You would think that social media platforms have a major say in driving purchases for consumers, right? Well, according to a 2013 article called, Digital Influence: Blogs Beat Social Networks for Driving Purchase, blog posts are the third most influential online service to drive a purchase, with only retail and brand websites taking the top two spots. Social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter rank in below blogs, surprisingly. See chart below for reference and full ranking.
Influencers & Blogging
I found it very interesting to see how much blogs drive a consumer to purchase a product or service. I do not personally read too many blogs so these stats were a shock to me. However, with social media influencers becoming a bigger and bigger deal everyday, it’s not surprising that many of them have blogs that they use to voice their opinions on products. The article talked about above, written by Lenna Garibian, states that 8 out of 10 digital influencers have and publish a blog. This then makes sense that they would drive their social media followers to their blogs and impact purchases that way.
People read blogs to get real, honest reviews about products and services without the fluff and bias of paid advertisements. They also allow for influencers to say whatever they want and how much they want without the restrictions of social media platforms. If an influencer has many social media followers and is able to receive views on their blog posts, it’s no wonder why they have become such a drive for purchases.
