LendingClub Report

Lending Club Industry Influencer Report

P a g e | 1111 [email protected]

Ecairn conversation industry influencer report Lendingclub Lending Club Inc. peer-to-peer

lending



Table of ContentsTable of ContentsTable of ContentsTable of Contents

Background ................................................................................................................................ 3

Scope ......................................................................................................................................... 4

1 – Community Map & Influencer Identification .......................................................................... 5

Top Influencers ................................................................................................................... 5

Influencers Map .................................................................................................................. 7

2 - Share of Voice ...................................................................................................................... 8

Number of Mentions ........................................................................................................... 8

Message Pick-Up ................................................................................................................ 9

Sentiment Analysis ........................................................................................................... 10

3 - Share of Mind ..................................................................................................................... 11

People mentioning Lending Club the most ....................................................................... 13

Promoters and Detractors: ................................................................................................ 14

4 – Share of Conversation of P2P Lending Topics ..................................................................... 15

Number of Mentions within the Peer-to-peer Lending Topic ............................................ 15

Breakdown of the Peer-to-peer Lending Topic ................................................................. 16

Presence of Lending Club’s Influencers in the P2P Topic .................................................. 17

About eCairn ............................................................................................................................ 18



BackgroundBackgroundBackgroundBackground

The advent of social media has seen the creation of more than 180 million blogs as well as

the birth of countless social networking sites and message boards. Individuals in these

communities increasingly depend on each another to share information. This shift in emphasis

from mainstream media to consumer communities gives rise to a form of marketing called

influencer marketing. Influencer marketing is defined as a form of marketing which focuses on

specific key individuals or types of individuals who substantially affect the market. The

difference today, is that these influencers can be anyone from potential buyers, and industry

experts, to independent reviewers and celebrities.

Smart marketers understand the critical role influencers have in their industry. Influencers

are highly networked within their community and between each other. They are the people

prospective customers listen to because they are respected, trusted and usually independent.

Influencers are often conduits of a brand’s image, and the best ROI comes from communicating

with these movers and shakers.

Understanding who they are, how they relate to your brand and working to establish a

relationship with any of them is a critical task. eCairn's Industry Influencer Report provides a

wealth of data and intelligence coming from those influencers regarding your brand’s, such as:

• Share of Voice (How much a brand is mentioned compared to competitors)

• Share of Mind (How many influencers mention a brand compared to competitors)

• Share of Conversation (How often a brand is referred to along with key industry topics)



ScopeScopeScopeScope

The focus of this analysis is the attention experienced by the Lending Club brand in the

personal finance community during the period of March 2009 to September 2009. It offers a

comparison to the Prosper.com brand in general and more particularly, on the topic of peer-to-

peer (P2P) lending. The personal finance community referred to in this document is a collection

of 1660166016601660 experts & enthusiast bloggers who have ongoing conversations on peer-to-peer

lending and other personal finance topics.

Twitter, Youtube and other forms of social media were not included in this study.

Blog Feeds 1660166016601660 Represents over 110k+ relevant conversations over six months

Twitter Feeds No

Yahoo Q&A No

Youtube No



1111 –––– Community Map & InfluencerCommunity Map & InfluencerCommunity Map & InfluencerCommunity Map & Influencer IdentificationIdentificationIdentificationIdentification

Influence ranking is determined by cross referencing nodes in target communities and

determining how frequently they communicate between one another. This is the first step

towards effective influencer marketing. By identifying the influencers and gaining a better

understanding of them, marketers can better plan for more purposeful interactions.

Top Top Top Top InfluencersInfluencersInfluencersInfluencers The table below shows the top 25 influencers in the personal finance community (1660 total).

BlogBlogBlogBlog DescriptionDescriptionDescriptionDescription

http://www.getrichslowly.org Get Rich Slowly - Personal Finance That Makes Cents

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com Free Money Finance

http://www.thesimpledollar.com The Simple Dollar

http://www.consumerismcommentary.com A Personal Finance Blog Since 2003

http://www.bargaineering.com Bargaineering: personal finance blog with anecdotes

http://www.thedigeratilife.com Personal Finance and Business in Silicon Valley

http://www.wisebread.com Wise Bread | Personal Finance and Frugal Living Forums

http://www.fivecentnickel.com personal finance tips @ fivecentnickel.com

http://www.budgetsaresexy.com Budgets Are Sexy | Pimpinâ€™ Personal Finance Since 2008

http://www.mightybargainhunter.com Mighty Bargain Hunter

http://www.ptmoney.com Make Extra Money, Save More Money, Spend Money Wisely

http://www.frugaldad.com A frugal perspective on money, career and family

http://www.cashmoneylife.com Money Management, Small Business, Career

http://www.ncnblog.com No Credit Needed - Debt Reduction Rocks

http://www.mymoneyblog.com My Money Blog - Personal Finance and Investing Blog

http://www.freefrombroke.com A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

http://www.financialsamurai.com Financial Samurai - Honorable Personal Finance

http://www.christianpf.com Financial help blog, debt help and other financial resources

http://www.canadianfinanceblog.com The Canadian Source For Personal Finance

http://www.mydollarplan.com Retirement, Tax, and Personal Finance Tips

http://www.lazymanandmoney.com Lazy Man and Money

http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com Blogging Away Debt Our Journey to a Debt-Free Life

http://www.moolanomy.com Personal Finance and Money Management Tips

http://www.moneyning.com Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning

http://www.doughroller.net Money Management and Personal Finance



This graph displays the current community influencer profile for the personal finance

community. Each dot on the graph represents a single blog source, with high influencers in

dark bluedark bluedark bluedark blue, medium or magic middle* influencers in royal bluein royal bluein royal bluein royal blue and the long tail of influencers in

light blue/greylight blue/greylight blue/greylight blue/grey. There are many more long tail sources which share fewer connections than

magic middle and high influencers. It’s possible to locate a specific brand’s blog influence by

plugging it into the chart. Notice that both Lending Club and Prosper.com’s blog is not heavily

networked with other personal finance blogs and thus have relatively little influence in the

community at the time of this study.

*The magic middle: while they lack the connections of higher influencers, they often write about

niche or topical content and are radically influential to larger communities.



Influencers MapInfluencers MapInfluencers MapInfluencers Map

Influencer mapping shows the interconnections within the community. This makes it

easier to identify particular influencers who occupy strategic places in the network. The map

below displays the connections between the top 25 influencers in one big cluster shown in rrrredededed.

This cluster shows increased affinity between the high influence bloggers rather than “sub

specialization” or network affiliation. When compared to our other sample reports for

Amazon.com and Lancome, one can see that the personal finance community unique in its

interconnectedness. Unlike the other reports, the top influencers of this community are very

closely knit and communicate with each other frequently.



2 2 2 2 ---- Share of VoiceShare of VoiceShare of VoiceShare of Voice

Share of voice is defined as the ratio of mentions of a brand in conversations taking place in the

greater community. It can be calculated by taking the # of brand mentions divided by the total

# of conversations. Share of voice allows marketers to understand how frequently a brand is

brought up through conversations within the community. This statistic allows marketers to

benchmark their presence against competitors and observe the effectiveness of buzz marketing

campaigns.

Number of MentionsNumber of MentionsNumber of MentionsNumber of Mentions

The following graphs illustrate the volume of conversations with mentions of the

Lending Club, Prosper and Wells Fargo brands during the period of March 2009 to September

2009. Graph1 shows the “share of conversation” for these three brands and graph2 displays

trend over time.

Graph1 Graph2

Lending Club’s share of voice during September 2009 was above Prosper and Wells

Fargo’s ((((605 to 605 to 605 to 605 to 410 and 490 respectively410 and 490 respectively410 and 490 respectively410 and 490 respectively****)))).... This only represented between 0.37% of the overall

personal finance community discussions in April 2009 to 0.62% of the conversations during

March 2009.

(*)Lending Club and Prosper’s own blogs are not included in this study



Message PickMessage PickMessage PickMessage Pick----UpUpUpUp

Message pick-ups indicate what marketing activities and programs caused an increase

in volume of conversations between influencers. This helps determine if news or marketing

efforts cause influencers to distribute the intended information or message to their community.

Lending Club:Lending Club:Lending Club:Lending Club:

• March 25th: Self Directed IRA Introduction:

http://www.p2plendingnews.com/2009/03/lending-club-self-directed-ira-retirement-account/

http://www.p2plendingnews.com/2009/03/lending-club-self-directed-ira- retirement-

account/

• April 28th: Finovate and Prosper Re-launch in California

http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/live-from-finovate-startup-first-demo-session

• May 4th: no explanation

• September 2nd: partly due to $2500 prize contest

http://blog.mortgageinfotoday.com/2009/09/02/news-sign-up-with-lending-club-for-a-

chance-to-win-2500

Prosper.com:Prosper.com:Prosper.com:Prosper.com:

• April 28th: Finovate and Prosper Re-launch in California

http://www.wiseclerk.com/group-news/services/prosper-reopens-for-california-lenders-

nationwide-borrowers

• July 14th: SEC Registration Is effective

http://www.p2p-loans.com/2009/07/prospers-sec-registration-declared.html



Sentiment AnalysisSentiment AnalysisSentiment AnalysisSentiment Analysis

Sentiment Analysis is the process of examining individual conversations from

influencers and categorizing the content as positive, negative or neutral perspectives on the

brand. Note that this applies to all Lending Club personal finance topics concerning the brand,

services, corporate image and representatives.

Lending Club displayed a sentiment

distribution which is quite common to

industry competitors. The majority of

conversations in the personal finance

community, which mention Lending Club,

lean towards neutral sentiment. Lending

Club also shows a healthy ratio of positive to

negative sentiment (7:4)**

Notable points of sentiment:Notable points of sentiment:Notable points of sentiment:Notable points of sentiment:

• Rise of positive and neutral sentiment

towards the end of May due to launch

of Service XYZ.**

• Short spike of negative sentiment

about due to news about competition

early June.**

*Disclaimer: For the purposes of confidentiality on behalf of Lending Club and its competitors, several figures and

names under the section “Sentiment Analysis” have been changed and/or fabricated to protect the privacy of the

company.



3 3 3 3 ---- Share of MindShare of MindShare of MindShare of Mind

Share of mind is defined by the percentage of influencers who have talked about a brand in a

certain time period. It can be calculated by taking the # of sources that mentioned the brand at

least once divided by the total # of sources. This metric allows marketers to compare a brand’s

visibility in the market to its competitors.

Lending Clubs’s SoM is fairly low at 0.04% (77 divided by 1660). However, competitors

fall into the same range. The graph below depicts the SoM breakdown by influence tiers and

benchmarks Lending Club against Prosper.com.

Lending Club had a slightly lower share of mind in the Magic Middle and Long Tail

compared to Prosper. Both brands have plenty of opportunities to foster awareness in long tail

communities.



Below is a complete map of all influencers in the community. In this particular case,

influencers who have mentioned Lending Club at once in six months are represented by nodes

inininin blueblueblueblue. Nodes in redin redin redin red have not mentioned Lending Club in the past six months. Although they

do not have a dominant presence, it is clear that Lending Club’s existence in the community is

not limited to particular blog clusters and permeates through a large portion of the network.



People mentioning People mentioning People mentioning People mentioning Lending ClubLending ClubLending ClubLending Club the mostthe mostthe mostthe most

eCairn Conversation™ has the ability to identify promoters and detractors and sort their

influence level by ranking. Taking this further, analysts can compare a brand to

its competitors within the marketplace by calculating the number of posts related to each brand

and then rating the sentiment of conversations from positive to negative. The table below

shows the influencers who have spoken about Lending Club the most. Influencers have square

icons in dark bluedark bluedark bluedark blue, Magic Middle in blueblueblueblue and Long Tail in light bluelight bluelight bluelight blue.

InfluencersInfluencersInfluencersInfluencers

Magic Middle and Long Tail bloggersMagic Middle and Long Tail bloggersMagic Middle and Long Tail bloggersMagic Middle and Long Tail bloggers



Promoters and Detractors:Promoters and Detractors:Promoters and Detractors:Promoters and Detractors:

Promoters/Detractors are defined as influencers who have mentioned a brand at least

five times in a six month period and have left positive/negative sentiment towards the brand in

each case.

Here is the breakdown of Lending Clubs’s Promoters and Detractors**

*Ratio is Promoters::::Detractors (Approx.)

Lending Club’s promoters outweigh

its detractors.

**Disclaimer: For the purposes of confidentiality on behalf of Lending Club, several figures under the section

“Promoters and Detractors” have been changed/fabricated to protect the privacy of the company.

Influ

encers

Magic Middle

Long Tail

Promoters 6 24 55

Detractors 1 9 24

Ratio* 6:1 8:3 2:1



4444 –––– Share of ConversatShare of ConversatShare of ConversatShare of Conversation oion oion oion of P2P Lendingf P2P Lendingf P2P Lendingf P2P Lending TopicTopicTopicTopicssss

Ownership of a topic (the outcome of positioning) is defined by how many times your brand is

mentioned along with the target topic. It can be calculated by taking the # of brand mentions

associated with the topic divided by the total # of conversations associated with the topic.

So how does Lending Club perform in the peer-to-peer lending topic?

Number of Mentions within the Number of Mentions within the Number of Mentions within the Number of Mentions within the PeerPeerPeerPeer----totototo----peer Lendingpeer Lendingpeer Lendingpeer Lending TopicTopicTopicTopic

(Period of March 2009 – September 2009)

Both Lending Club and Prosper owned a fair equal share of the peer-to-peer lending

topic. Neither has had a significant dominance of the topic over period of this study.



Breakdown of the Breakdown of the Breakdown of the Breakdown of the P2PP2PP2PP2P Lending Lending Lending Lending TopicTopicTopicTopic

Expression clouds allow you to understand the key expressions encountered in P2P

discussions from the community. This knowledge should be leveraged in marketing collaterals

and digital properties. Note, that eCairn Conversation™ is capable of creating expression clouds

in multiple languages. Below is an 'expression cloud' (created by our Expression Explorer) of the

most frequent expressions encountered in P2P discussions in the private lending community:

Marketers should analyze the complete list of expressions and look for highly relevant

words. Below is a more extensive list of the top 100 expressions on P2P lending from

Conversation™. The words are ranked from most frequently used to least:

1 to 251 to 251 to 251 to 25 26 to 5026 to 5026 to 5026 to 50 51 to 7551 to 7551 to 7551 to 75 76 to 10076 to 10076 to 10076 to 100

lending credit card debt savings ira

lending club good lending companies online

loan prosper self directed ira great

peer to peer risk market amount

peer lending borrow money related service

money social lending lending club account consider

credit personal loans earn bank account

credit card return finance peer lending companies

interest rate investors

peer-to-peer lending

company business

borrowers lending club notes enhanced by better well

investment savings account feed from ozh p2p loan

funds personal add to del.icio.us line of credit

credit score new best good credit

bank lending club review annualized return credit report

time payments option lending club performance

account companies lending club ira balance transfer

year peer lending site net annualized return fees

month better lending sites high

rate of return financial site free

offer lend money website lending club offers

debt roth ira lending club investment lending club investors

lenders p2p credit karma cash

p2p lending help club and prosper check

peer-to-peer lending notes work individuals

credit card debt personal finance mutual funds peer loans



Presence of Presence of Presence of Presence of Lending ClubLending ClubLending ClubLending Club’s Influencers in ’s Influencers in ’s Influencers in ’s Influencers in thethethethe P2PP2PP2PP2P LendingLendingLendingLending TopicTopicTopicTopic

Below is a map of allallallall influencers who mentioned peer-to-peer (P2P) lending in

conversations at least five times in a six month period. Blogs that did not mention Lending Club

are shown inininin blueblueblueblue. Blogs that mentioned Lending Club in the context of P2P topics are shown

inininin ggggreenreenreenreen. This sort of overlay allows marketers to see that Lending Club’s presence is still quite

diffuse across the sub community and not limited to clusters.



About eCairnAbout eCairnAbout eCairnAbout eCairn

eCairn Inc. is a software technology company, founded in October 2006. We specialize in

community and influencer marketing and differentiate by focusing on the question: “Who

matters?”. Our motto is: “You can monitor billions of conversations, or listen and engage with

people who matter”. eCairn Conversation™ is the best platform for enterprises and

marketing/public relations firms that want to map communities, listen and engage with

influencers and measure the impact of their engagement.

Our headquarters are located in Los Gatos, California; in the heart of Silicon Valley. Our

founders have a background in collaborative filtering, linguistics, software development and

software engineering at well known companies such as Hewlett Packard, Sun, Xerox, eBay and

Motorola.

Detailed customized reports specific to your brand(s) and competitor(s) that also

include relevant consumer posts and expert analysis are available.

Weekly live demos of Conversation™ are available from our website at http://www.ecairn.com

Contact us at, [email protected] or call (650)388-8962 for more info.

Additional acknowledgements: Data comes from eCairn Conversation™, Graphs are built

with Touchgraph, Tag clouds are built with Wordle.

Documents

LendingClub Report