Which social media network drives the most sales? If only it were that easy to figure out. In recent research from Shopify, Facebook drove nearly two-thirds of social media visits to Shopify-operated stores and claimed 85 percent of all orders from social media. When it came to average order value, however, the leader was Polyvore, a Pinterest-type visual social media platform. The average Polyvore-driven order had a value of $66.75, with Instagram a close second, at $65 per order, and Pinterest third at $58.95. [UPDATE: Polyvore shut down in 2018.]
Visually-oriented social media allows B2C retailers or service providers to post images and video to showcase popular and/or new items, or demonstrate how a service is done. But what if your company is B2B? Businesses that sell to other businesses may make connections and find business opportunities on LinkedIn and Twitter, however, the truth is B2B companies may also benefit from visual platforms.
The key to determining which social media platform works best for your sales is in the analytics. Regularly use the analytics tools available on the sites to track and dissect your audience. Are they using these social media platforms as a way to ask questions about their purchase? Then you’d better have at least one employee dedicated to helping and answering questions on social media. It’s important when using links in social media, to dedicate specific landing pages to what your post promises. Your customer expects to see exactly what you’re promoting, not be directed to a general page and then have to search around.