Most of the impact social media has on sales and profit for a brand is indirect, and difficult to measure.  We can use tools to measure the volume and tone of discussions across social media sites, but in the end we have to approximate the real impact on our brand. However, one real, quantifiable metric for the impact of social media sites is the number of direct referrals they provide. This may be just one step in the long journey of a consumer, but it is an important one.

So which social media sites refer the most?  Here is my list of Top 20 sites, ranked by the number of direct click-throughs they provided in June 2009 to a panel of 100 domains in iCrossing’s proprietary data warehouse.

Twittter was a surprise here, with its rank coming in much lower than I expected.  We did some testing to make sure that the shortened URLs weren’t masking its traffic and found that the 1% share was accurate.

Once again, direct referrals are only a small part of the total value that social media provides.  But a direct referral is a welcome event for any brand since it represents an informed, motivated visitor.

Credits to: ICrossing

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