The internet is the home for billions of voices. Users take to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and various other social networks, forums and websites to share their experiences with friends and strangers.
Among those billions of voices are a handful of internet evangelists who seem to understand how to deliver web based messages better than their peers and followers.
The team at MBA In Marketing has examined those voices and the communities they support.
The study found that 54% of consumers are more likely to buy a product from a community with a smaller user size while 31% of online purchases are influenced by blogs.
But who is influencing those buyers? In many cases it is the brands themselves, but other times it is people like internet evangelists Robert Scoble, Chris Brogan and Seth Godin. Those users understand the web, they grew up in tech and they have been consistent and unrelenting voices in their fields.
74% of internet users are influenced by the social networks they use and 81% of those buyers are influenced by the posts of their friends. Guess who influences those friends? In many cases it is the very influences listed in the infographic below.
60% of markets are expected to raise their social marketing spend by 40% in 2013, once again proving the importance of social influencers on the web.
Image compliments of MBA in Marketing Degree Guide
Do you find yourself taking advice from internet evangelists who also seem to be ahead of the curve in terms of understand the web, its products and their fields in general?