Study: Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites

217318 Resource 76407 24 1 1225329228916 1226969665158 Controlled Social Sites Take Back Seat to Blogs as Business Drivers

A new study finds that blogs can have more impact on purchase decisions than social networks. Blogs provide a trusted resource that may lead to deeper understanding and conversation that influences purchase decisions.

I noticed this <a title="Study: Blogs Influence Purchasing More Than Social Sites" href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3631303" target="_blank">recent article</a> from <a title="ClickZ" href="http://www.clickz.com/" target="_blank">ClickZ</a> about social sites versus blogsites as bona-fide business drivers. It appears that while social sites are great for making connections that may lead to new business development projects, purchase decisions are far more influenced by blogs and content based on personal and business expertise.<blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px; ">“The survey also finds consumers are influenced by blogs at the moment of purchase decision. The [blog] channel plays a greater role than social networks, likely because bloggers establish themselves as an authority on a topic, particularly in niche areas, and create a relationship with the consumer.” -- <a title="ClickZ: Enid Burns" href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3622876" target="_blank">Enid Burns</a>, The ClickZ Network</blockquote>This is clear evidence that the benefits of business blogging are measurable compared to other social conversation sites. And the readership of blogs is rising at a rapid rate.<blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px; ">"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="word-spacing: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/16px Verdana; text-transform: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal; letter-spacing: normal; border-collapse: separate; orphans: 2; widows: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Readership of blogs is on the rise. JupiterResearch noted a 300 percent growth in monthly blog readership in the past four years." -- -- <a title="ClickZ: Enid Burns" href="http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3622876" target="_blank">Enid Burns</a>, The ClickZ Network</blockquote>The take-away is simple; continue to expand your social media strategy, but focus on rich content that help your prospects and customers understand your businesses' expertise. 9 application/xml false blog readership growth blogs versus social sites business drivers BuzzLogic ClickZ Study: Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites Blogs can have more impact on purchase decisions than social networks, a new study finds. Blogs create a conversation and trusted resource that influences purchase decision. http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3631303 Study: Blogging's Dead? Someone Forgot to Tell Readers. Last week, a Wired story claiming blogs are dead hit the web. According to the author, Valleywag reporter Paul Boutin, blogging is passé, made up of nothing more than mainstream media and marketing campaigns. http://www.buzzlogic.com/blog/2008/10/study_bloggings_dead_someone_f.html ... continue to expand your social media strategy, but focus on rich content that help your prospects and customers understand your businesses' expertise. <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/w/19123.js"></script><noscript> <a href ="http://www.polldaddy.com" >polls</a> - <a href ="http://www.polldaddy.com/w.aspx?p=19123" >Take Our Poll</a> </noscript> Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.19 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.3.154.9 Safari/525.19 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 $Admin 76.120.52.24 false true false false true 174050 false false true false false false true 217348 Resource 174050 173239 1 1225378576058 1225379447919 Controlled Reliable...

Blogs are really more reliable than social networks. 10 application/xml false Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.2.149.30 Safari/525.13 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 $Admin 76.120.52.24 false true false false true 76407 blog blogsite/Blogsite/web