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By Larry Kilbourne 

In many quarters social media is being hailed for its growing influence over consumer purchasing decisions.  This is viewed as a democratization of consumer marketing, helping to remove the stranglehold that sellers traditionally have had when it comes to advertising and marketing their products.  With the growth of social media, the story goes, the playing field will be leveled as consumers will increasingly come to rely on information obtained from other consumers online.

This storyline got a lot of media play late last year when a study was released by BuzzLogic entitled "Harnessing the Power of Blogs."  The survey, commissioned by BuzzLogic but conducted by JupiterResearch, headlined in media stories as "Blog Influence on Consumer Purchases Eclipses Social Networks."  Leaving aside the thorny issue of what differentiates blogs from social networks, the chief message of the study - and certainly the one chiefly emphasized in media reports - is that among readers of blogs fully 50% report that blogs influence their purchasing decisions.

The report also suggests that ads on blogs exert more positive influence on buying behavior than ads on social network sites.  The implication, according to BuzzLogic's CEO is that,

“Blogs are becoming trusted guides, steering users who are seeking very specific information to places of interest online. Being able to identify where this is taking place across the blogosphere gives us a window into user intent and a means to better target advertising to a qualified audience. This is great news for advertisers looking to maximize value in today’s environment.”

Against this backdrop it was somewhat surprising to come across an article in today's eMarketer entitled "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bloggers?"  In it, eMarketer refers to a recent survey (late 2008) conducted by Harris Interactive which indicates that bloggers and chat rooms are way down the totem pole in terms of influence on purchasing decisions.

In "Evolving the Prototypical Path to Purchase," (you can register to obtain a copy here) Harris Interactive finds that that on average, consumers utilize four shopping resources in the process of making a buying decision.  In response to the question "Which one of these resources do you usually go to first," respondents (across all age groups) indicated that shopping typically begins with search engines, followed by discussions with friends and family, visits to retail stores and visits to retailer websites:

Blogs and chat rooms here account for only 4% of consumer use.   Looking at the mid-way point in the purchasing path, the study found a somewhat reordered series of influences on shoppers (again, across all ages).  Asking respondents which of the following resources they use in evaluating products, yielded these results (note that because multiple responses are allowed the total exceeds 100%):

But observe that blogs and chat rooms again lay near the bottom among influencers. 

Even when looking only at those who purchase mainly online, the numbers change very little according to the study.

So, what are we to make of this in terms of the influence of social media such as blogging on consumer purchasing habits?

The Harris Interactive study indicates that its influence is still very nascent.  Although the purported finding of "Harnessing the Power of Blogs" is that they are more influential than social networks, the message most loudly trumpeted is that advertisers need to be looking to spend more ad dollars on blogs.  Well, perhaps.  But if in fact blogs and chat rooms remain near the bottom of the many resources consumers rely upon, advertisers would do well to consider the wisdom in making wholesale changes in where they target ad dollars. 

The Harris study clearly shows that consumers are increasingly turning to online resources in finding and evaluating products, even if retail stores still dominate (68%) as the place consumers purchase them.  As the trend progresses the role of social media may expand as well.  But for now, eMarketer's article seems aptly titled.

Copyright © 2009 by Larry Kilbourne, Ph.D. Dr. Kilbourne is an independent marketing consultant. He may be reached at lkphd@yahoo.com