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Study finds B2B buyers use and trust emerging media

Ninety-six percent of B2B technology buyers believe that online video and wiki content "have value," and 57 percent felt that blogs were "equally or more credible" than traditional media according to a study done by KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann.

OMMA Magazine reports (free subscription required) that the study was performed in 2006 and developed from over 13,000 responses. Across the board, respondents indicated emerging media as influential in purchasing decisions, with 57 percent of respondents indicating they were influenced by online video, 53 percent by wikis, 52 percent by blogs, and 27 percent by podcasts.

The data is compelling, though I am suspicious of the claim that wikis influence B2B purchasing decisions, though this is in part due to the fact that I have never made a purchasing decision of any kind based on something I read on a wiki. The survey also said wikis had the second-highest "pass along" factor, with 70 percent of respondents saying they shared wiki content with others, second only to sharing of, you guessed it, online video, with 76 percent indicating that they do so.

The data is interesting, but equally interesting to me, and a bit worrisome, too, is the headline, Marketers Look to Emerging Media. I’m bothered by it because I do not see emerging media as marketing tools, per se, or at least I don’t see social media this way.

Sure, they’re just media, another word for communications channels. And you can use a podcast, for instance, to communicate both executive perspectives and product marketing information, but I see the former as a vastly more effective use of social media than the latter.

Finally, the subhead of the article, "Blogs, podcasts, wikis and online video are key sources of unfiltered data," is also not supported by any data quoted in the article, and I would argue that these media, when used in a pure marketing environment, will quite often be stripped bare of any unfiltered data.

The best application for true social media, which one could argue includes all of the media mentioned in the article, is communications, not marketing. It is the very socialness of social media that makes them so compelling, and it is this characteristic that marketing is so good at crushing.

MySpace=AdSpace?

On the MySpace beat this week…. MySpace is referred to as “a place for friends” and you can now add Ricky Bobby to your friends list (more specifically, an ad profile featuring Ricky Bobby, the movie character).

A Wall Street Journal article, "On MySpace, Millions of Users Make 'Friends' With Ads," explores how fictional characters – as well as mascots – have their own profiles on the site, boasting thousands of friends. Ricky Bobby has 47,000 "friends” so far. “Even the creepily-quiet mascot king from the Burger King commercials has a site. (‘If you'd like to be the King's friend, he's totally down with that,’ his page introduction says.)” These pages, many packed with movie clips, photos, games and more, stem from paid advertising deals.

But how will MySpace’s users respond to these “ad profiles”? And will it matter that a character’s profile is created by a marketer rather than a devoted fan doing a tribute page, for example? Will fans adding a movie character as a “friend” feel let down when that character does not respond to a message or comment request? All questions to consider as we explore this intersection of social networking and marketing.

But Is It A Blog?

If we define a blog as a site that is frequently updated (similar to an online diary) with entries on a specific topic or topics that encourages open feedback/discussion, then obviously the content and tone of responses cannot be controlled. Taking this into consideration, do blogs and corporate marketing/advertising mix?

A Wall Street Journal article about Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., “the first major hotel company to make the leap into the blogosphere” with its blog, TheLobby.com, discusses the corporate blog concept. TheLobby.com is professionally written, with references to happenings at hotels in the company's portfolio of brands that include Westin and W.

What is lacking is an open forum where readers/hotel guests can write about the good and bad aspects of their visit – minus marketing review/control and selective posting. Thus, with this advertising bent, can this really be called a blog?

MySpace is the Marcia Brady of Marketing

When it comes to popular appeal and the ability to make marketers salivate, other online communities must feel like Jan Brady next to “MySpace, MySpace, MySpace!”

Sure, they have to love it for drawing huge numbers of people online—with a vengeance—and for casting some of its “too cool for school” glow onto them, but they’ve got to hate it, too, because it gets all the attention. Papa Murdoch shelled out big bucks for MySpace, which must have made a few communities feel like wallflowers.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Regardless, social networks have shifted the marketing landscape. Companies were already struggling to figure out how to do search marketing right, and how to master quant marketing tactics, and now they have to start juggling the qualitative, subjective aspects of advertising on sites like MySpace.

The mix of fickle teen sensibilities and brand preferences, combined with the concerns of being affiliated with a site that’s recently been chastised as an indirect enabler of pedophiles trolling for victims, makes the creation of an online marketing strategy a tricky prospect indeed.

The Internet + teenagers + controversy = massive mainstream America viewership

See Dateline’s “MySpace Invader” special on the dangers of MySpace. Also note the video-game-derivative title to show Dateline’s ability to relate to American teens, though it’s doubtful that the majority of MySpace members were even alive when the original “Space Invaders” Atari game came out.

The Hand that Holds Teen People Rules the World

Companies can’t afford to ignore the new marketing channels and online communities offered by social networks, wikis and blogs, but they’re having a difficult time navigating the terrain. (A story by Marilyn Much in today’s Investor’s Business Daily mentioned the burgeoning online advertising industry and the expectation that U.S. marketers will spend $13.6 billion this year, according to JupiterResearch.)

It will be interesting to see which companies can strike the right balance between achieving teen cred and preserving commercial interests, either on their own or with the help of social network Sherpas, and it will be just as interesting to see what cottage industries spring up as a result of the need for this sort of marketing/advertising guidance.

Be One of Us...

Some companies are trying to simulate a MySpace-style social environment, without the potential pitfalls in terms of user-generated content. For instance, Wrigley’s Orbit White brand has its own microsite for the Friends of Bright, a “cult” obsessed with whiter smiles. (Check out Gavin O’Malley’s MediaPost article on the matter.) The Friends of Bright continues in the same campy vein as the Orbit commercials, which makes it more palatable than it might be otherwise. The support of a corresponding TV ad campaign may pique enough interest to help it become a destination, though only for the short-term.

The growing number of company-created sites, online word-of-mouth marketing campaigns, and nontraditional media channels mean the marketing landscape is going to continue along an Impressionist—rather than Realist—vein for the foreseeable future.

So, how long before MySpace gets a football in the nose?

How long can a teen-dominated community retain its coolness once it’s been acquired by Rupert Murdoch, a businessman whose every move screams “establishmentarian”? If he starts dating Angelina Jolie, maybe another 18 months, though judging by Murdoch's fictitious MySpace profile I might lop 10-12 months off that estimate.

Then again, MySpace could be the social network equivalent of the Internet itself, morphing and changing in functionality and purpose depending on the whims, needs and cultural shifts of its membership and social relevance.

Post-"Post"-Script: In the hunt for a snapshot of Marcia getting bonked on the nose, I ran across Danny Sullivan's great 2002 piece "Google: Can the Marcia Brady of Search Stay Sweet?"  Must be a sign that the cosmos -- and the online cosmos in particular -- is controlled by Sherwood Schwartz.

Skinny Apps

Speaking of DIY ... Tom Foremski says we need a new term for DIY or "roll-your-own" apps.  He suggests "skinny apps."   Cool name, but will it take hold?  And will the marketing wordsmiths come up with a lexicon to support it? 

QA and Test -- dermatology

Great software -- pachyderm

UI design -- cosmetology

Intel Outside

We're back, after another hiatus, and this one we can only blame on the need to recuperate over the holidays.  But we're starting the new year with a commitment to look at a wide range of trends that are affecting our little world, starting with DIY.  Check out our "guest column" today on SiliconValleyWatcher, where we argue that the whole world is rapidly embracing DIY, mostly because it's a business imperative (self-service translates into scale and efficiency), but also because it makes us feel good (despite the dark side of DIY).  We'll feel the effects of this trend almost everywhere in 2006; just over the break, we saw how it has affected Intel, which after many years of trading successfully on its "Intel Inside" slogan is now adopting a message that connects with the "outside" -- the individual consumer that is driving so much of Intel's business.   The guy above is Intel CEO Paul Otellini, showing off the new logo at the ultimate consumer show, CES.  More to come ... stay tuned.