Marketers with enough years under their belt know what spin is and pretty much know they can’t get away with it —prospects and customers are just too savvy these days. Marketers involved in social media know what transparency is and know that customers expect it.

Recently I came across a press release from Cone [hat tip: @JackiePeters] regarding their recent 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study.

According to the survey:

• 60 percent of Americans use social media, and of those, 59 percent interact with companies on social media Web sites.
• 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media.

(Social media was defined as: Technology facilitated dialogue among individuals or groups, such as blogs/microblogs, forums, wikis, content sharing, social networking, social bookmarking and social gaming. According to their spokesperson Andrea Larrumbide, the survey was conducted with a “pre-existing panel of respondents. We screened for prior usage of social media.”)

Those numbers didn’t sit quite right with me, so I relied on the numbers I’ve shared in the past. There are 301,621,157 people in the USA, of which 220,141,969 have Internet access.

Now stating that 60 percent of Americans use social media and 93 percent believe a company should have a social media presence (93% is about 204,732,031) seems to be a bit of a stretch.

I’d venture to guess that if I went to Any Town, USA and asked a group of Average Joes/Janes if they use social medial and believe companies should have a presence, I am pretty confident they wouldn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about. Heck, some marketers I speak with don’t even get social media!

eMarketer reported on September 3, 2008 a recent survey from Synovate that stated only 40% (5,200 of the 13,000 surveyed globally) of the Americans surveyed knew what a social network was. The eMarketer report also shared stats from a Universal McCann survey that states only 23.4% of the American population utilizes social networking with blog readership at: 23% daily, 42% weekly and 19% monthly.

These numbers seem to be a little more realistic.

Knowing about the above surveys, I reached out to Andrea Larrumbide and asked for a copy of the survey and the results (an executive overview like Universal McCann’s would have been great) and was told that they only share that information with paying customers. Interesting.

Skepticism aside, what can we learn about social media surveys and how we share data at a time when social media has become an important part of how we interact and do business?

• Don’t spin findings. Doesn’t “93% of those surveyed believe…” work better?
• Share your survey and findings in an executive format—it’ll provide credibility (that’s a no-brainer)
• If you are going to invest money in primary research, survey people outside the echo chamber

And for those researching social media or utilizing social media research to justify their plans, etc., don’t get caught up in research numbers that state what you want to hear. Question them.

Having done a fair amount of market research for the purposes of PR and thought leadership, I understand the urge to want to spin results and be the one company with the findings that justify its existence, but I am not a market researcher by trade.

That said, what’s your impression? Do you agree with my spin factor assessment? What tips would you offer to marketers and social media professionals when it comes to research?

[Photo: iStock]