media and influencer outreach.

Who are your audience?s influencers? Word of Mouth Marketing characterizes a social media influencer as someone who has above-average potential to influence or persuade. This person usually has a sizeable social network with whom he communicates frequently. Some of the biggest influencers in social media as reported by Social Technology Review are Brian Solis, Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki and Liz Strauss, among others in their top 100 influencers. To find out who the biggest influencers are among your followers, try services like Sprout Social or Fruji.

Purchasing decisions of 74 percent of consumers are influenced by their social network. Forbes reports that 81 percent of respondents were influenced by their friends? posts. Business News Daily reports that two-thirds of online shoppers read product-related comments from their friends on Facebook. The good news for marketers is that three-quarters of those who read the product-related comments click through to the site. Even better, half of those who click through make a purchase.

As you can see, though the medium has changed, word of mouth is still important. It is even more important with big influencers who have the potential to reach thousands ? even millions ? of potential customers.

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Source: http://www.businesspundit.com/buyers-motivated-by-social-media-influencers/

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