A study by Sharpe Partners revealed that 89% of adult Internet users in America share content with others via email. The recently released study on viral marketing also found that 63% of the respondents share content at least once a week and as many as 75% of the respondents forward this content to up to six other recipients.
Frequency US Internet Users Share Content | (% of respondents) |
Daily or most days | 25% |
Several times a week | 23 |
Once a week | 15 |
Several times a month | 11 |
Several times a year | 15 |
Never | 11 |
Source: Sharpe Partners, Inc, January 2006 |
Kathy Sharpe, CEO of Sharpe Partners, said("We knew a lot of people were sharing content, but even we didn't expect it to be so pervasive... the real challenge for interactive marketing firms...is developing content that these people will want to consistently share with a wide, yet focused circle of acquaintances."
In addition to highlighting the rampant frequency of content sharing, the study generated some interesting results regarding the type of content that is sent. The most popular content is humorous material, with 88 % forwarding jokes or cartoons.
Content Shared by US Internet Users (%of respondents) | |
Content | % Sharing |
Humorous/jokes/cartoons | 88% |
News item/article | 56 |
Health care/medical | 32 |
Religious/spiritual | 30 |
Games | 25 |
Sports/hobbies | 24 |
Business/personal finance | 24 |
Sexually provocative content | 12 |
Source: Sharpe Partners, Inc, January 2006 |
For companies looking to employ a viral marketing program, the study found that adding overt brand messages only slightly reduces the likelihood that the content will be shared.
Impact of Brand Sponsorship on Sharing | (% of respondents) |
Positive | 19% |
None | 74 |
Negative | 7 |
Source: Sharpe Partners, Inc, January 2006 |
The study identified several demographics of sharers useful to marketers:
Most likely sharer is a woman in her late 30's/early 40's who resides in the South or Midwest.
Finally, 41% of the respondents share with 1-3 people, 34% with 4-6, 13% with 7-9, 9% with 10-20, and 3% share with more than 20 people.
You can read the complete release here.