As a marketer, this burningpants correspondent has always been wary of new or fad things in terms of a return on investment.

Social media today is constantly chatted about with companies chasing ways to capitalise on the proliferation of online chatter and connection.

There are a few companies who are flying the social media flag high and doing it well – in the UK financial services industry, a good example is the HSBC Business Network and its Little Black Book.

But while this is a great attempt to build credibility through a medium that is typically viewed as more of a chat room than an engine room by potential customers, is social media really much to do about nothing?

Recent research conducted by CoreData for a wide range of organisations that include consumer, membership and B2B markets from sectors that cover Telecommunications/IT, Banking, Membership and Energy show that social media doesn’t rate as a tool for actually buying by customers.

So are companies getting caught up in the hype as major agencies tout social media divisions and business leaders call out for coverage? For many markets, this seems to be the case.

We are finding that despite the massive growth in smartphones both IPhone and Android platforms consumers do not want to be sold to through social media.  They want to chat, they want to seek a new job and sometimes they collect people whom they hardly know (come on, we all have a few in our various profiles).

The research responses show this in black and white.  For example research in November 2011 targeting IT, customers found that only one in 10 found it useful. A membership group held in July 2011 showed three out of five found that social media was of little use to receive new services information.

So the key is the presence, not the budget; the objective is representation not spend.

Currently, these tools are not delivering a measured result and so be wary of the hype. Use them to ask people you know for recommendations and to build brand awareness but don’t get caught up in this as a growth option for your marketing budget or at least research whether or not it is working as a strategy. Measurement is the great equaliser.

The fact may be that consumers don’t want to be sold to through this medium – so consider the time, budget and effort verses the return! hairy women займ на qiwi кошелёкзайм с доставкой на домзайм по телефону на карту