Seems some people still haven’t learned the first rule of business – namely, the customer is always right.

In a new study reported by eConsultancy, consumers and marketers were asked identical survey questions.  The results? When it comes to social media, not everyone is singing from the same page of the hymnal.

How big is the gap between responses?

Huge.

Click image to view full-sized.Consider…

• 60% of consumers want to connect with other brand fans on Facebook, while only 9% of brand marketers think fans want to connect with each other.
• 46% of consumers expect rewards, incentives, or exclusive content when they follow a brand, but only 7% of brands reward social customers.
• 50% of consumers expect service and support from brands on Facebook, and only 10% of brands provide it.

Some more interesting takeaways…

• 74% of consumers use social media to recommend products to friends
• 51% share product advice on Facebook
• 40% want more engagement from brands

And what about those brand marketers? What are their excuses reasons for dropping the ball?

• 67% don’t have the time/resources
• 42% lack competency
• 50% can’t measure their social media results

We can understand a lack of time, resources, or know-how – especially with small businesses. A small business’s time is generally taken up doing the business of their business.

But 50% of brands aren’t fully engaging in social media because they can’t measure a return…?

We wonder…  can they measure how much business they’re missing out on by alienating all those social customers?

Hmmmm…

Maybe they have enough money. Must be nice.

Do you?