• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 3, 2011

Social media is having a profound effect on big marketers, but it's also creating a paradox - creating a need for better measurement and analytics that the social media industry cannot seem to satisfy. That's the top line of a new survey of consumer marketers, released this morning by RSW/US.

The survey, which was conducted among 237 senior-level marketers in May and June, found that 95% believe that tracking consumer conversations about their brands via social media is "important" to their overall marketing efforts, and that 74% are now actively doing it.

The paradox, according to the study's results, is that only 23% of the respondents are "very satisfied" with the quality of tools currently available to monitor social media conversations.

The study, which was sponsored by digital agency Web Liquid, indicates that, "marketers are twice as likely to be satisfied with their social media monitoring tools when using more sophisticated paid solutions, compared to a free tool like Google Alerts."

As part of the release, Web Liquid announced plans for a "Social Media Monitoring Buyers' Guide," which would be published later this summer.