Commerce Site Quantifies Value of Social Sharing

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An online service that specializes in selling tickets to events has quantified the value of social sharing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and via e-mail.

Eventbrite, which is based in San Francisco, said that when someone shared an event on Facebook, that action resulted in $2.52 in ticket sales. The results represented the average for a 12-week period.

Eventbrite also identified the average value of sharing on other networks:

• A share on Twitter generated $0.43 in revenue
• A share on LinkedIn generated $0.90 in revenue
• A share using the company's "email friends" application generated $2.34
• In aggregate, each share on average equaled $1.78 in ticket sales.

Even though Twitter is a larger network than LinkedIn, a share on LinkedIn is more valuable because the latter site has more real world connections and there’s a greater chance the relationships are deeper and more relevant, Eventbrite said.

Earlier this year, social media management company Vitrue valued a Facebook fan at $3.60. But Tamara Mendelsohn, director of marketing at Eventbrite, says Vitrue's report focused on the value of an impression from a Facebook fan rather than the impact of sharing.

“To measure the impact of social media purely on impressions is applying old measurement tactics to a whole new beast,” she said. "With our study we hope to spark conversation about the best way to measure the engagement and activity that occurs across social media, which is what sets it apart from other display-driven channels."

Eventbrite also said Facebook is its No. 1 referral site for traffic; a Facebook share drives an average of 11 visits back to Eventbrite.com.

Eventbrite also found that sharing occurs at the same rate no matter how many people are attending an event – whether it's a 10,00 person political rally or a 10 person neighborhood pickling class.

Classes, workshops, and networking events have the most share activity, followed by fundraisers, conferences and music events.

Mendelsohn said Eventbrite gathered the data by embedding trackable links across its sharing mechanisms. Because Eventbrite doesn't track individual users, the company does not know how many people were engaged in social sharing over the 12-week period.

Earlier this month, Eventbrite raised $20 million in venture financing. According to NYTimes.com, Eventbrite makes money by charging event organizers 2.5 percent, plus 99 cents, for each ticket sold.