White Papers Still Have a Great Deal of Influence

White Papers Still Have A Great Deal Of Influence

By Chris Richardson
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2011-10-18

A recent survey conducted by Eccolo Media found that, despite the level of consumption decreasing, white paper promotion is still an effective method for promoting your product and/or business.

The effectiveness of white papers in relation to social media has already been documented, so it should come as no surprise about the survey's findings. In fact, the survey, which was pointed out by Johnathan Kantor over at his White Paper Pundit blog, also confirmed the effectiveness of including social media buttons within these publications.

But white paper success extends well beyond including a Facebook "Like" button. According to Kantor's findings:

- While white paper consumption has dropped from 2010 to 2011, their influence as increased over the same period. The decrease can be explained by the number of alternative choices available today, and their investment in them (such as Social Media). The increase in influence is due to the preferred choice of white papers among the remaining portion of respondents that did not those alternatives.

- More than 77% of respondents felt that adding a Social Media "like" button to collateral made it "somewhat more influential" than those that did not include one. Adding a Facebook "like" button to PDF white papers should now be considered a standard part of the contact information that marketers should include along with the traditional hyperlinks such as website URL, email address, phone, etc.

- 28 percent of participants began consulting white papers for the first time in the last six months. Although the IT white paper market is more than 20 years old, white papers are "new" sources of information to ‘up and coming' business decision makers. As younger IT managers move into decision making roles, this statistic demonstrates the continued respect that white papers hold with this audience to influence their strategic decision making.
- 65 percent of respondents rated white papers as "very" to "extremely influential" as compared to 41 percent in 2010. While many pundits tout the decline of traditional document-oriented information, this statistic shows that white papers run counter to this thinking. For companies that are seeking ways to maximize their marketing dollar investment and generate the highest ROI, white papers continue to be one of the best places to invest those funds.

Another aspect Kantor discusses was the inclusion of images and other visuals. If, for nothing else, these help break up the monotony of pages and pages of text. They also help accentuate various points that the sections want to make.

Essentially, the idea is to make these publications as engaging as possible, or else you lose the risk of audience abandonment.

About the Author:
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.