Despite the hype about blogs, podcasting, RSS and other digital tools, most people still get their news and other kinds of content via TV, print and the Web, writes Advertising Age.
MicroPersuasion summarizes it nicely:
* 7% of American adults write blogs and 22% read them (Jupiter)
* About 8% listen to podcasts and 5% use RSS feeds (Jupiter)
* 88% of the at-work audience doesn't know what RSS is (WorkPlace Print Media)
* 92% of brand conversations were taking place offline (Keller Fay)
So does that mean that pods and blogs shouldn't matter to marketers? Not exactly.
Ad Age points out that the nascent technologies appear to be a key to reaching influencers. Ad Age writes, "In Keller Fay's studies, for example, while 92% of brand conversations took place offline, nearly half involved some reference to media or marketing that people had seen or heard and were talking about. And the internet nearly tied TV as a reference source."
There's also what Ad Age calls the "be-there-first incentive -- the idea that marketers who get in early on digital trends find themselves poised to best exploit the technologies when they do explode -- two, three, four years down the road."
Micropersuasion's well-known blogger Steve Rubel isn't sweating the stats, either.
"The reason is that the small number of people who are using these technologies to build the Long Tail of content are the ones who are influencing what's written in the head of the curve (e.g. the mainstream press). This is why I advocate becoming an active participant in social media either through PR or advertising. You're going to vastly enhance your chances in getting covered in the mainstream media. And this starts the cycle all over again."
Check out more on this discussion here, and please offer your take!
Until next week,
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
Chief Content Officer
MarketingProfs
P.S.: Don't miss Thursday's virtual seminar: Email Marketing Success: 10 Campaigns Examined for Better and for Worse, led by the always articulate Stephan Spencer. Stephan gets his hands dirty with reviews of actual email campaigns submitted by MarketingProfs members. If you've ever wondered what you were doing wrong -- or what you could be doing better -- with your email marketing, then this is the seminar for you. Register now.
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