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Efluencers Kick-Start c2c Brand Marketing
Chitika | Pulse
a weekly data analysis medium for the online marketing industry
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Summary.
e2c marketing is the essential middle-player which effectively and influentially, promotes brands from b to a c2c marketing level.
A recent comScore report indicates that heavy users of blogs, defined in the study as “heavy bloggers”, are significantly more likely to consume content across a range of categories on the web, particularly in the areas of politics, news, and entertainment. The report defines heavy bloggers as 20 percent of blog visitors; more importantly, this group accounts for 84 percent of the overall time spent on blog sites.
*data cited; comScore, 2008.
Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore, describes the heavy blogger demographic, as a “highly informed, tech savvy, and entertainment-oriented consumer segment [which] is consistent with the profile of an ‘influencer,’ which is of course a particularly attractive audience to reach.”
I agree with Flanagan in his theory that heavy bloggers, which he dubs, ‘influencers’, are key players in the blogosphere. Furthermore, from an advertiser’s standpoint, heavy bloggers are essential when it comes to effective brand marketing in the blogosphere.
In a MediaPost article last December (2007) I chronicled this heavy blogger demographic, in introducing the concept of an efluencer. Efluencers are often bloggers who have become experts through research and knowledge in a specific area of interest, such as MP3 players or GPS systems.
comScore’s report indicates that heavy bloggers are a prime target for internet marketers. I contend that these heavy bloggers are not only attractive to marketers because of their position as consumers, but moreover, their role as conversation leaders, or efluencers.
efluencers have become an influential and guiding player in the traditional concept of c2c (consumer-to-consumer) marketing in the blogosphere. Advertisers realize that the blogosphere is a powerful and dynamic marketplace, and are putting ad dollars towards reaching this demographic of consumers. e2c (e-fluencer-to-consumer) marketing, a facet of c2c marketing, is therefore moving to the forefront of many web 2.0 online advertising strategies, namely, brand marking.
The power of branding in the blogosphere is due to the viral effect of c2c (ie; buzz) marketing, cultivated through interactive, real-time media.
In a 2007 case study, Never Ending Friending: A Journey into Social Networking, Isobar & CaratUSA describe a two-step “momentum effect”, in which a branding message is infused in to the blogosphere (this study focused on the social media network MySpace) through a b path, to initiate c2c marketing. The study found that c2c marketing on MySpace is highly, or virally, effective in spreading brand exposure across the network.
Again, I agree that c2c marketing is effective in facilitating viral branding, and in many cases, with an exponential reach. However, I argue that Isobar & CaratUSA’s two-step “momentum effect” theory fails to recognize a crucial player in this brand marketing sequence. The right way to amplify brands into the blogosphere is by reaching out to the efluencers, the leaders of conversation. This strategy calls for a three-step sequence; e2c marketing is the essential middle-player which effectively and influentially, promotes brands from b to a c2c marketing level.
ComScore’s Flanagan describes that “as blogs continue to grow in both quality and quantity and audience size, both traditional and non-traditional advertisers are increasingly putting their online dollars towards reaching this group of [heavy bloggers].” comScore’s recent report clearly defines heavy bloggers as being domineering, influential blog users. Internet marketers, must also recognize that the power of this demographic goes beyond engaging in c2c conversations in the blogosphere, as efluencers, heavy bloggers are in fact essential in kick-starting c2c marketing.
About Chitika | Pulse
Chitika | Pulse is a weekly publication that highlights emerging trends in online advertising and merchandising in the blogosphere.
By offering a succinct analysis of online consumer behavior in Chitika’s network, Chitika | Pulse exclusively correlates trends to address a wide range of topics related to online branding, e-commerce, retail in the long tail, and direct merchandising within the blogosphere and social networks.
By Tessa Rudd, Strategic Partnerships Coordinator - Advertising Media Division
