BLOGS’ EFFECTS ON CONSUMER PURCHASING BEHAVIOR | Pınar Develioglu

HONORS PROJECT Pınar Develioğlu [BLOGS’ EFFECTS ON CONSUMER PURCHASING BEHAVIOR] Blogs are changing the way firms communicate with consumers. Blogs are valued as reliable guides. They are leading users, who are in quest of information and catching the attention of unaware ones, to necessary places in the online world. Yesterday’s effective traditional media is losing power against blogs and other social media so more and more increasing number of firms are using blogs to build their brands and communicate with all types of stakeholders. This convenient medium can be your best dream or worst nightmare depending on the use. In our research, after analyzing how the consumers evaluate blogs as a communication tool we have investigated the blogs’ effects on their behavior. We have examined various blog’s effects on consumers’ attitudes and purchasing behavior. Introduction The ultimate goal is to build a long-term supportive relationship with the company’s customers in a highly competitive and cluttered environment. Communicating the organization and/or its offerings to the members of the target audience is rather complicated due to the fact that the target is a moving one. It is hard to keep up to date with the target audience but it is even harder to break through the clutter and reach out to them. As the effectiveness of the traditional marketing tools such as print and television advertising were decreasing tremendously due to the increased clutter, interactive tools of Web 2.0 came to rescue. Now, marketers need to first appreciate the value of these tools such as blogs, RSSfeeds, wikis, and social networks and learn how to get them to work for their best interest. After developing a product offering that satisfies a certain group of consumers with similar characteristics next is to make the target audience aware of the offering. Not only McCarthy’s 4Ps of product, price, place and promotion but also Kotler’s political power and public opinion formation are used to create and frame the environment in which the firm wishes to operate (Phill, 1999). On the other hand, communicating with the other stake holders such as employees and suppliers is also crucial for a firm to build and sustain a long term relationship and a favorable image. Effective communication requires the selection and integration of the appropriate communication tools that the firm can utilize and has the potential to reach all of the stakeholders. Technology, disrupting the information asymmetry between buyers and sellers, is providing buyers with the access to great information and enabling them utilize one or many of web 2.0 tools to solve their problems regarding their purchases. So, it’s the company’s 2 turn to be present and fully equipped when the buyers are searching. In fact, they must communicate with them in the most effective way; through interactive web tools. Blogs have proved themselves to be a very effective communication tool which’s advantage depends on its use. Blogs are changing the way firms communicate with consumers. Yesterday’s effective traditional media is losing power against blogs and other social media so more and more increasing number of firms are using blogs to build their brands and communicate with all types of stakeholders. This convenient medium can be your best dream or worst nightmare depending on the use. In our research, after analyzing how the consumers evaluate blogs as a communication tool we have investigated the blogs’ effects on their behavior. We have examined various blog’s effects on consumers’ attitudes and purchasing behavior. We have studied the perspective of blog writer; why they blog and what they blog about than we turned to readers to find out how they get affected from what they read and the study revealed that this new channel of communication has a lot to offer. Emergence and Classification of Blogs "Blog" is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information (WordPress). The term "weblog" was coined in 1997 and quickly following by the most commonly used term, "blog" in 1999. "A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically like a ‘what's new’ page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction." 3 (Blogger, 2008). The earliest blogging attempts are the online diaries, which can be traced back to 1994. Early weblogs were manually maintained, with the authors editing the main pages of their websites to add new content, then republishing the sites with each addition. This made blogging the exclusive realm of the technologically savvy. However, browserbased software that allows users to publish their entries in reverse chronological order without the need to know HTML (HyperText Markup Language) coding has opened up the blog world to a new set of individuals. (Blogger, 2008) All blogs tend to have a main content area with articles (sometime called as posts or entries) organized into categories and listed chronologically -newest on top, an archive of older articles, a way for people to leave comments about the articles, a list of links to other related sites – blogroll and one or more "feeds" like RSS, Atom or RDF files. Having these in common, blogs come in various types focusing on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects (WordPress, 2008). There are quite a number of different classifications of blogs available. For the sake of this research paper we will break them down into two main categories of personal and corporate blogs in Figure 1. 4 BLOGS Corporate Blogs Personal Blogs Internal Blogs External Blogs CEO Blogs Figure 1 Corporate blogs which are published and used by an organization have three types; internal blogs, external blogs and CEO blogs. Internal blogs are used as an internal communications tool where all employees have access to and able to post articles. They are accessed through the company’s intranet and aim to facilitate communication among different layers of an organization. On the other hand, external blogs are publicly available weblogs that are again updated by the employees of the association. A new job category arose from these external corporate blogs; paid bloggers. Companies pay professional bloggers to post articles in their external blogs under the condition that they explicitly say that it’s a paid job that they are doing. One last type, CEO blogs, are also very popular. CEOs of Sun Microsystems, Dallas Mavericks, General Motors and many other companies post their thoughts regarding the products, methods and current course of events in their industry. Blogging demonstrates to customers that a company cares about its products and customers. (DeFelice, 2005) Blogs are helpful in signaling that the company is truly on the 5 cutting edge during the process of building industry credibility. They can be utilized to keep clients informed while earning their trust. In an up to date company blog, writing articles about the latest industry events and providing tutorials to help the readers will do the job. For instance, Ximnet’s website is used solely to provide information on the company’s latest cameras as well as photography tips. The company also uses its blog to better handle queries from customers and potential customers. Blogging also helps market their products and their website. News in blogs appears faster in search engine results than regular HTML pages. (Chin, 2005) All means of corporate communication create an image of the organization in the market. Maintaining it can deliver a good image, which ultimately develops a positive word of mouth (Arora, 2007). Blogging brings an unusual dose of openness and frankness to corporate communication. Corporate blogs are a fairly new tool of corporate communication but they are considered to be a sign of sincerity and confidence. Firms which are brave enough to maintain a corporate blog take the risk of receiving negative comments from the consumers which are publicly available. Firms with corporate blogs are not only thought to trust their products but also openly communicative. A feeling of involvement or participation with an organization can also encourage customer loyalty and recommendations (Arora, 2007). Personal blogs are maintained by one or many individuals and can talk about politics, education, music, fashion, travel and many other subjects. Personal blog is the most common type and it is not only used as way to communicate but also to reflect the writer’s personality. Bloggers customize their blog site in a variety of ways; playing with the colors and adding gadgets etc. Though, an extreme way of personal blogging has emerged; microblogging, where bloggers publish brief messages very frequently to the extend that they 6 capture every moment. Micro- blogging is more on a person-to-person level of blogging where micro- bloggers can choose a restricted group of followers. Provided by the RSS feature of blogs, news in blogs appear in search engine results within an hour after posted. With the help of the browser-based software anyone even at the absence of HTML knowledge can write a blog. These two combined make blogging the fast and easy way of sharing news and ideas. In our study, we have approached to the concept of blogging and following blogs in a way that identified the links between the Turkish blog writers’ and readers’ intentions of using this particular medium. We have formulated our questions as to find the way how blog followers get affected from the blog so that we devise a system to use blogs as a marketing tool. Blogs constituted a great opportunity as they become the new form of communication. People used blogs to share their opinions and researches have proved that user experiences are very much effective. Word of Mouth To increase the sales volume companies need to increase the number of customers and/or the frequency of their purchase. The ever existing word of mouth seems to be working better than mass media communication. Satisfied customers share their satisfaction with their group but unsatisfied customers share their disappointing experiences more and faster. Now, they share their satisfaction or dissatisfaction through blogs. 7 In the US context, many research agencies stated that word of mouth is the future requisite in marketing. The following are the recent findings related to the influence of word of mouth: According to E-Marketer (www.emarketer.com), two-thirds of all economic activity in the US is influenced by shared opinions about a product, brand, or service. According to researchers at Northwestern University, 15%of every conversation includes something about a product or service. An April 2005 survey by CMO magazine, which asked marketers what type of digital media they were either using or planning to use, found that 43% planned to employ WOM campaigns within the next six months. (Arora,2007) The word of mouth in the online area is more powerful since it reaches more people faster than offline. Blogs are linked in ways that promote viral distribution of a popular idea or product. Every five minutes a new blog is created. About 39% or about 57 million Internet users are regular blog readers and this rate increasing dramatically. Even Vista and Internet Explorer 7 have built in RSS feeds/blog readers now. This will make blogs readers as common as email (Kaufman, 2007). So, it is inevitable for firms to pay attention to this developing channel. They can either choose to be proactive and do something before blogs do something to them. Blogging as a Marketing Tool Blogs may help companies mainly in two ways which are in Figure 3. Firstly, through blogs companies can collect new insights and opinions. They can learn how their products are used, evaluated among alternatives and after use and disposed. They can discover their 8 flaws and better ways to communicate their product messages. The key difference between Internet advertising media and traditional advertising media is that the latter is interruptive advertisers stop you from doing what you were doing to bring you their message - while the former is participative - advertisers can join in with whatever the user is doing (Goldsborough, 2006). Firms can also discover better means to achieve their goals. Through corporate blogs firms can express themselves and from other blogs they can collect information about consumer’s attitude towards the company or the brand. Gain insights from consumers Blogs help companies in two main ways Communicate brand message Figure 3 Internet is calling on consumers to take control; create their own messages and share with the rest of the world. People blog about the products they use and the experiences of certain services they paid for. They recommend some of them to their readers and they discredit the others. A Fortune cover story entitled "Why There's No Escaping the Blog" described how blogs build customer relationships, take the puise of consumer trends, expose shoddy products (e.g., Kryptonite was forced to announce a program to exchange defective locks after a swarm of bloggers revealed a Bic pen could open them), and support creativity. (Dearstyne, 2005) For the consumers searching for information, blogs constitute a more sincere alternative since they are unedited and unfiltered. People tend to find blogs more reliable 9 than traditional media. They enjoy the collective experience better when making their own decisions. According to a study conducted by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, nearly half (48%) of all Americans have searched online for information or advice before purchasing a product or service in the past year, and rate user generated content three times more influential than TV advertising (Ellington, 2008). Because what they read on blogs and forums is a real consumer’s experience with a product or a service, they evaluate it more trustworthy. Our research shows that people evaluate blogs more convincing and sincere than traditional media and also the most dominant reason behind their preference of blogs over traditional media is that the blogs are more up to date and in-line with the trends. Blogs provide instant information sharing. They may include links to other blogs and websites, providing readers with quick, easy means of pursuing additional information, and have the capacity to "swarm" by sharing and spreading information quickly (Dearstyne, 2005). Due to the speed and plurality reasons blogs are more preferred. Establishing a company or a brand blog appears to be an effective way of building a brand and brand image renovation. We see in Heinz Beansz’s case that a blogging ‘superbean’ can provide information about the product’s new value in a rather simple and effective way. Such a blog makes the company/brand the expert in the area and connects it directly to consumers (Webdale, 2004). In this particular study we have examined the Turkish blog society to understand the ties among readers and writers and further investigated the influences of blogs on consumers’ behavior. Our aim was to identify why and how blogs affect Turkish consumers because there is a late followed up trend in Turkey that more and more companies leverage blogs in their marketing campaigns. 10 Research Methods This section offers a systematic discussion of the design of this research study, dedicated to understanding the effects of blogs on consumer behavior. The process used to develop the methodology used for this research study is outlined in Figure 2. The first stage involved defining the research objectives and questions. A research model is proposed based on the literature, which is then linked to the research questions. The researcher’s connection o the Turkish blogging community was utilized to find candidates for the one to one interviews. Two personal blog writers; one writing about daily life and one writing about shopping center marketing were chosen as participants. Interviews were then organized and conducted. A survey was formed with respect to secondary research findings and interview outcomes. Survey was distributed to 158 bloggers and a 31% response rate was achieved. Almost an equal participation from male and females mostly between the ages of 18 and 39 helped us carry out this survey. 65% of them were single. All participants were Turks only one living out of the country. Highest participation came from Istanbul than followed by Ankara. Their occupation ranged from students to corporate employees (from various departments and levels of management), housewives to consultants. These people defined themselves as trendy leaders who are confident. They are the go – to persons when it comes to products, places to shop or sales. They believe that their friends think of them as good source of information and they like providing this information. The survey data collected was analyzed, with close reference to the research objectives. 11 Secondary Research Descriptive Research Planning and analysis of problem domain Identification of key factors Interviews Surveys Analysis Interviewee I: male, manager of a famous shopping mall, blogging about shopping mall marketing with his colleague Qs – Why blogs? Qs – Dynamics of blog community Qs – Effects of blogs on purchase decisions & Interviewee II: female, student, keeping a personal blog; mainly blogging about life experiences and fashion Than Online survey link distributed through email to bloggers and bloggers further shared the link Figure 2 Research Objective 1: Finding out the effects of blog posts on readers. Research Objective 2: Finding out ways to utilize blogs as a marketing tool. Culture of Blogs and Dynamics of Blog Societies We can classify the blog readers into two categories; the ones who only read blogs and the ones who both read and contribute to blogs. The second group tends to have their own blogs too. Blogs can be about a variety of subjects where a variety of people read and/or write. Neither the bloggers nor their readers have to reveal their true identity which enables the shiest people express their thoughts on the most private subjects. World of blogging is somewhat different and the blogging culture is quite tight. In time, the followers 12 get caught up and start expecting the next post with a hunger where as the bloggers and the readers develop a strong sense of community. They promote each others’ causes and help each other in many ways and they a very sensitive especially about the spread of blogging. This research study is a perfect example of that. Many bloggers shared the link of our survey with other bloggers and they spared their time to attend to our interviews. Contribution and being a part of the community have great importance in the world of blogging. Only 14% of survey participants said that they do not contribute – in the form of writing comments – to the blogs they read. The rest’s frequency of contribution varies but he highest rate belongs to “contributing sometimes” with 44.2%. Also 30% of the participants that they find blog post which receive more than 20 comments worth talking about. This closely knit community works by the rules of participation. Blogs have the possibility to become a great issue of concern about the freedom of expression since there are no constraints over the subjects of blogs and how the author puts their thoughts into writing. The only constraint is the blogger him/herself. 46.7% of participants agreed that they choose milder words since they consider their readers but 50% of them also claim that they choose strong words to express their point of view. So, it is not certain whether a blog will be tough on you or not. Though, whether or not you reveal your true identity readers will want you to be transparent and reliable. 50% of participants say that the author’s usage of evidence (citation or links to other websites) makes them follow a blog. Where the most important reason is the up to date content of a blog with 86.8% rate, yet 50% rate is hard to ignore. Turkey is recently catching up on this new trend of blogging. Everyday the number of bloggers and their websites increase. The situation has come to a point that companies are now utilizing the power of blogs not only in the conventional way of having corporate 13 external blogs but in even better ways. A recent example comes from Procter and Gamble’s Gilette. Gilette’s advertising agency has started a blog campaign in October 2008 where they sent an invitation to 150 bloggers asking them to participate in the campaign by sending their addresses if they wish to try the new Gilette Fusion Power Phenom and the most genuine and creative blog post that is written about an idea came to the bloggers’ mind while using the product would win a prize of Apple MacBook. Gilette knew that reaching out to an interactive community requires using interactive tools so they established a blog site where they clearly identified the project and participation requirements and also they used the blog site to inform followers about the changes in the product’s web page. They announced the most phenom blogger from this blog site which is Erdal Ertürk with his post “Gillette Fusion Power Phenom ile 7 Fark”. Gilette is not the only company who figured that blogs are very important for a firm. Starbucks is following upon the customer satisfaction through blogs and using them for better customer relationship management. They look for blogs that mention their company and/or products and take action accordingly. Sometimes they send complimentary gifts to fan bloggers and sometimes they try to make up for incidents happened in one of the stores. A lot of companies are searching the blogs that talk about their products/services and try to connect to their customers. Dynamics of Blogs The spheres of influence of some blogs are wider than others. There are several ways to measure the popularity of a blog. A blog’s popularity can be measured by looking at its Google page rank, Alexa rank, Technorati links, del.icio.us bookmarks and many other 14 statistics. Ranking of a particular blog on Blograzzi.com or the number of subscribers to a blog can be a measure but also the price of putting an advertisement on a blog page is a good indicator of the blog’s popularity. Bloggers caused a political crisis and a U.S. Majority Leader Senator was compelled to step down, a T.V. channel apologized for inadequate reporting skills when bloggers proved them wrong and now even T.V. series are telling the stories from the eyes of bloggers; it is impossible to ignore the power of blogging. An example from Turkey but this time related to blog popularity came in the summer of 2008. A boycott of Turkish Telecommunication Ministry’s decree that banes the access to multiple websites started in a blog site called Ana Fikir. The author called on the webmasters to partially stop the access to their websites to boycott the censorship. 441 websites participated in this experiment. Participating websites published a statement condemning the decree on their first pages before letting users access the actual content of the website. Magnitude of Blogs’ Power on Affecting Consumer Attitudes and Purchase Behavior Consumers are depending on user generated content on the web with an increasing rate. When making a purchase decision they not only but increasingly rely on the content on web 2.0 tools. To better understand the blogs’ effects on Turkish consumers and measure the magnitude of these effects we first took a look into the attitude formation process through blogs. 47% of participants claim that they have decided to support an idea, world view or a trend after reading a blog and 31.6% of them said it takes reading more than one blog to change their views. But eventually almost 80% of them agree that blogs changes their minds. Blogs change their mind on a variety of subjects; software and other technology 15 products, coffee, detox programs, corporate social responsibility projects and even blogging itself. Consumers sought up opinions and insights regarding issues of concern for them but buying into an idea, world view or a trend appears to be easier when compared to quitting one. 63.2% of survey participants claim that blogs won’t cause them to quit a particular idea, world view or a trend. From the participant comments, we see that it is hard to change an existing attitude even though the person knows/learns that it has short comings. On the other hand, the ones who said that they have quitted an idea, world view or a trend after reading a blog are a diverse group. Some quitted using a variety of Microsoft products and some stopped going to Gloria Jeans Coffee so we can draw the conclusion that when blogs are effective they are effective on a variety of subject. Not only on attitude formation but also on purchase behavior, the blogs are quite influential. Maritz ® Poll results show that for Generation Y1 shoppers blogs are a venue that is sine qua non. They mention products in their personal blogs and use other blogs as a resource on purchasing decisions (Maritz Research, 2007). When we took a step further and explored the blogs’ effect on Turkish consumers in terms of buying behavior; the research results revealed that the product’s convenience is a key factor for consumers to decide to use it after reading on a blog. Only 31.4% of all participants claim that blogs don’t affect their purchasing behavior. The remaining 68.6% confirmed that their consumption is affected by blogs. If the product is available on test version or is a low priced good it’s more likely that consumers will try it. Also, people are more inclined to read about software programs on blogs and decide to use them. This is supported by the previous section, attitude towards new ideas, results. Many people read about various software programs and switch from one 16 another. When it comes to fashion items it changes though. It is less likely for blog readers to go out and buy a fashion item after reading about it on a blog. On the side of abandoning a currently used product participants stated various reasons for quitting. With a decreasing rate they quitted using a product after reading that it had side effects on people’s health and it was harmful for the environment and the production incompatibilities with fair trade rules respectively. Firms need to pay great attention to blogs if they want to avoid negative PR. Another rule of thumb was also revealed by our research which is actually know n for a long time; either engage your customers or let them walk away. People don’t have time to waste waiting for you to put something attractive on the table, they rather ask for companies to get them interested in their products and/or themselves. They wouldn’t come running after you. Need for Consumer Engagement and New Marketing Practices for Consumer Understanding the customer’s mind set to predict their behavior and figure out how to best serve them has always been the very essence of all businesses. Utilizing internet is a must when attracting and retaining new business while keeping your customer engaged in your brand in these times of high connectedness. When building a brand a firm must turn its face to internet because people are searching the internet to learn about brands and companies. Blogs increase a firm’s odds of being interviewed by the media (Kaufman, 2007). But when writing a blog, keeping the content up-to-date and interactive is crucial. Firms need to leverage the instant posting of new content advantage of blogs and use photos and videos to capture the attention. The blog should provide industry and firm specific news, 17 announcement and updates. In order to build a community from customers/blog readers the blog content has to be engaging and relevant. There is one point where we can confidently make a huge generalization; blogs can be utilized by companies from any industry. As long as the content is fresh and engaging for the consumers, blogs will be their most likely choice of information resources. Engagement & Consumer Participation From technology to travel many industries are in the list of beneficiaries. In the online travel sector blogging is a growing area. It is a low-cost method of offering travelers interesting and useful information and content, as well as soliciting guest feedback (citation). Travelers write about their experiences regarding the transportation means they used, the hotels they stayed and the places they have been. Than other travelers who are willing to make a similar trip would read those and shape their plans accordingly. On the other side of the process companies would learn about the deficiencies in their products and services. The firms which can listen to their customers in the blogs actually stand a chance to win this game and engage with their customers. A company blog will give the message that a firm values transparency and is brave enough to have a blog where communication with the customer is the number one priority. Figure 3 shows how a blog can help a firm partake in customers’/prospective customers’ purchasing process. This act will lead consumers form favorable attitudes towards a company, brand or product. Reading about a product, seeing its photos, watching its video and learning about users’ experiences with the product would arose curiosity. In the prepurchase phase brand blogs may constitute an informal and somewhat sincere information 18 resource. If the blog allows readers leave comments, first timers may utilize this collective experience about the product that they are thinking of trying. With this very same characteristic of blogs, satisfied and dissatisfied customers would communicate both with the firm and other customers. In either case a firm would benefit a lot. If the customer leaves a positive comment that would encourage prospective customers evaluate the firm/brand better and if s/he leaves a negative comment the firm will immediately learn what they are doing wrong. Attitude Purchase Interest Pre - Purchase Post- Purchase Forming a favorable attitude based on * Transparency * Customers focus Intriguing readers via * Multimedia * User comments * Product manager’s opinion Prospective customers benefiting from collective experience * Satisfied customers advertising on behalf of you * Learning from dissatisfied customers doing wrong Figure 3 – Blogs’ Advantages for a Firm during the Purchasing Process Developing a company blog and supporting it with brand blogs would also reserve a place for the firm in the consumers’ decision making process which is explained in detail in Figure 4. While prospective customers surfing the internet they have a greater chance to read the blog and the firm gets a chance to convey their message. Also when customers are 19 choosing among alternatives other customers’ comments would become handy. The customers who use the product can share their own experiences through the blog, making the blog richer in terms of feed. Problem Recognition Information Research Evaluation of Alternatives Learn about new products /service Purchase Decision Search internet Read blogs and find out about alternatives Post-Purchase Evaluation Read about other consumers’ experience Customers writing on their own or others’ blogs about their experience Figure 4 - Blogs’ Role in Consumer Decision Making Process Conclusion Blogs are valued as reliable guides. They are leading users, who are in quest of information and catching the attention of unaware ones, to necessary places in the online world. According to a BuzzLogic sponsored research by Jupiter Research information found on blogs help readers determine when they decide to make a purchase (Jupiter Research, 20 2008). So, it is time for firms to embrace this new channel of communication and reach out to their customers in the online arena. Blogs are also crucial on building the brand image. Whether or not the information on blogs is true, firms need to take action and respond to the blogs in a polite and explanatory manner so that the readers know that the firm is showing concern and taking care of its customers. Turkey is catching on this bandwagon too, may be a little bit late. Turkish consumers are utilizing blogs when making a purchase decision; leveraging the collective experience of many others. More and more firms are taking advantage of this effective tool in their marketing campaigns. It is inevitable for the rest of the late followers to start following because consumer involvement is the only way out this game. To win you customers you need to be present where they are searching for information and you need to provide them with interesting and engaging content. 21 References Alexander, D., Lynch Jr., J., & Wang, Q. (2006, January). Predicting Consumers’ Adoption Of Really New Communication And Entertainment Products. 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Web site: http://www.roanokebiz2biz.com/White%20Paper%20Blog%203-20-07.pdf Maritz(R) Poll: Online Groups & Blogs Beat Texting as Retailers Reach out to Gen Y Shoppers. (August 8, 2007). PR Newswire. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Dateline database. 23 Murphy, S. (2008, March). The Blogging Bandwagon. Chain Store Age, pp. 68,68. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from Business Source Complete database. Webdale, J. (2004, July 22). Heinz runs Superbean blog in Beanz rebrand campaign. New Media Age, Retrieved October 3, 2008, from Computers & Applied Sciences Complete database. WordPress Codex. Introduction to Blogging. Retrieved November 5, 2008, from WordPress Codex 24 Appendix -1 A typical blog has.. Main content area Archive A way to leave comments Links to other related sites 25 Appendix – II Detailed Research Methodology Planning and analysis of problem domain Identification of key factors Interviews Surveys Analysis Secondary Research Descriptive Research The research study, dedicated to understanding the effects of blogs on consumer behavior consisted of three parts that are outline in the above figure. The first stage involved defining the research objectives and questions. A comprehensive secondary research on user generated content on the internet – particularly blogs, marketing communications, consumer engagement and purchase behavior was conducted. Face to face interview was preferred because getting an insight from the bloggers themselves was crucial for the study. The researcher’s connection o the Turkish blogging community was utilized to find candidates for the interviews. Two personal blog writers; one writing about daily life and one writing about shopping center marketing were chosen as participants. Interviews were then organized and conducted. To better understand the blog readers and writers especially blogs’ role in the consumer decision making process a survey was formed with respect to secondary research findings and interview outcomes. Using a web survey brought many advantages; low cost, speed and anonymity of respondents resulted in more honest answers. Also respondents provided great detail to open ended questions. Researcher has long been following many blogs for personal pleasure and for job purposes. After getting in touch with blog writers one 26 by one from their blogs their consent to participate in the research was received. Survey was distributed to 158 bloggers and a 31% response rate was achieved. Almost an equal participation from male and females mostly between the ages of 18 and 39 helped us carry out this survey. 65% of them were single. All participants were Turks only one living out of the country. Highest participation came from Istanbul than followed by Ankara. Their occupation ranged from students to corporate employees (from various departments and levels of management), housewives to consultants. These people defined themselves as trendy leaders who are confident. They are the go – to persons when it comes to products, places to shop or sales. They believe that their friends think of them as good source of information and they like providing this information. The survey data collected was analyzed, with close reference to the research objectives. Survey: Blogs and Their Effects Blog Readers 1. Do you read blogs? Yes No 2. What type of blogs do you read? Corporate Blogs Personal Blogs Other 3. How did you first learn about blogs? (Please check all that apply) I heard it from my friends I found it while searching the internet I learned it at my job (I was supposed to follow blogs as a part of my job) I saw an advertisement about blogging I read a column that was about blogging I heard it on TV I heard in on another communication tool (i.e. radio) 27 4. How frequently do you follow these blogs? Everyday Every other day Every week Every two weeks Every month Less frequently than every month Other – 5. How did you start following a blog regularly? (Please, check all that apply) I was recommended to follow a certain blog writer I was using blogs to find necessary information than I got hooked up I liked the blogger(s) that I started to follow I had to follow certain blogs as a part of my job Other – 6. What is the reason behind your preference of reading blogs rather than other modes of access to information? (Please, check all that apply) Blogs are easy to use, don't require technical knowledge Blogs have wide reach Blogs save you from face-to-face interaction Blogs do not dictate you certain usage times and places Blogs are more up-to-date Blogs follow new trends and developments more closely Blogs are more sincere Blogs are more personal Blogs are less formal Blogs give more power to readers Bloggers are more open to critics Other – 7. Do you contribute (add comments) to the blogs you read? No Yes, all the time Yes, sometimes Yes, very rarely 28 8. Do you reveal your identity when you contribute to others' blogs? Yes, depends on No, depends on Yes – depends on No – depends on 9. I contribute more to others' blogs.. when I agree with the blog writer when I disagree with the blog writer 10. Depending on your answer to the previous question, why do you contribute specifically to the certain blogs (that you agree/disagree) and why not contribute to the opposite? 11. Under what circumstances do you find a blog worth talking about it with your social circle? (Please, check all that apply) If I strongly agree with the blogger If I strongly disagree with the blogger If the blog post is about a new product/idea/trend If the blog has great user input (receives more than 20 comments) I don't really share the blogs I read 12. Please, state your level of agreement with the following claims about how much of what you read in blogs you believe. I only read the bloggers that I trust I read blogs with a criticizing point of view (main aim is not to believe) 13. What makes you follow a blog? (Please, check all that apply) The owner uses a professional language The commenter uses a professional language The owner uses high quality photos and videos Takes good care of their blog page The blog is very up-to-date The owner support their argument with evidence (links to other websites, uses citation) The blog talks about a variety of subjects and views 29 The blog speaks to readers from all level of familiarity to the subject Other – 14. Have you ever decided to support an idea, world view or trend after reading a blog? Yes No I need to read many other blogs or do other type of research on the issue Name some examples – 15. Have you ever decided to quit supporting an idea, world view or trend? Yes No Name some examples – 16. Please, state your level of agreement with the following claims. "I have decided to use a product after reading a blog.." The product was a lower priced good The product was software The product had a test version The product was a fashion item No, blogs do not affect my purchasing behavior Other – 17. Have you ever decide to quit using a product after reading a blog? (Please , check all that apply) Yes, I learned that the product had side effects on people Yes, I learned that the product was harming the environment Yes, I learned that the production was not compatible with fair trade rules (no child labor, fair wage and treatment of labor etc) No, its hard to change my consuming behavior Other – 30 Blog Writers 1. Do you write a blog? Yes, I have my own personal blog Yes, I’m co-writer of a blog No 2. Do you reveal your identity on your blog? Yes No 3. What type of a blog do you write? Corporate blog Personal blog 4. How regularly do you update your blog page? Every day Every other day Every week Every two weeks Every month Less frequently than every month 5. How did you start blogging? 6. Do you track the profile of your readers? Yes No 7. Are you aware of the reach (number of people that view your blog page) of your blog? Yes No 8. Please, state your level of agreement with the statements below regarding the way having readers affect your blogging. 31 I choose mild words I choose strong words to express my point of view I write to convince my readers My writings are completely independent of my followers 9. Under what circumstance do you find a blog worth writing about in your own blog? (Please, check all that apply) If I strongly agree with the blogger If I strongly disagree with the blogger If the blog is about a new product/idea/trend If the blogger had used interactive tools (photos, videos etc) to explain his view If the blog's subject is similar to what I blog about (convergence on issue) I do not direct my readers to other bloggers Blog Post 1. Can you please answer the following questions regarding the blog post below? "Pazarlama bütçeleri, kriz döneminde şirket için çok önemlidir ve tüm üst yönetimin de bu süreç içerisinde ciddi zaman harcamasında şirket açısından büyük fayda vardır. “Pazarlama pazarlamacılara bırakılamayacak kadar önemli bir iştir” lafı özellikle krizlerde çok büyük geçerlilik kazanıyor. Üst yönetimler de bu noktada bu işin içine girmeli ve krizde en kritik olan pazarlama yatırımları hakkında şirketin en önemli kaynaklarını yönlendirmelidirler. Herkes satış kampanyasına odaklanırken, marka imajına oynamak için krizler doğru zamanıdır. Satış kampanyalarını ise daha çok krizden etkilenmeyecek yüksek veya sabit gelirli kesimlere çok odaklı bir şekilde yapmak öne çıkacaktır. Bu arada kriz ve belirsizlik ortamları, satış kampanyalarında ne yapıyorsak yapalım, sıradan olmanın hiç zamanı değildir, yaratıcılığın ve farklılığın zamanıdır." - What do you think the gender of the author? What do you think the age of the author? What do you think the occupation of the other? Can you name five adjectives describing the author? 2. Please, state your agreement (1 - positive, 5 - negative) on the below claims regarding the blog post above. 32 Do you think that it’s a good time to put emphasis on brand image in times of crisis? Did this blog post change your view about this particular argument? What do you think of the author’s view on sales campaigns? Agree, disagree, and changed your view? Do you think the same with the blogger and support differentiation during crisis times? Blogs 1. Can you indicate your level of agreement with the statement below? Blogs are beneficial for consumers because they provide them with greater knowledge Blogs are beneficial for companies because its another channel of communication with consumers Blogs are harmful to companies since its hard to control what the blogs say about a certain company and/or its products 2. Please, state your agreement with the adjectives given below. Conventional modes of media are.. Convincing Sincere Dictative Impersonal Up –to –date In-line with trends 3. New modes of interactive media, particularly blogs are.. Convincing Sincere Dictative Impersonal Up –to –date In-line with trends The new and the best way of making a product/brand/company conversation currency 33 1. Your gender is 2. Your age 3. Please, state how well the below adjectives describe you Down – to –earth Idealistic Trendy Traditional Leader Follower Confident Self-doubting 4. Your marital status is 5. Please, state your level of agreement with the claims below. I like introducing new brands and products to my friends I like helping people by providing them with information about many kinds of products People ask me for information about products, places to shop, or sales My friends think of me as a good source of information when it comes to new products 6. Please, give some more details about yourself Occupation City Country Appendix -III Descriptive Data about Respondents Almost an equal participation from male and females mostly between the ages of 18 and 39 helped us carry out this survey. 65% of them were single. All participants were Turks only one living out of the country. Highest participation came from Istanbul than followed by Ankara. Their occupation ranged from students to corporate employees (from 34 various departments and levels of management), housewives to consultants. These people defined themselves as trendy leaders who are confident. They are the go – to persons when it comes to products, places to shop or sales. They believe that their friends think of them as good source of information and they like providing this information. 35