The years of doing surveys and feedback have left scars, one of them is probably lack of tolerance for badly done surveys. I also said in my comment that I had not seen the survey — so i could not comment on it.

However, in second place right after the bad surveys come the bad reports. And quoting a survey as responding on “value” or “business value” without determining what it is is just plain wrong.

It is the equivalent of Consumer Reports writing an article on cars and saying that some of them are expensive, and some others are not. What is the definition of expensive?

I don’t doubt that Li is very smart and good at what she does, but I am not very happy with the way the results were presented — i think it does a disservice to her and to MarketingProfs in the sense that presents the data with little “value” add. (ok, bad pun – i know).

I appreciate your response, but my recommendation is that if you use an informal poll you say so straight up — this is not a real poll, or not a scientific poll, and draw conclusions that are not too specific (as to say this does not work).

Just a pet-peeve,I know…

-Beth

Seriously, I’d like to know. Because last time I checked, there weren’t any rules. I think it’s dangerous ground we are walking on when we start throwing around rules.

“As for MarketingProfs I can safely say that we are neither a PR or communications agency ..” That wasn’t directed at Marketing Profs but the post itself which I think I have more of a problem with than the actual report itself.

Thanks for sharing the link to Twitter success stories, I will check them out.

A couple of replies to your last two points.

1) The SEO thing wasn’t even posted in the original post and it wasn’t presented by Li until the comment section here. Like I said in reply to her post if that was the goal of her post to comment on strategies of SEOs then she did a poor job.

2) You are right about the “am I the audience for this post” question. Even if that post is directed to their clients or potential clients I shiver when I see how the ideas were presented in there. Kind of a social media scare tactic with incomplete information.

Thanks again for taking the time to comment, I appreciate your perspective and your time.

When it comes to marketing research you are 100% correct! This was NOT marketing research by any stretch. It was a quick poll and is reflected as such in the Twitter Success Stories.

The question asked was “Please rank the following social media sites in terms of providing business value to your company.”

To your point, the ‘business value’ could be anything that meets their goals for social media or is quantified as social media success for them. It could be conversations, it could be engagement, it could be leads.

As well, there is an assumption that those responding have used all channels listed. Given the response count, it looks to be the case.

Thanks,
Beth Harte
Community Manager, MarketingProfs
@bethharte

Thanks for the discussion on Twitter today, it’s much appreciated. I’d like to clarify a few things since you and your readers probably haven’t seen our Twitter Success Stories piece that Li Evans is referring to in her post.

As for MarketingProfs I can safely say that we are neither a PR or communications agency and that we do have an understanding of social media (I have over 5 years of deep SM experience and am their Community Manager). We share information every single day to help marketers learn, understand and implement their social media efforts. This particular set of social media/Twitter case studies is free to our premium members (the $49 fee is for non-members who would like to have the case studies, but don’t want to be a member).

Regarding our poll…it was just that, a poll. It was a quick pulse check and certainly nothing scientific. It is also not a reflection or representation of all marketers or businesses. It is, however, a reflection of 200 people and where they personally have found value in using Twitter vs. other social media tools. Here’s what we state in our Twitter Success Stories piece:

* The informal survey of Twitter users (mostly @MarketingProfs followers) was conducted from April 11 to 14, 2009. It included 213 completed responses, 66 percent of which were completed by people with fewer than 50 people in their companies. The rest of the breakdown: 101–1000 employees, 14.6 percent; 1,000+ employ¬ees, 11.3 percent; and 51–100 employees, 8 percent.

Knowing that not having all the content/context can affect a person’s position on a topic, I’d like to share the information, if you are interested/curious. A sneak peak of the Twitter Success Stories, which includes the introduction to Twitter, poll results, etc. can be found here: http://bit.ly/4e7cIO. Or, if you’d like to see the actual poll results click here: http://bit.ly/efJtd).

To your point, if we asked Facebook users or Wendy hamburger eaters what they favored, well…we can guess the answer.

I hope this puts us in a better light Kevin… That said, I think it’s safe to say that MarketingProfs was a bit unfairly judged, especially when you (and your readers) weren’t actually reacting to our piece, but instead to a quick snapshot and Li Evans’ opinion of what it offered/represented.

As for the rest of your post, here’s my two cents for what they are worth…

Should any marketer choose one tactic? No. But unfortunately it happens every day whether it’s direct mail or Twitter. And I think Li states the same thing you do…research must be done. I think we also have to remember that not everyone is an expert in social media and that there are A LOT of snake oil sales people out there hopping on the bandwagon to push shiny objects like Twitter, Digg, etc. The other important question we bloggers/social media folks need to ask ourselves: Am I the audience for this post? Often we jump in to criticize or judge when we aren’t the audience for the piece (I’ve done it myself). In this case, I don’t believe you are the audience…Serengeti’s clients and/or prospects are. I am stating this because we all seem to be losing our perspective in this space and we follow “rules” that no one can seem to agree upon or sort out who originated them. And I truly don’t believe it’s the community…because most average consumers could care less about our self-imposed rules (sorry, tangent there).

The last thought I’d like to add here is this… There are a TON of SEOs pushing sites like Digg and StumbleUpon as “social media.” Yes, they are social media tools and yes, inbound links are an important aspect of SEO. Having attended the last two Search Engine Strategy conferences (where Li has talked on the convergence of SEO/social media), I think it’s fair to assume that this might have something to do with Li’s reaction to the poll. The school I come from is that social media is about conversation, sharing and community…not linkbaiting. Hell, it wasn’t even called social media 5 years ago (but that’s my frustration to be discussed another time). Anyway, that’s what works for me and I am sticking to it. So there you have it, a poll of one…me.

Sorry for the long comment… Thanks again Kevin.

Beth Harte
Community Manager, MarketingProfs
@bethharte

Thanks for the link, that was a great article. The smaller city/media center point might also tie into the average education/average salary study I saw awhile back when they broke down FB vs. MySpace. I wonder what the correlation would be?