Well maybe there are some marketers who can still use their brains after all. A September 2010 survey found nearly half of companies worldwide said "the jury is out" on the value of social media for their firm." This group still felt they were not able to measure the return on their social media investment-even to put a value on it relative to their other marketing activities.
As I have said a lot here on this website social media is part of an integrated marketing solution not it's own magical island that is suddenly going to turn prospects into customers. The report also suggested integration with many other marketing channels was lacking. While the vast majority of companies had managed to integrate email and social media, search engine optimization was the only other marketing channel that came close in integration efforts. This could be because social media efforts often naturally help search ones.
So what's the bottom line ?
1. Social media should be part of an integrated marketing strategy.
2. Marketers have to ensure, before implementing any social media strategy, that they ask "what is the objective of this and how are we going to measure it?" (especially in relation to the business plan).
3. Social media is a LOT of work. Anyone that thinks it's as simple as just adding a brand page to Facebook or a Twitter account is fooling themselves.
4. Back end analytics are just as important as your social media program.
5. Expect to fail when you first launch a social media program but learn from the experience and get better.