Social media has no influence on online purchasing: Study

Social media has almost no influence on online purchasing behaviour, a new study has indicated.

The report, a collaboration between Forrester Research and GSI Commerce, analysed data captured from online retailers between November 12 and December 20, 2010.

The research showed that social media rarely leads directly to purchases online - data indicates that less than 2% of orders were the result of shoppers coming from a social network.

It found email and search advertising were much more effective vehicles for turning browsers into buyers.

"The best analogy is in the South, a lot of people go to church on Sunday," said Fiona Dias, executive vice president of strategy and marketing for GSI Commerce.

"If you go with the theory that you should market where the people are, then you should be running off to market during church services. Facebook has the same analogy. Buying things from retailers is maybe 10th on the list of things they want to do on Facebook," added Dias.

Dias said social media outreach is somewhat effective for distributing news about short-term deals. In that case, 5% to 7% of purchases are influenced by social media activity.