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Blogs a force in the ad world
13/11/2006 09:54 - (SA)
London - Blogs are becoming a force to be
reckoned with as a means of advertising products, according to a
survey.
An Ipsos MORI poll found that the internet journals are a
more trusted source of information than TV advertising or e-mail
marketing.
But among their European counterparts, Britons are the least
switched on to web logs.
The French are far more savvy, the survey of 2 200 Europeans
found. About 90% of people surveyed there said they were
familiar with blogs, nearly twice as many as the number of
Britons interviewed (50%).
But the rest of Europe is barely logged-on when it comes to
online diaries either. The Spanish did only marginally better
than Britons in recognising the term blog (51%), while in
Germany, 55% were blog-aware, and in Italy, 58%
had heard of the term.
Ipsos MORI found a direct link between blogs, or
user-generated content, and people's intentions to buy goods or
services.
Any company that fails to come up to standard should beware.
The blog is replacing word of mouth for endorsing or condemning
a product or service.
About a third of those Europeans questioned said they had
been put off making a purchase after reading negative comments
on the internet from customers or other web-users, while 52% said they had been persuaded to buy after a positive
review on a blog.
Get it right, and blogs could be a boost to companies and
even save on their advertising and marketing budgets.
Blogs, or weblogs, are a more trusted source of information
(24%) than television advertising (17%) and e-mail
marketing (14%), the survey commissioned by Hotwire, a
technology public relations consultancy, said.
But they still lag behind newspapers (30%).
Gareth Deere, head of technology research at Ipsos MORI,
said: "We all trust people's opinion in the real world. Now
we've proven the same link online, and it's having a major
impact on people's buying behaviour.
"Word of mouth is no longer restricted to close friends and
family, it can have the same level of influence upon millions of
people across the world."
To start you own blog visit 24.com blogs.
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