Marketers that want to influence business executives should consider buying ads in emerging media, including online video, social networks and wikis. That's among the conclusions of a new study by
Universal McCann and KnowledgeStorm.
"As B2B marketers continue to increase online spending, they need to move beyond traditional banner advertisements and search marketing to
explore and experiment with emerging media such as online video, social networks and wikis," stated the study.
For the report, researchers surveyed more than 5,300 business and IT professionals
last month, asking them about online video, social networks and wikis. Nearly all respondents said they viewed online video, while sizable portions also said they use wikis and social networking
sites.
Specifically, 63% of respondents said they view online videos at least once a week, while an additional 27% do so once a month. Additionally, 82% of respondents said they share online
video at least monthly (44% do so once a month, 32% weekly, and 6% daily).
More than half of respondents--57%--said online video had an impact on work-related IT purchase decisions. Previous
studies by Universal McCann and KnowledgeStorm concluded that podcasts influenced 27% of business executives, while blogs persuaded 53%.
A majority of respondents also said they used wikis, such
as Wikipedia. Forty-seven percent said they were very comfortable with the wiki platform, while 39% said they were somewhat comfortable. Business executives appear to be less enthusiastic about social
networking sites, with just 24% describing themselves as very comfortable and 42% saying they were somewhat comfortable with such sites. Still, 69% said they visited social networking sites at least
monthly (28% once a month, 28% weekly, and 13% daily).