One of the easiest ways to spread the word about a product is to get customers talking about it on social media. Using ecommerce platforms such as Magento allows organizations to easily integrate Twitter, Facebook and other social media sharing directly to website content. However, a recent survey conducted by social commerce technology company inSparq found many organizations are not optimizing social media strategies.

The survey uncovered another trend that highlights the importance of applying social commerce directly to business. The monetary return associated with a consumer sharing information using social media can differ drastically from industry to industry. For example, the value of a Pinterest share for one cosmetics retailer was $1.40, but that number went up to $5.09 for a college clothing retailer.

Email is still a highly valuable channel for sharing content, according to InSparq. Email campaigns resulted in both more revenue and more sharing among consumers than many social media endeavors. It is important for organizations to use a variety of channels to reach their consumers, but they should also figure out which strategies work best for their business.

InSparq identified several ways retailers can increase the shareability of their website content. For example, high-resolution images are more likely to be shared, and businesses can also enhance the shareability of content such as pictures of their products by including written copy with each share (e.g. "look at this new coat I found at..."). Organizations should also use a flexible ecommerce hosting provider to guarantee website performance and optimization with ecommerce platforms.

"The major takeaway from these findings is that no two retailers are alike, and the revenue they generate from social sharing varies depending on a variety of different factors," inSparq wrote in a blog post. "Pinterest is not dead. Retailers can see great results on Pinterest by optimizing copy, creative and placement of their sharing buttons."

Using a solution such as Magento hosting not only allows retailers to optimize shareability but enhances the ability to track return on investment. For example, many Magento extensions include features that optimize sharing by including automatic text whenever a consumer shares. Other key features include the ability to track most shared content and Google Analytics integration.