eMarketer predicts by 2011, user-generated content sites will attract 101 million people in the U.S, that’s a pretty big figure when you consider that the US online audience is just over 300 million.

With this in mind you can understand the numerous blogger outreach programmes that are launching, making a good little penny from providing access to these influential environments. As this offering sits somewhere between display, PR and in some respects SEO enhancement it’s interesting that there aren’t more sector specific blog networks. I would presume that this would not be cost efficient? Just concentrating on one sector probably won’t hit revenues conducive to a company staying afloat, however when you consider that these blogger outreach programmes have to build up relationships with the bloggers and then make sure that the advertisers they use don’t devalue the blogs it makes sense for them to be sector specific.

With this in mind I believe that publishers and sector specific media agencies have the opportunity to fill this niche, due to their contextual relevance and a business model that does not just rely on social media outreach. Publishers generally have an existing relationship with bloggers, where bloggers reference and support their posts with a publisher’s content, relying on the publisher’s heritage and standing within its verticle. With this trust established and the list of publisher’s advertisers suiting the audience and context of the blog, this makes for a great business model. The relationship is mutually beneficial, with the publisher extending their commercial offering and the blogger benefitting from exclusives from the publisher, invites to events, mentions of the blog on the publishers site and commission/cash money!

With sector specific agencies offering access to the right brands, this relationship makes sense for sector specific blogs, as the agency work as a PR company providing relevant exclusives and stories for the blog and its audience. Include to this social media work the fact the agency will also look after the clients, SEO, SEM and display activity, a completely cohesive digital strategy is established, where all elements of the digital communication mutually enhance, providing the most efficient use of the clients budget.

It will be interesting to see if this is an area that publishers move into, as ad revenues drop and competition is upped from these blog networks, which generally trade on very low CPMs, will the big publishers and niche publsihers look at their most influential verticles and concentrate on building blog networks to that specific interest?

Was looking into the old Freemium model this morning used by the WSJ and seemed like quite an interesting model for retailers and fashion brands. Succinctly the model offers ’social media mavens’ free content that they can blog about or socially tag, maintaining a decent SEO strategy alongside a paid for subscription model – a partnership that is not always thought of as compatible.

As more and more fashion and luxury brands are creating sites that are not just e-commerce focused and actually offer valuable and educational content, it would be possible to identify a brands social media brand advocate (social media maven) and offer a reward based scheme for covering content from within the brands site, on their blog or by social media tagging. This doesn’t necessarily have to be redeemable points in store but maybes access to exclusive events or one off pieces, to really entrench the blogger in the brand.

Emarketer have published today the findings from a study by the Aberdeen Group looking into ROI within social media marketing.

The study found that 63% of the companies within the survey (defined as best-in-class) are planning to up their social media marketing budget for 2009.

The research also discovered that 39% of the companies surveyed said it was somewhat difficult to measure social media and 20% said it was very difficult. This highlights an interesting point in that even at a time when digital budgets are being scrutinised companies are still considering increasing  investment in a medium that’s hard to quantify.  I feel this underlines the importance and value that companies now put on social media, plus and most importantly how social media stands alone as platform within the digital media space.

After working with Rado quite extensively in 2008 it comes as no shock to learn that they have launched a social network targeting the design community.

With the design audience a core market for the Swiss watch manufacturer it looks like they have removed the middle man (digital design titles) in order to reach and communicate with this very important user. Once this social network is established is there any need for Rado to buy digital media targeting the design community?

A study by Netpop has shown that social networkers are much more likely to shop and spend more online than users that don’t engage with their social network.

The study showed that social networkers bought a number of products and services online, spending on average of $101 per month. Non-contributors to social networks spent about 20% less per month.

Social networking has grown 93% since 2006 , with 76% of US broadband users actively contributing  to the web via social media.

Found an interesting piece in Marketing Daily today, discussing the social media amplification of the US Airways brand after the crash of flight 1549.

Vitrue, the social media service provider, created a Facebook page for Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III, which at its peak saw 215 people per minute becoming fans of the captain.

By Sunday afternoon, 3 days after the ill fated flight, there were more than 300,000 fans on the page and 14,000 wall posts. This Facebook activity contributed to US Airways social media index increasing to 171% from their December index. The Vitrue social media index measures a brands online conversation.

The CEO of Virtue highlighted that this “crystallizes the amplification effect social media can uniquely deliver on a cause or brand. If brands can conjure up the right mix of ingredients, there are millions upon millions of passionate consumers who will take social actions.”

The initial report of the crash came from Twitter, a photo of the incident from a tourist on a Hudson River ferry. Coverage then grew across Youtube (security camera coverage of the crash), blogs, social networks and mainstream media. This coverage all combined to create high levels of online discussion and in turn the highest levels of awareness that US Airlines had seen online ever.

I believe luxury/fashion brands have a real opportunity to harness social media amplification, as the brands have strong/iconic identities, passionate advocates and have relevant and regular news – the launches of new collections.

It would be possible to similarly cover the launch of a new collection using social media. Using Twitter fans of the brand can follow designers at conception and inspiration of a collection, then all the way through to the launch using Youtube, social networking pages, brand advocate blogs and mainstream media. This will provide advocates with a way to keep track on the collections, informing other fans in person or through digital channels, without too much being given away.

This strategy of social media amplification offers a brand and collection high levels of awareness prior to launch and in turn a head start on its competitors, especially important if the market is cluttered.

A study by Ad-ology Research has shown that 25% of small businesses have forecast that they will increase their spending on social networks for 2009, a higher percentage than any other marketing format.

A third of small businesses have said that they will keep spending on social networks, whereas only 5% have said that they will drop their spend from ‘08. This predicted growth could be explained due to the ability to target by registration data. With social networks offering truly granular levels of targeting, justification for spend is easier, especially with marketing budgets in 2009 being scrutinised tightly.

It will be interesting to see which formats make up this 25% increase, standard display advertising or integrated solutions? Research has shown that user’s behaviour within a social network is not endemic of that which will react to display advertising. So will we see the share of display budgets increase on social networks due to ease of justification?

The benefits marketing executives believe social media provides their brand or their client’s brand.