This morning I was reading What Comes After Facebook (for Brands) when toward the middle of the article I noticed this chart:
The chart is from the 2011 Social Commerce Study from Shop.org.
PS – Check out John’s entire article for some great insight into Facebook and how brands can use it to their advantage. It’s a good point of view on the growing beast that is Facebook.
John’s article focuses on Facebook, but my attention quickly turned to blogging…shocker I know.
Shoppers Interacting with Retailer Blogs
Now the first question on the survey chart is a little confusing. I’m not sure if people purchased a product via a Facebook via a blog, but it seems like whatever the result there were a few people making purchases directly through a blog.
This isn’t a huge shock. For years companies have been honing the copy on their site as a way to increase sales whether directly through consumers or by increasing sales leads with businesses. Blogging seems to be one of the main ways businesses are now taking their content strategies to a new level of customer acquisition and loyalty.
Here are the stats:
- 43% of companies will have a blog by next year
- Businesses that blog get 55% more traffic
- 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog
In regard to the chart above it seems shoppers are on board with blogging as well. It seems customers are comfortable with blogs. Their comfort is growing with Facebook and Twitter, but those channels aren’t owned by the brand. There appears to be a level of trust from shoppers when they know they are on the company site or blog.
Owning the channel is also to a company’s advantage. When content is created and shared via your own blog or website you can reap the rewards of search engine traffic. By owning the property you also have a little more control vs. giving control to Facebook or Twitter. It’s not that those channels aren’t unpredictable, but any businessman will know having control can be a good thing in some instances.