Being a global marketer has always presented unique challenges for a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons include lower adoption rates of technologies or tools in some areas, cultural barriers and the old standby, lack of resources. A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Buddy Media highlights just how tough it can be to be a global marketer even in today’s hyper connected social world.

The chart below shows highlights the general issue quite well. Note: this poll was conducted with 105 brand managers who have global responsibility.

In today’s world though the silver bullet is social media. Everybody gets it and does it, so it must be easy. Heck, Facebook itself has 500 million ‘active’ users so they can reached there, right? Not so fast. At least according to this poll, that may be the view of ‘experts’ and ‘gurus’ but reality-based marketers have a different view.

The internet is all a buzz this week about the return of Mad Men on AMC. From the amount of hype, you would think that it’s one of the hottest shows on the air in terms of ad revenue, but that’s not true. According to an article in Advertising Age, Mad Men pulled in only $1.98 million in ad revenue last year on a show that costs 3 million per episode to produce. Part of the problem is that the show, despite all the critical acclaim, has an audience equal to about one fifth of a network show like CBS’s NCIS. And yet, AMC declares the show a hit and continues to produce it along with partner Lionsgate. Why? Because direct sales isn’t the only way to measure a marketing campaign’s success.