It seems the hype is starting to peel away from social media. We are now starting to learn how to really use this new medium. 
A survey by Direct Marketing Association and Colloquy found that Brand Awareness and Customer Growth/Loyalty were the driving objectives of marketers with social media. Only 19% thought it was a good Acquisition media. Another 27% said “Other.” That “Other” group must be all the people who are doing social media but don’t know why.
The study was called “Deploying Social Media to Cultivate Customer loyalty: A Benchmarking Study” (August 2010). The study also found that companies were allocating the majority of marketing dollars to developing customer growth and retention programs through social media. In fact, Customer Growth and Loyalty out distanced the other categories combined. The study noted that most companies that listed customer acquisition for a major objective for social media were smaller companies. As reported by eMarketer, other studies by Marketing Sherpa and eROI also reported similar findings.
What this means is that if you are looking to social media to acquire new customers you may be searching for a long time. And it just makes sense: Most social media is based on relationships, fans and friends. If you don’t know a company or organization, how are you going to engage with that unknown in the social media world? It’s hard to have a relationship with someone you don’t know.
