Is Social Media Over Hyped

Jul 10, 2013
Posted by: David

With the recent data showing that social media only drove1.55% of major online retailers’ ecommerce, compared to email 2.82% and search at 31.42% - Monetate is the role of Social being over hyped.

It could be argued though that while the results may be bad news for traffic, they do not reflect the way in which social sites influence users’ e-commerce habits. Based on the ‘last-interaction’ model, the findings undervalue social sites' significance in assisting retailers generating sales. Thereby, brands use Facebook to start conversations about products and build relationships with customers that may led them to buy the products.

However, it appears search is still king for driving sales with them converting page views into purchases at the rate of 1.95% of visitors into buyers where as Facebook in contrast only led to 1.08% buys.