53 Percent of Visitors to Enthusiast Communities Make Purchase Decisions Based on Research on these Sites

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Huddler, a digital media company that powers millions of daily interactions on the world's most influential enthusiast communities, today released new research into the impact of enthusiast communities on consumer purchasing behavior for both community participants and the casual internet searcher. Huddler surveyed more than 25,000 members who participate in the 31 communities it powers, such AVSForum.com, Mothering.com, StyleForum.net and MakeupTalk.com. According to Huddler data, more than 53 percent of visitors to enthusiast communities directly attribute their purchase choices to research conducted on these sites.

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Key findings include of the research include:

1. Participants in enthusiast communities are affluent and willing to pay more for quality.

Huddler's data demonstrates the purchasing power of these enthusiast communities. 34 percent of survey respondents reported an annual household income of more than $100,000 and almost 50 percent of respondents reported an annual household income of more than $75,000. Moreover, 60 percent of respondents agreed that they are willing to pay more for a better-quality product.

2. Enthusiast communities directly impact purchase behavior for more than half of users.

Because enthusiast communities capture consumer attention at the point of purchase intent – people arrive on these sites when they are actively researching products – there is a high correlation between visits to these sites and eventual purchase choice. More than 53 percent of respondents reported that they had made purchases in the past 12 months as a direct result of doing research on enthusiast communities.

3. User-generated content on enthusiast communities has 10x the reach of Facebook posts.

The data also underscores the value for brands of influencing user-generated content on enthusiast communities. For every person who creates content on enthusiast communities, 266 people read the content, which leads to a large amplification effect. For comparison, the average news feed story from a Facebook user reaches just 12 percent of that user's friends – and given that the average Facebook user has 229 friends, this means only 27 people will see the post.

4. Content on enthusiast communities is highly searchable

Content on enthusiast communities is also highly searchable, with more than half of views coming through organic search. For example, conversations continue to remain indexed on Huddler's enthusiast communities for more than three years. This gives the content a long shelf life and enables casual internet searchers to benefit from the content long after the conversation has become inactive. For comparison, most posts on Twitter have a lifespan of just one hour: research from Sysomos shows that 92 percent of retweets occur within the first hour, with fewer than one in 200 messages getting retweeted after the tweet has been live for an hour.

"Our data shows that casual internet surfers rely on the content created inside of enthusiast communities for insights on what to buy and how to use what they already own," said Dan Gill, CEO of Huddler. "These communities present an enormous opportunity for brand advertisers to engage with both everyday consumers who are researching purchasing decisions and the experts who wield significant influence on those decisions."

About Enthusiast Communities
Enthusiast communities are online sites where people who have a shared passion gather to ask and answer questions, post product reviews and images, collaborate on wiki articles, and share their knowledge with one another as well as with the social web. For example, AVSForum.com is the internet's largest enthusiast community dedicated to the home theater and cinema experience. AVS has over 4 million unique visitors every month including one million members who have generated 800 thousand conversations, and seventeen million pieces of content.

About Huddler
Huddler is a digital media company that powers millions of daily interactions on the internet's most influential enthusiast communities. Huddler's proprietary technology platform makes these communities more engaging for consumers and marketers alike. Huddler offers brands the opportunity to interact with over 24 million passionate consumers in a contextually relevant environment across key interest areas including parenting, fashion and beauty, consumer tech and outdoor sports. Marketers can engage the community through highly targeted advertising campaigns, brand ambassador programs and unique market research opportunities. Huddler is a privately held company based in San Francisco, California. For more information about Huddler, please visit www.huddler.com.

SOURCE Huddler