state of the blogosphere 2011
TRANSCRIPT
The State of the Blogosphere 2011
Presented To: BLOGWORLD AND NEW MEDIA EXPO Presented By: Shani Higgins 11.4.2011
WHERE IDEAS BEGIN, AND OPINIONS ARE FORMED
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Techno- from Gk. tekhno-, art, skill, craft, method, system, shape, make
-rati suffix. Indicates the intelligentsia or the elite of a particular group.
(bloggers & independent publishers AND their audiences)
Who is Technorati Media
+ Social media company reaching over 64 million US consumers every month
+ 26th largest ad network on Comscore, 5th largest Social Media Network and 4th largest blog property with over 12 billion ad impressions under management each month
+ Create, execute and optimize social rich media solutions for advertisers to be incorporated on and off our network of premium social media sites
+ Conduct blogger outreach programs on behalf of brands and bloggers by utlilizing our authority, categorical insights and blogger community to provide the best mutual fits
+ Offer insight, rank and relevance both topically and holistically for the blogosphere
+ We monitor and report on trends and changes happening within new media from the blogger, consumer and brand perspective
+ Evangelists about the importance of blogs as an incredible source of influence for readers, marketers and other bloggers
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2011: Our Report and what we’re looking at now
+ The relationship between brands & bloggers
+ The convergence of blogging and other social media
+ Consumers’ trust & attitudes toward blogs & other media
+ Brands’ opinions of & strategies for social media
+ Blogger survey
• 4,114 bloggers, conducted by Penn Schoen Berland
+ Consumer survey
• 1,231 consumers, conducted by Crowd Science
+ Brand survey
• For the first time, we surveyed 111 senior level agency and brand marketers and interviewed top social media strategists at Ebay, Intel, HP, Sony, and top agencies, with more interviews to come
+ Technorati index data
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WHO
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Who are the bloggers?
+ Hobbyists (61%) • Blog for fun
• Success metric: personal satisfaction
+ Professional Part-Timers (13%) • Independent
• Blog to supplement their income
+ Professional Full-Timers (5%) • Independent
• 37% say their primary income is from blogging
• For the rest, blogging is not their primary source of income… yet
+ Corporate (8%) • Blog for their company or organization
• Primary topics are business and technology
• Success metric: visibility and professional recognition
+ Entrepreneurs (13%) • Blog for their own company or organization
• Success metric: recognition and clients
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Who are the bloggers?
+ 59% male down from 64%
+ 65% 18-44
+ Educated and affluent
• 79% have college degrees
• 44% have graduate degrees
• 1/3 have a household income of 75K+
• 1/4 have a household income of 100K+
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51%
5%
25%
4%
1%
1% 2%
3%
8%
US
North America
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
Africa
East Asia
South Asia
Oceania
Global Breakout
Who are the bloggers?
+ 80% have been blogging 2+ years
+ 50% have been blogging 4+ years
+ Have 3 blogs on average
+ 44% blog 2-3 times per week or more, with pro segments blogging daily
+ 1/3 work in mainstream media as a writer, reporter, producer or on-air personality and blog separately
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Blogger Activity Posted In The Last…
WHY
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Why blog?
+ Why?
• To share my expertise and experiences with others 70%
• To become more involved with my passion areas 58%
• To meet and connect with like-minded people 50%
• To gain professional recognition 42%
+ Success metrics
• Personal satisfaction 61%
• Number of unique visitors 55%
• Number of comments 46%
• Backlinks from other bloggers 36%
• Social media shares 36%
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HOW
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Social media use
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Social media use
• Average # of followers
• 847 for all bloggers
• 1,674 for pros
• Primarily used to promote their blogs
• 71% of all bloggers
• 90% of pros
• 40% automatically syndicate, but also tweet other content
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Social media use
• Have a separate account for their blog
• 50% of all bloggers
• 75% for pros
• Primarily used to promote their blogs
• 50% of all bloggers
• 82% for pros
• Link their Twitter & Facebook accounts
• 37% of all bloggers
• 52% for pros
• 34% automatically syndicate, but also post other content
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Social media use
+ Google+
• Have a separate account for their blog
• 10% of all bloggers
• 27% for pros
• Primarily used to promote their blogs
• 27% of all bloggers
• 45% for pros
• Only 13% syndicate
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Other social media use
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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
902010Respondents
All
Hobbyist
ProfessionalPart Time
ProfessionalFull Time
Corporate
Entrepreneur
Driving traffic
Social media traffic drivers Overall traffic drivers
0 10 20 30 40
Other
Digg
Del.icio.us
Foursquare
Friendster
Myspace
Orkut
Picasa
Plaxo
Vimeo
Yelp
Flickr
Tumblr
Google+
Stumble Upon
YouTube
Corporate
Professional FullTime
Professional PartTime
Hobbyist
All
0 50 100
Other (Please specify)
Paying for advertising
Digg
Attending conferences
Blogging platform services
YouTube
StumbleUpon
Produce or syndicate content
Google+
Listings on blog directories
Linking to other blogs
SEO
Claiming blog on Technorati
Listing blog on Google
Comment for reciprocity
Tag your blog posts
Entrepreneur
Corporate
Professional FullTime
Professional PartTime
Hobbyist
All
Blogging tools
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0102030405060708090
100
Photos Video Audio(music)
Audio(spoken)
Other None of the
above – just text
All
Hobbyist
Professional Part Time
Professional Full Time
Corporate
Entrepreneur0 20 40 60 80 100
Other
None of the above
Ability for multiple authors tocontribute
Facebook commenting system
Commenting system beyond what isoffered by my blogging platform (e.g.,…
Photo hosting site (e.g. Flickr,Smugmug)
TrackBack implementation
Widgets from other sites
Video hosting site (e.g. YouTube, Flickr,Metacafe, Jumpcut)
Site search
Built-in syndication (e.g. RSS feeds)
Social sharing widgets (i.e. for Twitter,Facebook, Reddit, etc)
Media Formats Top Tools
WHAT DO CONSUMERS SAY?
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What do consumers say about blogs?
+ Outpace other media for inspiration, product information, and opinion
+ Generate more trust, recommendations and purchases.
20 0 20 40 60 80 100
Other (Please specify)
To hear an opinion
For product recommendations
For product reviews
For entertainment
For news or information
For ideas and inspiration
News websites like CNN.com orNYTimes.com
Mainstream media websites orportals like Yahoo or AOL
Blogs
Why do you visit the following media?
What do consumers say about blogs?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Brand I follow on Twitter
Personal acquaintance on Twitter
Brand on Facebook
Friend on another social network
Someone I follow on Twitter
News aggregators like Drudge…
Brand's website
Web portals like Yahoo or AOL
News shows on TV or the radio
News websites like CNN.com or…
Blogs
Newspapers
Magazines
Friend on Facebook
Conversations w/ friends & family
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80
Trust Recommend Purchase
BRANDS AND THE BLOGOSPHERE
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Bloggers’ #1 influence is other bloggers
+ 68% of bloggers are influenced by other bloggers - a huge jump from 30% in 2010 23
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Other
Web portals like Yahoo! or AOL
Brand representatives
Podcasts I listen to
News aggregators like Drudge Report or Huffington Post
Radio programs I listen to
Brand social media or web sites
Television shows I watch
News websites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com
Conversations with family
Print media
Social media accounts I follow
Conversations with friends
Blogs
Influences
Bloggers’ #1 influence is other bloggers
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0 5 10 15 20 25
Other
Web portals like Yahoo! or AOL
Podcasts I listen to
Radio programs I listen to
Brand representatives
News aggregators like Drudge Report or Huffington Post
Television shows I watch
Conversations with family
Brand social media or web sites
News websites like CNN.com or NYTimes.com
Print media
Social media accounts I follow
Conversations with friends
Blogs
Primary influence
Bloggers and brands
+ 2/3 blog about brands
+ 1/3 post product or brand reviews
+ 1/3 blog about everyday experiences in stores or with customer care
+ 1/10 blog about company information or gossip
+ 1/3 of pros publish product reviews once a week or more
• 9% of hobbyists
• 20% of part time professionals
• 33% of full time professionals
+ 65% follow brands on social media
• 2/3 of hobbyists and 1/2 of pros blog about the brands they follow
+ Frequently approached by brands
• 1/3 of hobbyists are approached an average of twice a week
• 2/3 of pros are approached an average of 8 times a week
• Some are contacted 250 and even 1,000 times a week 25
Brand behavior is important
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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Very important Somewhat important Somewhat unimportant Not important
All Professional Part Time Professional Full Time Corporate Entrepreneur
How important is it that advertising on your site align with your values?
Brand behavior is important
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Are you influenced by a brand or company’s behavior?
0 10 20 30 40 50
Other
I write about the fact that I boycottproducts or companies, and…
I write about the fact that I boycottproducts or companies and why
I boycott products
I only write about companies orproducts from companies whose…
I am not influenced by a brand or company’s overall behavior
Entrepreneur
Corporate
Professional Full Time
Professional Part Time
Hobbyist
All
Mixed reviews on brand interactions
+ Professionalism
• 60% of bloggers say they are treated less professionally by brand representatives than traditional media is treated
• Down from 64% in 2010
+ Interactions
• 15% of bloggers characterize their interactions with brands as very favorable
• 34% of bloggers characterize their interactions with brands as favorable
• 51% as not very, not at all, or don’t know how they’d categorize their interactions
+ Access
• 51% want to work with brands directly, 49% through an intermediary or not at all
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Mixed reviews on brand interactions
Less than 25% say brands provide value, or are knowledgeable about their blogs
29 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
They provide information that hasvaluable news content for my readers
What they are asking wouldcompromise my credibility or content
standards
They are genuinely interested inbuilding a relationship
They are knowledgeable about my blog,my content, and my blogging style
Entrepreneur
Corporate
Professional Full Time
Professional Part Time
Hobbyist
All
QUESTION: How would you describe the communications you receive from brands?
Brand programs
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0 20 40 60 80
Product reviews
Traditional public relationsannouncement coverage
Sponsored posts
Focus groups
Spokesblogger or brandambassador programs
None of the above
0 20 40 60
Product reviews
Advice or consultative content
Products or other items I cangive away to my audience
Product or company news
Industry news
Sponsored content
Entrepreneur
Corporate
ProfessionalFull TimeProfessionalPart TimeHobbyist
What types of brand programs have you participated in?
What brand programs did your audience like best?
+ 86% of bloggers disclosed that a post was sponsored or paid
+ 58% disclosed they had received a product they reviewed
WHAT DO THE BRANDS SAY?
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0 10 20 30
Other
Paid monitoring tool
Free monitoring tool
Number of blog readers or RSS…
Number of blog commenters
Conversions
Articles and mentions
Sharing: linking, retweeting,…
Number of followers, friends, or likes
What do the brands say?
Tools used on behalf of company or client
• Facebook 33%
• Twitter 30%
• Blogging 19%
• Blogger outreach 12%
• Majority using social media for only 1-2 years
• 34% have their own personal blogs
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How results are measured
What do the brands say?
+ Main themes of advice for other brands:
• Encourage and enable sharing across platforms
• Bloggers are trusted peers. Work with them to create or curate unfiltered, credible content and reviews, in order to create a conversation around your brand. Focus on building long term relationships with them
• Use blogger outreach organically and encourage these social influencers to be honest and open about their opinions
• Use social media not only to distribute content but to build active communities and interact and respond to your audiences
• Leverage paid media on social channels
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What do the brands say?
+ The way brands and agencies use social today
• “We see blogger outreach as the opportunity to leverage influencers and connect with a new audience. We recognize that there are conversations happening in the blogosphere that are applicable to the brands we represent and we believe its valuable for our brands to join the discussion.”
• “Social media is the glue to the mass messages. We attempt to integrate all of our campaigns so the paid, owned and earned are all working together. We do this for all of our clients.”
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What do the brands say?
+ Biggest changes in 2011
• “I would have to say blogging and how it is being used has been the biggest development in social media. Individuals trust bloggers, especially those that are seen as influential. Blogging can either have a positive or negative effect on a campaign, brand or product. Individuals will make decisions based on comments made by their peers or by someone they feel confident in.”
• “A trend towards more integrated advertising content, including sponsored posts. The subject material needs to suit the blog and be something the author would write about anyway. When the subject matter sounds forced or impersonal, it can actually turn an audience away from that blog and/or product.”
• It’s about focusing “less on building these big brand temples and more about building small pieces of content that are customizable, portable and entertaining that can move through the social ecosystem really quickly.”
•
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What do the brands say?
+ Biggest changes for the future:
• Social media will act as a campaign leader, rather than a supporter. We will turn to social media first and support through other means.
• There will not be a single corporation left on the planet that can deny the fact that social media is here to stay. We will stop having to do missionary work to educate corporate leaders. They will realize that there really is no such thing as message control. But then again, control was always an illusion.
• As some audiences begin wandering from Facebook I anticipate that there will be greater fragmentation across which site specific audiences prefer to spend their time-Yet another hurdle for advertisers!
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OK, NOW SHOW ME THE MONEY
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Blog revenues
+ 4% of all bloggers and 37% of full time pros say blogging is their primary income
+ 14% receive a salary for blogging
• Average $24K
• Highest reported $140K
+ Revenue management
• Self serve (Adsense, Y!) 60%
• Direct (sell themselves) 30%
• Blog network 14%
• Dedicated sales team 5%
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Blog revenues
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+ Revenue streams
• Display ads 34%
• Affiliate ads 31%
• Search ads 27%
• Paid posts 14%
+ Paid Posts Stats
• Only 6% are paid to be spokesbloggers
• Majority receive less than $50 per post
• 6% of pros make $250+ per post
• 13% of full time pros receive between $8,000 and $10,000 for sponsored posts per year
+ What is the fee you’ve been paid for a single instance of the following: (median)
• Being a brand or product spokesman: $1,365
• Paid to give speeches on topics I blog about: $1,560
• Paid to attend events $1,018
• Paid for a broadcast media appearance $796
• Received an item of high value to review or endorse $409
• Print or other media contributor $935
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$0$500
$1,000$1,500$2,000$2,500$3,000$3,500$4,000
All advertisingon your blog
(search,display, paid
postings)
Being a brandor productspokesman
Affiliatemarketing links
on your site(e.g., Amazon,
Borders)
Subscriptiongated content
Paid to givespeeches ontopics I blog
about
Paid to attendevents
Paid for abroadcast
mediaappearance
Received anitem of high
value to reviewor endorse
Print or othermedia
contributor
Annual Revenue Sources
Blog revenues
Key Takeaways
+ Bloggers
• Educated and affluent, with a large overlap with mainstream media
• Only 1/4 are blogging weekly or more
• Most can’t quit their day job…..yet
• They are influenced the most by other bloggers
+ Bloggers and brands
• The majority of bloggers are blogging about brands
• But bloggers' reviews on brand interactions are decidedly mixed
+ Consumers and blogs
• Sweet spot is inspiration and product information
• Trust levels are higher than for other social media
+ Brands and Bloggers
• Are interacting at unprecedented levels
• Disclosure is still not complaint with FCC rules
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