May 12, 2014
For businesses using social media, it’s not about the ‘feel-good factor’ of the odd like here or a couple of retweets there. It’s about one thing: ROI. So which social media platform generates the most ROI?
New research from Shopify on social commerce has discovered that out of all social channels, Facebook is king. Analysing 37 million social media visits (which led to 529,000 orders), Shopify found that Facebook was the most effective social network at driving sales for brands. Nearly two thirds of all social media visits to Shopify stores came from Facebook – with an average of all 85% of all orders from social media from the social network. Photography, sports and recreation and pet supplies lead the way in terms of the sectors that see the most orders.
Seeing as Facebook is by far the largest social media platform, with over a billion members, and is a central part of many B2C brands’ social media strategy, it’s no real surprise that it comes out on top.
But what is surprising is looking at the next best performing sites for social commerce. Both Instagram ($65) and Pinterest ($58.95) have a higher order value than Facebook ($55), and Vimeo and YouTube also see strong conversion rates.
This shows that visual content is particularly strong at getting users to click through and convert from social. Videos, particularly in the case of Vimeo and YouTube, are effective at getting users to click through to your site and purchase.
Find out more about the best social platforms for social commerce in the infographic below: