Report delivers benchmarks for social sharing

Silverpop has released the results of a study that is said to deliver industry benchmarks for social sharing.

The Silverpop research, entitled 'E-mails Gone Viral: Measuring "Share-to-Social" Performance', reveals how UK marketers can increase the reach of their content through a mix of digital channels and benchmark the effectiveness of their 'share to social' e-mail campaigns.

More than GBP3bn is projected to be spent on digital activity in 2009, with a focus on search (36 per cent), e-mail and social networking (19 per cent) and digital advertising (10 per cent).

As the percentage of digital spend is expected to increase even further in 2010, marketers now need to better integrate their social campaigns with other digital channels.

Understanding how social networking sits at the centre of a communications strategy is essential, as nearly 10 per cent of all UK internet traffic hitting member communities/social media sites, and 40 per cent of e-mail recipients use social sites to gather product information and recommendations.

The Silverpop report emphasises how an integrated programme will help marketers increase audience reach, demonstrate a greater return on investment and gain the support of internal stakeholders.

Conversely, ignoring the need for closer integration will erode a company's competitive advantage.

The Silverpop report goes on to debunk emerging 'share to social' myths and establishes a best-practice framework for integrating social media and e-mail communications.

Key findings of the report include: social sharing is more effective than 'forward-to-a-friend' e-mails by a factor of at least 500; why links to Bebo, Delicious and Linkedin are more effective than Facebook; the life expectancy of shared content and rate of new messages required to sustain digital buzz; and a formula to estimate the rate of social reach.

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