People are – by nature – social creatures. The steady rise of social media networks like Facebook is based in large part on the concept of ‘social sharing’. The ability to simply refer, recommend and highlight content to your network of ‘friends’ is a powerful aspect of viral marketing campaigns.

But how do consumers like to ‘share’? Some recent research from CMB throws light on demographic differences between US consumers.

On average, an overwhelming 82% of respondents typically shared via email, just 49% used Facebook and a paltry 4% of consumers used Twitter as their preferred sharing mechanism.

Whilst email is universally used for sharing, the 18-24 year olds are staunch Facebook sharers – over 76% use Facebook compared to 70% using email. At the other end of the spectrum, 97% of seniors prefer email over Facebook (24%).

So, what does this mean for online retailers seeking to boost their revenues through viral/social sharing strategies?

In a nutshell, email, Facebook and Twitter are the predominant online sharing mechanisms – and need to be supported as part of any social sharing eCommerce strategy. Merchenta provides in-built sharing mechanisms for Facebook, Twitter and – crucially - email.

Retailers benefit from social sharing with Merchenta’s single-click sharing. With just one click, consumers can share products with their Facebook friends, Twitter followers and – pretty much anyone else – via email.