How College Students Learn About Your Product

An interesting graph from eMarketer. This study is based on how college students learn about a new product. Looks like word of mouth and personal research are still the top ways collegiate consumers learn about your product.

Because online social networks do not capture the real social graph, tapping into those extended, real-world connections are important for marketers.

Even among Internet-using college students in the US—the heaviest social networks users—talking to friends and family still ranks highly as a way to learn about new products.

What was surprising to me is where blogs and online communities ranked: at the near bottom. I wonder if these numbers would be different if the demographic were different. Do you think those in the professional realm, who are using social media to aid their professional network might rank online communities or blogs higher?

Does this social graph challenge the push for brands to get involved in social media communities? Maybe social media sites will become the means for consumers to talk with their friends and family about new products... It's not easy to be a corporate voice active in social media. But it goes back to the idea of social media being a cocktail party. We don't necessarily participate to watch a commercial. We participate to build relationships, from those relationships we can find information that is important to us.