A new survey published today by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) had some interesting findings in terms of social media and the large gap that exists between the attitudes on behalf of large brands and the investment being seen in both time and money.

The survey, called “Marketing in Today’s Economy,” surveyed more than 100 marketing executives across North America on their company’s use of email, mobile and social media marketing. The survey found that a full 90% of marketing executives surveyed use social media, and three quarters believe it has a positive impact on their business, yet more than half (54.5%) of respondents said their company’s marketing team spends less than 10 hours per week investing in social media.

In addition, 35% said they spend only between one and five hours per week on social media marketing.  ”Social media has clearly become a widely used tool among B2B marketers and few doubt that it is helping their business,” said Rhianna Collier, Vice President of SIIA’s Software Division.  ”But our survey also shows that marketers may not be dedicating the resources necessary to get the results they want from social media marketing.  It is remarkable to see that, despite their strong belief in the power of social media, over one-third of marketers are engaged in it for only five hours or fewer every week.”

Some other interesting findings include:

1. 75 percent of respondents do not outsource any social media efforts.
2. Nearly 60 percent of respondents said that less than 5 percent of their deals began through social network interactions.
3. Privacy is the top ethical concern in today’s marketing world.
4. Most marketers predict that the biggest trend in 2012 will be greater communication and quantification of value to customers.

More information on the survey and it’s results is available in this press release.