Energizing Advocacy: Why use Social Influence Marketing (SIM)?

Most traditional marketing tools and techniques are increasingly becoming ineffective:

+ Companies are paying $5 to $250 (or more) per lead, yet less than 1% of leads are qualified (source: Forrester)

+ Conversion rates have plummeted to 2% or less (source: Forrester)

About 75% of consumers abandon shopping carts (source: Shop.org)

+ Consumer receptivity to paid media and marketing is at an all-time low. Only 16% trust company blogs and 14% of consumers trust advertising (source: Forrester)

+ 69% of marketers say marketing has "no discernible effect on consumers" (source: World Advertising Research Council)

Social Influence Marketing however provides marketers with a compelling, cost-effective solution:

+ 94% of consumers trust Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing (source: Forrester)

+ 84% of business buyers say Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing is the #1 influencer of purchase decisions (source: Forrester)

+ Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing marketing delivers a 15X ROI, notably three times higher than traditional marketing (source: Harvard Business Review)

+ Word of Mouth via Social Influence Marketing is the fastest-growing form of marketing and 77% of marketers plan to increase their investment in Word of Mouth & Social Media marketing (source: eMarketer)

HOW US CONSUMERS SPEND THERE TIME ONLINE | 2004 VS. 2009

In 2004, US consumers spent 42% of their online time on communications-related activities such as reading and sending email, whereas now (2009) they spend only 27% of their time doing so, according to the OPA data cited in the Factbook.  What's filled the gap? Community-focused social networking sites such as Facebook now account for 13% of users' time, up from virtually nothing in 2004.

Findings:

In addition to devoting more of their online time to community sites, consumers today are spending more time on content sites and search, and less time on commerce sites, than they were in 2004.

As for what specific activities US adults perform online today:
—90% send or read emails
—88% use search engines
—76% check the weather
—75% buy a product
—72% get news
—66% to make or buy a travel reservation
—60% to look for news or information about politics
(According to April 2009 data from the Pew Internet & American Life project included in the Factbook.)