In June, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) -- in partnership with HeadMix, a social business software provider -- released the results of their survey designed to provide insight into how social software currently is being used.

There's some good data in the results for marketers, but one finding that stood out for me -- which is the basis of this blog -- is in the chart above. The biggest barrier to adoption of enterprise social networking is a clear, quantifiable business value.

According to the survey, nearly 60% of marketing and management professionals think social networking can have a significant influence on their company’s brand awareness, even though less than one-quarter say they are “actively engaged,” with it. Do you think billboards would score higher for brand awareness?

Anyway, the results of the social media survey is available for free download (must register first).