Why people share, what they share, when and how much?

• Sharing is Big, it’s the second largest activity on the web, and the most widespread social behavior

• Sharing is now bigger and more powerful than friends, followers, connections, and is poised to take over search in the next years.

Facebook now accounts for 8.93% of all website visits in the US. All of Google’s properties including YouTube, Gmail, Google accounts for 9.85% – Experian Hitwise

• The Zuckerberg’s Law

In 2010, people spent nearly 25% of their time on social networks (a 43% increase from 2009) compared to only 3.3% for search, and 4.4 for web portals. (Nielsen)
As an advertiser, you might be where your customers spent their time.

• Sharing is the heart of the Web

The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010).
You want to be among the brands mentioned, do you?

When people share, they share their love for your brand, your product or service.

• Sharing has economical value

In a study conducted by social networking site myYearbook, 81 per-cent of respondents said they’d received advice from friends and fol-lowers relating to a product purchase through a social site; 74 per-cent of those who received such advice found it to be influential in their decision. (Click Z, January 2010)

A visitor coming from a social media site is ten times more likely to make a purchase online than an average visitor (Simply Zesty, 2010)

Majority of consumers (74%) rely on social networks to guide pur-chase decisions. (Gartner, July 2010)

• Sharing closes the gap between awareness and purchase

Eighty-three percent of online shoppers said they are interested in sharing information about their purchases with people they know, while 74 percent are influenced by the opinions of others in their de-cision to buy the product in the first place. (Manage Smarter, Sep-tember 2009)

69% of Moms are likely to purchase a product based on what was heard through their online social network. (emarketer, 2010)

In the near future we will no longer search for products and services they will find us via social media. (Opinion from Socialnomics, August 2009)

• Why do you need sharing from your fans?

A recent ComScore Report discovered that the Facebook Newsfeed is the primary location where branded content is consumed. Users are 40-150 times more likely to consume branded content in the Newsfeed than to visit the Fan Page itself.

Unfortunately, only a tiny fragment (2.5% or less) of what a brand posts on a fan page reaches its fans’ newsfeed or profile page.

To get fast and better results, advertisers need to focus on the News feeds.

• Why people will unlike, hide or  unfollow you?

43% of Facebook users who “unlike” or hide a brand do so because of too much marketing into their newsfeed. 41% of users who have un-followed a brand on Twitter did so because they were over-marketed to – ExactTarget

You are not always the best person to push your message. Let people to it for you. First, they market you to themselves, then they market you to their friends. A Double win.

People influence people. Sharing is how they do that on the web or in real life.