Do people share what they plan to buy, or buy what they share?
That’s the question my colleagues and I had to ask after discovering that a significant number of Pinterest users go on to buy the items they have pinned. As we reported in Harvard Business Review, 21% of Pinterest users say they have purchased an item in-store after pinning, re-pinning, or liking it on Twitter, and 36% of users under 35 said they had done so. Look beyond in-store purchases, and the numbers are even bigger:
29% of Pinterest users have purchased something (in-store or online) after sharing or favoriting it on Pinterest
22% of Twitter users have purchased something after tweeting, retweeting, or favoriting on on Twitter
38% of Facebook users have purchased something after liking, sharing, or commenting on it on Facebook

Very interesting article. What they still didn't answer is the act of sharing a driver? Does the customer share because it is available to share or does the share drive a purchase? And the outcome is to monitor and ask a lot of questions from people who share your products on social media channels. Sounds pretty pricey.

For marketers, the opportunity of social lies in the ability to reach and inspire the “thinkers” and “leapers” — to find and drive sales from people who might never otherwise move from interest to commitment.

First you have to identify these people. The key is predicting who is not going to purchase and nudge those potential buyers, that will optimize revenue. If you nudge everyone with discounts or more ads, you might have just spent money on people who were already going to purchase.