This document presents summaries and sources for various claims and studies related to the impact of social media on business sales and customer engagement. It discusses findings that only a small percentage of website traffic and conversions come from social media, but that social media interactions like pins on Pinterest can generate revenue. It also notes that social media may build loyalty but that its impact on short-term sales is difficult to measure directly. The document aims to shed light on both positive and uncertain effects of social media on business performance.

1. Social Media Myths
29/04/2014
By Candice Vanhacht and Stéphanie
Desmet
FRIDAY SESSION #66
@Cleverwood
#FridaySession

2. "After researching over 800 ecommerce
websites , IBM still found that only 1% of visits
come directly from social media. Only a fraction
of those visits turn into conversions."
Article source: http://www.mivamerchant.com/blog/social-media-doesnt-drive-ecommerce-sales...-or-does-it
Study source: http://www-01.ibm.com/software/marketing-solutions/benchmark-reports/black-friday-report-2013.pdf

3. "Just one pin on Pinterest can help you earn 78
cents on average, study shows"
Article source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/14/just-one-pin-on-pinterest-can-help-you-earn-78-cents-on-ave…
Study Source: http://blog.rjmetrics.com/2012/02/15/pinterest-data-analysis-an-inside-look/#.UoTl5WTTBSZ

4. "During january and february we helped out
150+ customers on our Facebook page"
Source = Bi-Monthly Social Media Activity report for Nescafé Dolce Gusto Belgilux

5. “Facebook Pages Are a Bad Investment for
Small Businesses"
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/elandekel/2013/01/22/facebook-pages-are-a-bad-investment-for-small-busin…
It is the misunderstanding of how Facebook Pages work. Instead of building
a database of users that you can contact at will, you are essentially paying
Facebook to build a list of people that you can then advertise to.

6. “Social Media customers are more valuable
customers"
Article source: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/07/16/the-roi-of-social-media-10-case-studies/
Study source: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-customer-value/
Personal social media contact builds trust and thus more loyalty.
Customers that had come through one of these social touchpoints, filled out
the customer consultation form at a higher rate than other customers, at
179%. They also completed their first payment through the company, at a
higher rate of 732%.

7. "Quit Using Social Media For Your
Business…Become More Social"
Article source: http://www.socialknx.com/2013.06.26.quit-using-social-media-for-your-business/
A social business thinks differently. They know that everything today is
shared, whether through a post or a picture, a review or a video…all starring
the customer and they want to participate (not pushing their own content).

8. "Facebook Is About to Lose 80% of Its Users by
2017"
Study source: http://time.com/1405/facebook-is-about-to-lose-80-of-its-users-study-says/
Controversial Study from two PhD students at Princeton University who
base these numbers on disease models that spread and fade out.

9. "17% decline in social media buzz in US
Telecom Industry"
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/simplify360/top-telecom-companies-on-social-media-february-2014
Numbers from a report dated february 2014

10. “Social media „buzz‟ has no measurable effect
on short-term sales.”
Source: http://www.economistgroup.com/leanback/channels/social-media-is-dead/
It isn’t that Coca-Cola thinks buzz isn’t valuable. It’s just that they were
unable to draw a clean line between it and a lift in sales.

11. “When I started using Twitter and Facebook for my
business in 2011, I would have never thought it could
grow my business the way it did. But that year, I
increased my cleaning company‟s sales by 49
percent!”.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140311221041-26846686-how-i-boosted-my-sales-49-with-social-media