MS&L study: Digital and traditional outreach needed to build WOM buzz
NEW YORK: Although PR operates in an increasingly digital world, both online and traditional outreach remain necessary to create word-of-mouth buzz, according to a study conducted earlier this year, but released December 16, by MS&L.
More than eight in 10 (84%) of the 939 respondents said that they go online to find out more after reading an item in a magazine or newspaper, and the same number do so after hearing something interesting on TV or on the radio.
“It means that when companies or brands or people are thinking about how to reach infleuncers, [they] can’t only concentrate on digital,” Amanda Glasgow, SVP of IM MS&L, the agency’s influencer marketing practice, told PRWeek. “[Digital is] a huge part, and, I think, the future of PR, but reading something in a magazine, newspaper, or hearing it on TV or the radio is still what’s driving a lot of the online conversations.”
The study, conducted from May 7-21, also found that 42% of influentials in the environmental vertical gather information from nonprofit, association, and academic Web sites at least once a week, and that 54% of personal health influencers find information about nutrition frequently.
