Study: Targeting Influentials Online

Who are The Influentials? Simply put, they are the 10% of the American population who tell the other 90% what to do, what to buy, where to eat, who to vote for and have the answer to every question or know someone who does. Why are they important? They're a dream demographic that should be on the target list of every online marketing, according to a new research study conducted by Washingtonpost.com and RoperASW.

The survey was administered to almost 9,000 random visitors to the washingtonpost.com site, and the findings show that while 10% of the American population qualifies for Influential status, 15% of the online population falls into that demographic. Also, 77% of Influentials have Internet access, compared to 50% of the general population.

According to Jon Berry, VP of RoperASW and senior research director of Roper Reports, Influentials absolutely have to be considered by marketers in their media planning. "Influentials are very active in a lot of areas, know lots of people, interested in a lot of things," he says, and "seeing that there are places that they gravitate to online is really important."

Some highlights from the study show that online Influentials spend more time using the Internet than any other media during the week. More importantly, the Internet (56%) along with Newspapers (56%) are the media online Influentials would "definitely recommend" that advertisers use to reach them. These top the list of all the media sources queried in the study.

Berry also said that "a fairly large percentage of Influentials (54%) find online advertising to be 'useful' and 'informative.'"

The Internet is also the top media source online Influentials use to research places to visit (86%) or what to buy (82%), and is second (78%) only to printed newspapers (83%) for political news and information.

Berry said that while interest in political issues is slightly higher in the nation's capital than in the country in general, the study results are "generally reflective of the population."

On a side note, Berry said that the study is "a real affirmation for Washingtonpost.com. They have almost 9000 people in the study, and 1 in 3 qualifies as an influential. Washingtonpost.com is the leading edge of the leading edge." According to the study, 34% of the Washingtonpost.com audience are Influentials.

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