The real question is, can social media shares drive online sales? Looking at the latest study from AddShoppers proves the answer is yes; Social Commerce is a revenue driver.
They Analysed over £3M worth of eCommerce transactions influenced by their platform and showed some interesting results.
As you can see below, the average sharer is a male, aged between 25-34 who is based in the USA, using Facebook as their main networking platform. This share value is worth £1.34.
Looking at results from thousands of merchants, including world wide known brands like O’Neill and Everlast, AddShoppers found that all shares are not equal, with two huge stand out’s; eMail and Google+. An average eMail share is worth £11.77 which makes eMail marketing so valuable to any business with a 1 to 1 share and a high conversion rate. Google+’s average share was valued at £7.07 with Twitter disappointingly recording only £1.06 for a share.
As some of you may know from my presentations at trade shows, I have talked about a Twitter share being worth £21.04 which is indeed, another fact. Don’t be confused by the two numbers being so different, the higher share amount came from EventBrite whose users react differently online to AddShoppers. This proves how much social media is constantly changing and to keep up with the numbers, you need to look for companies who are analysing this data.
When we analyse social revenue as a whole, Facebook leads with 38.76%, Twitter in second with 20.22%, eMail with 16.28%, Pinterest with 12.64% and surprisingly, Google+ with only 6.55%. Google+ is driving more revenue than the likes of StumbleUpon, Tumblr and Polyvore but is a long way off from competing with the big social media players.
What business category is shared the most on Social Media? See below. Unsurprisingly, Apparel takes first place, with general stores (multi-products) coming in second and Electronics rounding out the top three. Although the least shared sector is Camera’s, it doesn’t mean their value per share is any lower… in fact, its the opposite. Regardless of being the least shared, when the camera industry receives shares, they are actually converting at £12.95 per share.
Finally, average order values. Leading the pack is Tumblr with an average order value of £131.17 with Google+ in second with £126.41, Twitter in third with £ 118.93, eMail in fourth with £117.11 and Pinterest in fifth with £116.51 followed by StumbleUpon, Facebook, Kaboodle, Wishpot and Polyvore.
There is no natural winner in the social commerce race as each network has its strengths and weaknesses. To see the full infographic, click here.
All figures have been converted from $ to £ at the current exchange rate.