Communities of people with a passion for specific topics can directly impact purchase behavior of others, according to a study. These are not social sites, but rather the next-generation of forums filled with groups of people who have a passion for a specific topic. The findings, from digital media company Huddler, which powers the forums, identified groups of people as "enthusiast communities," rather than members of social sites like Google+ or Facebook. The content they generate and share with others has, on average, 10 times the reach of Facebook posts. For each person who creates content and shares it across an enthusiast community, about 266 people interact with the content. In comparison, the average news feed story from a Facebook user reaches 12% of friends. Given the average Facebook user has 229 friends, about 27 people see the post, estimates from Pew Internet & American Life Project research. Huddler analyzed the purchase power and influence of "enthusiast communities" through product reviews and images, collaborative wiki articles, and sharable knowledge about specific subjects. The survey of 25,000 enthusiast community members reveals more than 53% of those participating -- in any of the 31 communities Huddler powers -- makes purchase decisions based on research shared across these communities. The forums include AVSForum.com, Mothering.com, StyleForum.net and MakeupTalk.com. Participants typically are affluent and willing to pay more for quality. Some 34% admit to an annual household income of more than $100,000, and nearly half admit to an annual household income of more than $75,000. About 60% said they would pay more for a better-quality product. Consumers typically find these sites when they are actively searching for information and researching products. More than 53% of respondents said they had made purchases in the past 12 months as a direct result of doing research on an enthusiast community. It turns out, enthusiasts not only appeal to other community members, but also to casual Internet searchers whome they influence mainly because of their willingness to share their expertise. For example, the AVSForum.com community dedicates content to home theater and cinema buffs. It supports more than 4 million unique visitors monthly, including one million members who have generated 800,000 conversations, and 17 million pieces of content.
Communities of people with a passion for specific topics can directly impact purchase behavior of others, according to a study. These are not social sites, but rather the next-generation of forums filled with groups of people who have a passion for a specific topic. The findings, from digital media company Huddler, which powers the forums, identified groups of people as "enthusiast communities," rather than members of social sites like Google+ or Facebook. The content they generate and share with others has, on average, 10 times the reach of Facebook posts. For each person who creates content and shares it across an enthusiast community, about 266 people interact with the content. In comparison, the average news feed story from a Facebook user reaches 12% of friends. Given the average Facebook user has 229 friends, about 27 people see the post, estimates from Pew Internet & American Life Project research. Huddler analyzed the purchase power and influence of "enthusiast communities" through product reviews and images, collaborative wiki articles, and sharable knowledge about specific subjects. The survey of 25,000 enthusiast community members reveals more than 53% of those participating -- in any of the 31 communities Huddler powers -- makes purchase decisions based on research shared across these communities. The forums include AVSForum.com, Mothering.com, StyleForum.net and MakeupTalk.com. Participants typically are affluent and willing to pay more for quality. Some 34% admit to an annual household income of more than $100,000, and nearly half admit to an annual household income of more than $75,000. About 60% said they would pay more for a better-quality product. Consumers typically find these sites when they are actively searching for information and researching products. More than 53% of respondents said they had made purchases in the past 12 months as a direct result of doing research on an enthusiast community. It turns out, enthusiasts not only appeal to other community members, but also to casual Internet searchers whome they influence mainly because of their willingness to share their expertise. For example, the AVSForum.com community dedicates content to home theater and cinema buffs. It supports more than 4 million unique visitors monthly, including one million members who have generated 800,000 conversations, and 17 million pieces of content.
More evidence of the emerging growth in the Hispanic digital video market came from Univision. The network officially launched UVideos yesterday with Starcom advertisers Allstate, Microsoft and Wendy's on board via a deal Starcom struck during the upfront. The service gives the network a berth in the TV Everywhere world in an interesting play that brings most of its prime-time shows to both the Web and to Android and iOs apps for free the day after they air, with programming subtitled in English. An online video strategy is par for the course for a TV network, so in some ways the multiscreen strategy from Univision is an “it’s about time” service. But the “any device” aspect is innovative, as is the social TV component. Also, Hispanic consumers overindex in digital video consumption, suggesting the service could be embraced quickly. UVideos lets users view a social stream synched to their time zone. That means viewers can see social comments timed as they were posted during the original broadcast. That feature is powered by social TV technology firm Arktan. Also, Univision is relying on search and recommendation services from Digitalsmiths. Video discovery is an increasingly important component of any video service. Univision said it commissioned research with Nielsen indicating that more than 60 percent of Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanic consumers surveyed said they wanted more Spanish-language digital video content . Also, the Interactive Advertising Bureau recently said in its “Digital Hispanic Consumer ” report that 47% of Hispanics watch mobile videos, compared to 35% of the general population 18 and older who watch mobile videos, with 64% of Hispanics watching online video , compared to 56% of the general population who watch online video. In addition, comScore reported this month that online video usage in Latin America is growing quickly. Earlier this month, social video platform Jun Group introduced a targeting technology that lets marketers target Spanish-language speakers for online and mobile videos.
The unfortunate reality is that we need to be more prepared now than we were 10 years ago -- no matter what part of the country we live in -- in the wake of more flooding, ice storms, earthquakes, blizzards, and tornadoes. Whether a national brand or local business, you have to be prepared for how your business, your employees and your customers will be affected by Mother Nature. As New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “We have a 100-year flood every two years now.” It was a quip with a thread of levity to ease a strained time, but it was also layered with truth. He went on to say: “That is not a political statement; that is a factual statement…We have a new reality when it comes to these weather patterns: We have an old infrastructure, we have old systems. That is not a good combination and that is one of the lessons I will take from this, personally.” As social media professionals, we are dealing with some of the latest technologies. However, that doesn’t mean our systems and processes are adapted to all modern realities. The following are four takeaways we’ve had the luxury to reflect on while observing with deep empathy from the West Coast. 1. Pretend you have 100 employees. There have been some awfully bad responses to Sandy (see #3 below), but there have been some really human, meaningful ones as well. The folks at Fab continue to make their mark in digital advertising. Their response to Sandy was no different. Fab has 8 million users after being in business for not even two years. But, for Sandy, it embraced being small. Fab showed the humanness of how Sandy was affecting its business and its more than 600 employees. On his personal blog, Founder Jason Goldberg talked about Fab’s offices one block from the Hudson River, the two warehouses in New Jersey without power, and the 1/3 of Fab employees without power and getting help from the 2/3 with power. See the full post here. Sometimes, when we get big, we forget how disasters affect individuals. Imagine your company has only 100 employees and is headquartered in the epicenter. Then decide how to act. 2. Turn off auto-posting. As the number of platforms, demographics and geographies we post to become more complex, we increasingly turn to automation tools to help with posting in an efficient and timely manner. Some disasters cannot be predicted (earthquakes, terrorism), but many can (tornadoes, ice storms, blizzards). When a potential natural disaster is impending, that’s the time to forsake efficiency and embrace safety. Turn off all auto-posting to ensure nothing slips through the cracks that would be inappropriate. Best intentions can be sabotaged with a simple act of not paying attention to the details. 3. Don’t be afraid of silence. Sometimes the best action is no action -- a lesson you would think American Apparel would have learned by now. The ever-classy retailer decided to send out a 20% offer on Monday night of the storm with the copy line “in case you’re bored during the storm” — available for 36 hours with the code “SANDYSALE.” Gap got in on the action with a tweet saying “All impacted by #Sandy, stay safe! We’ll be doing lots of Gap.com shopping today. How about you?” So did Urban Outfitters on Instagram with a photo that read “This storm blows! But free shipping on al orders doesn’t. Today only! For one day only! Enter ALLSOGGY.” Don’t be afraid of keeping quiet. 4. Know where your servers sit. Sandy took down many websites — including Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gawker and Gizmodo — thanks to flooding in the basement of Internet service provider Datagram’s building. A good Web hosting strategy should include contingency plans should your primary servers go down. Most digital marketing is interwoven between social platforms and a company’s hosted website. Make sure there are no weak links in the chain. On A Personal Note I can’t say I’ve ever experienced something like Sandy. But, having lived through the ’89 earthquake and extreme flooding of 1995 and 1997 in California, there are definitely aspects that ring familiar. My heart goes out to everyone affected.