The value of social media marketing has been debated, questioned and analyzed since the first tweet, and questions continue to mount, particularly in the realm of direct response.
IBM released an online retailing report covering the Black Friday holiday shopping weekend last fall. The report found that social media delivered low click through rates during the weekend and contributed to only 0.34% of sales. Monetate released its Ecommerce Quarterly Q1 2013 report. It found that only 1.55% of all direct traffic to ecommerce websites came from social media. That traffic had a conversion rate of less than one percent.