The Marketing Bureau

Marketing Insights
By Elisa Camahort Page
First Published on www.imediaconnection.com

In April 2011, BlogHer released its fourth annual in-depth look at women in social media, the Social Media Matters Study, conducted by The Nielsen Co. and co-sponsored by Ketchum. Partnering with Nielsen, we compared a sample of women from the general population to a sample from the BlogHer community.

Every week, 78 percent of online women use some form of social media, and 40 percent read blogs that frequently. After a four-year analysis of how women use social media, and the impact of that use on marketers, here are some additional findings we can share. Consider how they might affect the way you think about your social media marketing strategy.   

Everyone Is An "Early Adopter"

While certain media, including blogs and Facebook, continue to grow at a steady pace, our study of the general population of online adults reveals volatile and rapid growth and decline among newer applications, tools, and services. The prior gap between the average woman online and the early adopter BlogHer community member has been narrowed in many cases, presumably due to mobile penetration. Why? The introduction of increasingly sophisticated (but user-friendly) mobile devices has lowered barriers and enabled everyone to be an early adopter.

How to use this news: How well does your site, offer, or video play with different mobile platforms? Is a robust mobile site a better solution for your audience than specific mobile apps per operating system? Are you keeping all of this in mind with every single roll-out and launch? Are you building resources to develop, test, and maintain the mobile version of every single thing you do online? Women are more likely than ever to give something new a try with a click or swipe on their mobile device. Are you there when they're looking for something new? On the other hand, women are also getting more likely to try and subsequently abandon new media. How are you keeping their attention once they've downloaded? Frequent updates and agile development are key.

Blogs are No. 1

It goes without saying that the women in the BlogHer community favor blogs for almost every purpose and participate in the blogosphere with an incredible passion. Our study found that blogs are also continuing to attract new readers among the general population of women online. We turn to blogs for every purpose. We don't just read blogs -- we love, trust, and even need blogs. They represent an empowering platform for women to raise their voices, and at the same time, foster the kind of community and connections that sustain and support readers.

How to use this news: Remember that when it comes to product recommendations and information, consumers now trust the voice of any "person like me" over just about any "corporate" voice. Women bloggers talk about brands and products regularly, authentically, and enthusiastically. Brands should find the bridge that will help them join in -- and cross it.

Facebook Is For Fun And Family Connections

Facebook is very highly adopted in the online population, approaching the level of adoption that television enjoys. It's also clear that there are two driving forces that cause active social media participants to turn to Facebook: to keep in touch with friends and family (78 percent) and to relax and have fun (55 percent). Why? Facebook has made it very easy to quickly check in, catch up, and play a game or two. It's all about digestible, casual, friendly interplay.

How to use this news: Such users do not go to Facebook expecting to research potential product purchases. Instead, those same users turn to blogs to spot trends (47 percent), research products (35 percent), and drive purchasing decisions (25 percent). These users are open to making human connections and having fun. So, by all means, brands should be on Facebook, connecting to their customers and perhaps giving their customers rewards and incentives in game-like scenarios. But what happens on Facebook tends to stay on Facebook -- from a search perspective. And most women still turn to search -- and the ensuing links to blog posts, websites, and articles -- when they want to research and ultimately make purchases. Don't hide your light under the Facebook bushel; you still need a diversified marketing approach, even among the various social media properties.

Positive Impact

We asked social media users to share how they felt about social media's role in their lives, and we gathered hundreds of stories. It turns out that users don't buy into the idea that the internet is degrading our human relationships -- it's actually helping us build more of them! Why? It all comes down to connection. Whether we're connecting to people, to information, to entertainment, or to opportunity, social media delivers.

How you can use this news: Your customers are out there. How about joining them where they are instead of trying to lure them to where you want them to be? For example, women who read blogs report being more enticed by ads and programs featuring familiar bloggers (20 percent) than celebrities (13 percent). Skipping the investment in a celebrity ad to engage in social media manifests support and respect for the new media destinations that women are swearing by.

The bottom line is that those of us who use social media actively are a pretty satisfied bunch. With or without brands, we manage to enjoy ourselves and our connections online. So the questions marketers need to ask when trying to connect to their customers online are pretty simple: How am I adding value? What's in it for my customer? How can I join the conversation without interrupting it?

Elisa Camahort Page is the co-founder and COO of BlogHer.