A study of Internet users in the United Kindgom by advertising giant Omnicom Group says marketers can best leverage the power of social media by focusing on what the companies' interactive agency, Agency.com, calls "uploaders" - web users "who actively upload videos, reviews and blogs."
MediaPost.com reports that Agency.com found that uploaders make up only 8 percent of the approximately 2.3 million regular Internet users in the UK, but that they are highly influential, and if engaged correctly, could have a "direct impact on brand growth and sales."
Agency.com worked with Brand Genetics to quantify the behavior of some 600 users, and worked and Hall & Partners to create a "qualitative video ethnography" of web users. The research found that uploaders were socially connected and communicative--belonging to four times as many online communities than average and sending three times as many text messages. Uploaders also were 20 percent more likely to be early adopters, as well as "male, younger, better educated, and better off" than their average counterparts.
In reporting on the research, MediaPost.com says recent studies in the United States "have shown a far greater number of Uploaders, with widely varying demographics."
"Stateside data has shown such a high concentration of content creators," said Paul Verna, senior analyst, eMarketer. "And getting a numerical handle on who's uploading and who's not is easier said than done." According to market analysts, U.S. advertisers need to figure out who their key Uploaders are and have a clearly defined brand objective in order to leverage their social influence effectively.
That goes for political campaigns, too.
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