Social media sharing increases website traffic +30%. Here's why

At the end of last year, the Harvard Business Review made a ground-breaking conclusion about social media: It has changed the way we buy and our relationship with brands.
That’s a big statement from a credible source.  They say social media has added a new phase to the buying cycle.  “Before,” buying was a 3-phase process where we 1) “Consider” a number of options 2) “Evaluate” more methodologically a smaller set and then 3) make our final choice and “Buy.”
Now, there’s a 4th phase called the “Loyalty Loop” where, after we buy, we look to bond, talk and share our  experiences with others.  Here’s the “Before” and “After.”
While social media has enabled this dynamic, it’s really just unleashed what has always been a part of our DNA and behavior as human beings.  We love to share our brand experiences with others.
Since social media is in still early phases of its life-cycle, HBR says, in the coming years, the “Loyalty Loop” will grow larger and larger at some point eliminating the “Consideration” and “Evaluate” phases altogether.  Why should we have to consider and evaluate?  Instead, we’ll just ask our friends.
That’s the theory. Here’s the proof.  Share This has released research that shows 31% of site referral traffic now comes through sharing.  Of that amount, 83% is from social network – Facebook (38%), Blogs/Bookmarking (34%) and Twitter (17%).  E-mail sharing accounts for the remainder at 17%.

A +30% increase in web traffic is a big benefit to any brand or business.  It also underscores the importance of listening to your consumers and building relationships; not just “Before” they buy but “After” they’ve purchased.
Is it worth it for your business to increase web traffic +30%?

8 Comments

  1. Jennifer

    Hi Rob,
    Thanks for posting this information. Do you happen to have the HBR title you referenced in your post?
    Thanks!
    -Jennifer

  2. Luigi Fulk

    I liked the layout of your site, looks pretty professional!

  3. Content Promotion Strategy 101

    […] promoting a blog post, a company might set a goal to get 20 shares or 200 pageviews within a week as a means to quantify success. Setting this type of timeline is […]

  4. Curtman40

    Social Media is the future however I wonder where it will have its places for small businesses such as myself, since we are only dealing with our communities in which we live, there are  their are other avenues we use to promote our business.

  5. tv4stream

    Guys Just sharing, i’ve found this interesting!
    check it out!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *