A new report from Bright Edge suggests that featuring social share plug-ins, such as Twitter's retweet button, on a brand's website may encourage more visitor interaction.
After analyzing more than 4 million tweets, the marketing company found that pages with Twitter share buttons generate seven times more social media mentions than those without the feature.
Despite the increased visitor interaction, however, many websites still do not include these social buttons – only 53.6 percent of websites display social links or buttons, the report notes. Specifically, Facebook's Like button was found on 50 percent of the top-visited internet sites, while Twitter trailed at 42.5 percent of sites. Finally, Google's +1 button was observed on 8.5 percent of sites.
“It’s clear that social sharing buttons can drive real social traffic that will inevitably drive sales, brand awareness or even affinity, but it’s also clear that many brands are not taking advantage of this simple, cost-free tool,” explains Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge.
Installing social sharing buttons on site homepages can further enhance existing social media campaigns. Once brands have developed an audience, frequently posting social media content can help further boost their exposure. For example, Brafton reported publishing fresh content on Facebook for five days a week will help brands reach 16 percent of their fans.
