Responding to this growth, 42 percent of retailers are already pursuing social commerce efforts. However, only a few, such as eBay, Overstock.com and Etsy, follow best practices to insure the discoverability and engagement needed to drive social commerce.

“Year-over-year there has been a 60 percent increase in revenue that can be attributed as originating from social,” said Emily Helander, product marketing manager for Kenshoo. “As a result, it is becoming more important for retailers to create a social commerce presence.

“In aggregate, over 70 percent of the most engaging Pins on Pinterest are those that focus on a specific product — versus Pins that focus on brand-building and lifestyle content,” she said.

Product content
For the second Social Commerce Index report, Kenshoo and DataPop evaluated tens of thousands Pins and social posts across 13 retail verticals to uncover what those retailers who are winning in social commerce are doing right.

The retailers with the most discoverable products on social sites lead the way by promoting product content along with branding efforts. They also take advantage of the features offered by social publishers, adding Pinterest, Polyvore and Wanelo buttons to each product on their site.

In the women’s fashion category, the retailers with the highest discoverability scores are Etsy, 6PM.com and Neiman Marcus.

In electronics, discoverability winners are Overstock.com, Amazon.com and eBay.

The women’s fashion retailers with the highest engagement scores are Etsy, Buckle and UOI Online.

In electronics, engagement winners are eBay, Gadget Flow and Digital Camera.

Consumer intent
One best practice uncovered by the research is aligning content with consumer intent to make products more discoverable. This means retailers should optimize product descriptions in social channels, keeping in mind what searchers on these sites might be looking for.

The report found that using descriptive language in post titles consistently contributed to high rankings within social site search results.

Product posts
The second finding was that product posts do a much better job of engaging consumers, with over 70 percent of the most engaging Pins ones that focus on a specific product versus those that focus on brand-building and lifestyle content.

Additionally, the image is a top driver of engagement, with images that have an authentic setting versus a white background driving 159 percent more Likes and Re-Pins.

Rich information
Another key finding is that richer information drives better engagement, with Pinterest’s Rich Pins including price, availability and custom titles driving 20 percent more engagement.

However, 60 percent of products Pins are not opted in to Rich Pins, per the report. Taking advantage of this feature could be a quick way to boost engagement and sales volume driven from Pinterest.

“Marketers should optimize their product descriptions based on consumer trends to ensure they match the information they provide to the intent of the searcher and to increase their discoverability,” Ms. Helander said.

“They should also post more of their products to social sites—especially those that are their top performers,” she said.

“Additionally, taking advantage of the advanced tools, like Rich Pins, will increase consumer engagement with their posts.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York