For the holdouts and the doubters in the audience, the argument for the value of social media is swinging over to our side…a recent study shows a growing rate of sales are originating from social network users even if you don’t see the numbers on your social sites.  Read this to see the IBM Coremetrics data that shows a rise in retail sales driven by social media — at a higher rate than social media engagement itself.  Crazy, right?  But sales are the point, so we’re happy (actually not crazy if you keep your Forrester ladder of engagement in mind…).

More good news…from a holiday sales study by IBM Coremetrics

Social Visitors Convert at Double Normal Rate

“Social visitors are more than twice as likely as the overall population to convert, at a rate of 10.7% compared to 5.2%. IBM Coremetrics analysis indicates many of these social visitors are likely responding to offers, as their bounce rate (62.8%) is high and their time on site (3:26 minutes) is low.”  IBM thinks 3:26 minutes is low?  We beg to differ…depends on the site content.

Two thirds of Twitter users and more than half of Facebook users claim that social networking has prompted them to click through to another website. Are you optimizing your retail opportunities?