It is growing increasingly clear that achieving business success using social media is becoming somewhat like a quest for the Holy Grail.

And the majority of those on the quest are not likely to find it anytime soon. While marketers understand search engine optimisation (SEO), research apparently shows that marketers are floundering about trying to work out how to deliver on the commercial potential of social media.

About one in five are not doing any tracking of social media activities. Of those that are counting, the evidence shows that the most important metric for marketers at present is not conversions or sales - marketers are, in fact, measuring just clicks or visits.

It is hardly surprising then that just about half of all marketers do not know if their campaigns are successful or not.

Search report flags little success with social media

However, despite this lack of proof about commercial success, the research - the UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report from Econsultancy - provides evidence that social media is becoming a greater part of the marketing mix.

Forrester Research forecasts that spending on social media marketing will grow to over $3bn by 2014, a huge increase on this year's $700+ million.

Based on this, the future for social media might seem rosy. However, a closer look at the figures indicates that business success utilising social media may stagnate or at least fail to make significant progress.

This is because by 2014, 59% of total online ad spend will be on SEO and PPC. That represents $31.5bn of the total online ad spending pie which is more than 10 times the size of the social media slice.

In short then, maybe Econsultancy is correct that social media is a large, fat red herring as far as capitalising on its commercial potential is concerned?

Well, the search team at Fuse think not.

Fuse agrees that the biggest money-making opportunities will come from investment in search, so SEO firms should not be going out of business - but social media is here to stay and, to succeed, companies will need to be part of this online society or risk becoming 'virtual' pariahs, outsiders or outcasts.

Businesses must engage in social media say SEOs at Fuse

Business must understand social media. It is about relationships with customers, engaging with target audiences, listening to those consumers and developing conversations with them.

These maybe 'soft' elements of business relationships and perhaps they do not lend themselves to immediate, measurable commercial success and profits. Yet common sense dictates that failing to have human, social relationships with customers cannot be productive - or profitable - for organisations in the long run.

The biggest issue social media faces commercially is whether it can be a viable medium that delivers return on investment. At present, the current truth probably is that the jury is still out on that.

However, the Fuse SEOs and online marketers believe it is vital that businesses are engaged in the social media sphere. It may take time but when large tranches of their customer base are engaged in that space, smart companies and firms must also be engaged with them, talking with them about issues that matter in their personal and business lives.

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