The economy may have come back from the brink, but demand for digital coupons appears to be picking up steam, according to new data released by Coupons.com. The company said savings from coupons printed out or loaded to a loyalty card from its online properties doubled to more than $1 billion from $529 million a year ago. The value of savings in June alone hit $110 million, the highest total to date for any single month via Coupons.com. That increase has come despite traffic to the site actually dropping in the last year from 18.2 million monthly visitors to 14.5 million. Read more at www.mediapost.com

Many social media marketers are eager to tie a hard number to the value of their efforts. To that end, firms have attempted to analyze the worth of fans and followers on social networking sites like Facebook.

Digital consulting firm Syncapse and research company Hotspex have come up with an empirical formula that puts an average value of $136.38 on the Facebook fans of the site’s 20 biggest corporate brands. Most of that value comes from how much the fans will spend on the brand’s products, with additional dollars coming from customer loyalty, recommendations and earned media.

The study found that people spent significantly more on products they were fans of, compared with consumers who were not fans. In the case of many of Facebook’s most popular food and beverage marketers, fan spending was more than double that of non-fans.

The pattern of increased fan spending held across all of the top 20 brands on Facebook, with differences ranging from 51% for Oreo fans to 168% for fans of Nokia. Read more at www.emarketer.com

“There’s been a substantial increase in the number of consumers buying digital goods and an upward trend of players spending more on average than in the previous year,” said Mike Vorhaus, President, Magid Advisors.

According to the study, 13% of the overall population surveyed reported that they had bought virtual goods in the last 12 months, with the mean of digital good purchase up 14% from $87 in 2009 to $99 in 2010. The median of digital goods purchase is $50 in 2010, a 67% improvement from $30 in 2009. In terms of the heaviest concentration of digital goods buyers, iPhone owners took over the #1 spot, moving from 28% of iPhone owners in 2009 to 43% in 2010. Virtual worlds came in second place with 41% of regular visitors having bought a digital good. Of weekly handheld and mobile gamers, 33% and 32%, respectively, bought digital goods. Overall, more than one-fifth (21%) of those who bought digital goods said they plan to spend more in the next 12 months. Among ways to purchase digital goods, 16% of digital goods buyers say they have used Facebook Credits.

Largest demographic of consumers who have reported buying virtual goods: 1. Males ages 18 to 24 (31%) 2. Males ages 8 to 11 and 12 to 17 (both at 23%) 3. Males 25 to 34 (21%) 4. Females ages 8 to 11 (16%) 5. Females ages 12 to 17 (15%) 6. Females ages 18 to 24 (14%)

Where consumers are buying from: 1. In a game (57%) 2. The official Web site outside the virtual world or game (38%) 3. E-commerce site such as PlaySpan (16%) 4. Another player (8%) 5. Other (8%) 6. Not sure (8%)

Type of game or environment where consumers have bought from: 1. A free, web-based game (37%) 2. A social network site, other than a game (31%) 3. A free multiplayer computer game (29%) 4. A game on a social network site (29%) 5. A connected console marketplace (21%) 6. A paid, subscription based multiplayer game (18%) 7. An online virtual world (11%) 8. Other (6%)

Concentration of virtual goods purchasers within ethnic groups: 1. Asian American (26%) 2. Latinos (20%) 3. African American or Black (15%) 4. Caucasians (11%) 5. All others (12%) Read more at www.prweb.com

See more at www.webpronews.com

The “2010 Digital Marketing Outlook” report found that 81% of the brand executives surveyed expected an increase in digital projects in 2010, and one-half will be moving dollars from traditional to digital budgets. Further, more than three-quarters think the current economy will push more allocations to digital.

Senior marketers reported that social networks and applications were their biggest priority for 2010, followed closely by digital infrastructure. While social media marketing looks set to stay top of mind, a majority of respondents considered a range of digital activities at least “important,” with only games failing to inspire widespread interest.

See more at www.emarketer.com

The study results also indicate that consumers frequently talk about, recommend or review products on social networks:

46% say they would talk about or recommend a product on Facebook.

44% of Twitter users have recommended a product.

36% of YouTube users have gone to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a brand on a social network site. Read more at www.marketingcharts.com

SUMMARY: Email has not only been spared the ax that fell heavily on most marketing budget line items, it seems to have actually benefited from the down economy. This boon wasn’t skewed by a few email-reliant sectors, it occurred in every industry participating in our benchmark survey.

See more at www.marketingsherpa.com

See more at blog.compete.com

According to Heather Dougherty, Director, Research at Hitwise, Bing Shopping, in the 8 weeks since launch, grew its market share of comparison shopping 169% among key providers in the category.

Read more at www.mediapost.com

Weekly Market Share of Visits to Comparison Shopping Tools (% of Visits in Category & Change in 8 Weeks from Bing entry)
	Share of Visits
Shopping Tools	WkEnd 6/6/09	WkEnd 8/8/09	% Change
Yahoo! Shopping	24.07	22.7%	-5%
Bizrate.com	15.96	15.57	-2
Shopzilla.com	13.95	13.23	-5
Bing.com/shopping	4.40	10.86	169
Nextag.com	9.20	10.34	12
Bestprice.com	11.79	8.41	-29
Pronto.com	3.41	4.55	33
Become.com	4.05	3.67	-9
Shop.com	4.93	3.35	-32
Pricegrabber.com	3.96	2.96	-25
Source: Hitwise, August 2009

According to new research from PQ Media, spending on word-of-mouth marketing rose 14.2% to $1.54 billion in 2008, despite the worst economic recession in 70 years. However, WoM spending is on pace to grow another 10.2% this year, placing it among the fastest growing advertising and marketing segments.

PQ Media defines WoM marketing as an alternative marketing strategy which encourages consumers to dialogue about products and services through various online and offline tactics, often facilitated by brand ambassadors.

Industry spending increased at a compound annual growth rate of 37.6% from 2003 to 2008, as the rise in popularity of blogs, social networks and online communities led brands to shift dollars to WoM as part of integrated media solutions in their quest to engage more elusive consumers.

Total spending on WoM is expected to increase at a CAGR of 14.5% from 2008 to 2013. Both major sectors - content & services and ancillary products - will post strong gains and contribute to overall growth. Ancillary products spending will increase faster than content & services spending primarily because the market is smaller with more growth potential.

Patrick Quinn, President and CEO of PQ Media, notes that “The most influential marketer in a consumer’s life is someone they know and trust, such as a family member, friend or colleague…”

Read more at www.mediapost.com

% Share of WoM Spending by Marketers in 2008
Brand Market	Share of WoM Spend
Consumer Goods Products	17.4%
Food & Drink	12.2%
Finance & B2B Services	9.5%
Electronics & Telecom	9.4%
Retail	9.2%
Auto & Transportation	8.6%
Entertainment & Media	7.5%
Apparel & Accessories	6.2%
Health Care & Pharma	4.1%
Sports & Gaming	3.6%
Travel & Leisure	3.3%
Home & Garden	3.2%
Other	5.8%
Total	100.0%
Source: PQ Media, July 2009