Comments on: What Is Social Conversion

By: Carlos del Rio

Carlos del Rio — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:36:12 +0000

Social media traffic does generally behave different than say search engines as a channel. This is in part because there is a degree of social proof that is inherent in a link that comes from a social media platform.

But, in that same vein there are major similarities between referrals from non-social sites and social sites. The difference is that research minded people are more likely to come through one-to-one communication (like editorial links) and relational people are more likely to be coming in through many-to-many communication (social sites).

Social media is being, inappropriately, treated like a panacea, and there are many cases where social media widgets will damage your overall function/conversion on a website or landing page.

The type of social proof that these widgets provide can damage perceptions of exclusivity and be distracting for more impulsive users. I have never seen any data that suggests that displaying social widgets has any reliable correlation with on page conversion completion.

By: Rose

Rose — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:50:48 +0000

I’ve also seen this term applied to conversions that originate through social sharing. I’m curious whether there’s evidence that these ‘social conversions’ really do behave differently than any other traffic segment. For example, Are they more swayed by social proof? In some cases I’ve seen claims that social elements will boost conversion by astounding amounts, 10x in one case.

I guess I’m wondering whether social elements are being used as a crutch to prop up otherwise weak funnels, and whether they’re being inappropriately applied due to a perception of them as panacea?

By: Kristina Allen

Kristina Allen — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:41:52 +0000

I really enjoyed this post on social conversion. You provide very good tracking tasks. Thanks for joining us in #CROchat and sharing your thoughts.