Want to Target Influential Consumers and Word-of-Mouth Powerhouses? Find Them in Online Forums, New Survey from PostRelease Reveals
Influence Extends Online and Off – Forum Users Are More Likely to Post Reviews, Share Links, Organize Offline Meetups and Proactively Recommend a Purchase
LONG BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– If the Holy Grail of marketing is a band of self-motivated enthusiasts proactively recommending your product, then the Grail’s secret location could very well be the world of online forums, according to a new survey released today by PostRelease (www.PostRelease.com).
People who contribute to online forums are overwhelmingly more engaged in “influential” activities – both online and offline – than people who don’t use forums, the study found.
By far, the biggest disparities involved blogs and meetups: those who contribute to online forums are 10 times more likely than non-contributors to also publish a blog, and are 9 times more likely to take an active role in organizing an offline event or meetup for a group that originally met online.
Forum-users are 3.5 times more likely to proactively recommend a particular purchase to someone else, 3.5 times more likely to share links about new products, 4 times more likely to post online ratings and reviews, and almost twice as likely to share advice – offline and in person – based on information they’ve read online.
Those are the principle findings of a new nationwide survey conducted November 19 – 23 by PostRelease (www.PostRelease.com). In conjunction with Chicago market researcher Synovate, PostRelease asked 1,000 Americans to choose from a list of activities that could be considered influential in helping others make a purchase decision, and select those in which they participate. In every case, those who contribute to forums are more likely than others to engage in the activity.
“Online forums are great places to find enthusiastic consumers and influential brand advocates,” said Justin Choi, founder and president of PostRelease. “Forums are essentially online gathering places for people with similar passions, so it’s natural that their passion would extend beyond the forum’s virtual walls. The people in forums are often discussing specific products, sharing advice and asking each other for recommendations. For marketers, participating in that discussion is not quite as simple as jumping into a forum conversation – forums have rules about that. But there are tools for connecting in a way that’s transparent and relevant.”
The survey found that one in five Americans contributes to online forums. Forrester Research reports that 28 percent U.S. consumers read online forums – making it the second most popular online activity, second only to watching video. But a forum contributor’s influence is not confined to the world of online forums.
Here’s an overview of the PostRelease results:
The study also offers insights about who is most likely to contribute to online forums:
The PostRelease/Synovate survey has a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. For a full copy of the survey results and a graphic presentation of top-line data, email info@edgecommunicationsinc.com.
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About PostRelease
PostRelease® (www.PostRelease.com) is the first effective solution for online forum advertising and influencing word-of-mouth forum discussions. It enables companies to insert sponsored posts into targeted online forum discussions. PostRelease empowers marketers to become part of the conversation in forums, at a time when opinions are being formed and purchase decisions are being made. PostRelease is a division of Cie Digital Labs.