Online Survey Basics

Social media marketing has caught on to the point that people like Dave Barnhart, a social media expert, offer webinars that teach others how to use sites like Twitter to connect with customers and prospects.

Touting social media as a marketing tool seems reasonable. As Mike Volpe points out in his article for Hub Spot, Why Social Media is BS, problems arise when people give social media more credit than they deserve. Some believe that social media research could one day replace surveys. Volpe disagrees. 

I think the buzz surrounding it is greater than the actual effectiveness, said Volpe in an email interview.  The key to inbound marketing is not just social media, but also having interesting and original content.  Social media is an important tool, but it is like trying to build a house with just a hammer.  Not possible.  You also need a saw and a screwdriver and a lot of other tools.  The hammer is important, but it is only one of the tools required to get the job done.

As discussed in a previous post, social media has little chance of replacing either traditional surveys or email marketing campaigns. Not everyone is as enamored with social media as their staunchest supporters would have us believe.

Social media marketing, though helpful, has its limitations. While Volpe and others support soical media as tools to reach out to and connect with customers and prospects, they don't support the idea of social media research and marketing as the be all and end all of any company's marketing strategy.

Social media only works when it is integrated into a bigger strategy, Volpe advised.  [It] is a tool to communicate with people, but you need something interesting to say to them, and you need a plan on where to take the relationship in the future.