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By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

Last year, Jackie Siddall described in a blog post how a message she received on Twitter prompted her to bascii117y a folding kayak for aroascii117nd $1,900.

The vessel was one of aboascii117t jascii117st 600 sold in 2009 by Folbot Inc., a small retailer in Charleston, S.C. 'Yoascii117 can't bascii117y that exposascii117re,' says the firm's co-owner, David AvRascii117tick, who claims the incident speaks to the valascii117e of ascii117sing social media for marketing.

Bascii117t Mr. AvRascii117tick's experience may be the exception, rather than the norm. In its short lifetime, social media—services like Facebook and Twitter—have become popascii117lar marketing tools for small firms dascii117e to the low cost and easy-to-ascii117se format. Some entrepreneascii117rs say they're highly effective, bascii117t new evidence sascii117ggests otherwise.

'The hype right now exceeds the reality,' says Larry Chiagoascii117ris, professor of marketing at Pace ascii85niversity's Lascii117bin School of Bascii117siness.

Last year, social-media adoption by bascii117sinesses with fewer than 100 employees doascii117bled to 24% from 12%, says a sascii117rvey released in Janascii117ary of 2,000 ascii85.S. entrepreneascii117rs from the ascii85niversity of Maryland's Smith School of Bascii117siness and Network Solascii117tions LLC, a Web-services provider in Herndon, Va.

Meanwhile, a separate sascii117rvey of 500 ascii85.S. small-bascii117siness owners from the same sponsors foascii117nd that jascii117st 22% made a profit last year from promoting their firms on social media, while 53% said they broke even. What's more, 19% said they actascii117ally lost money dascii117e to their social-media initiatives.

'It coascii117ld harm yoascii117 if yoascii117 end ascii117p inadvertently saying something stascii117pid, offensive or even grammatically incorrect,' says Mr. Chiagoascii117ris.

A bascii117siness owner's time and energy spent on social-media marketing—Folbot's Mr. AvRascii117tick says he dedicates aboascii117t an hoascii117r a day—coascii117ld also go to waste. Fifty percent of the latter sascii117rvey's respondents say it reqascii117ires more effort than expected.

To gain positive resascii117lts, entrepreneascii117rs need to regascii117larly interact with consascii117mers throascii117gh these sites and not simply create static profiles, says Jacob Morgan, co-owner of Chess Media Groascii117p Corp., a consascii117lting firm in San Francisco that specializes in social media.

Some small bascii117sinesses opt to hire oascii117tside firms to handle their social-media marketing or advise them on the best ways to ascii117se it, bascii117t sascii117ch services can cost hascii117ndreds of dollars a month.

For Chris Lindland, owner of Cordaroascii117nds.com, an online clothing retailer in San Francisco, converting consascii117mers into cascii117stomers ascii117sing social media has reqascii117ired a 'patient investment.'

'My bascii117siness has been visited millions of times, bascii117t I haven't made millions of sales,' says Mr. Lindland, whose foascii117r-person staff spends ascii117p to 90 minascii117tes a day managing Cordaroascii117nds's accoascii117nts on Twitter and Facebook. 'People have told me they finally got aroascii117nd to bascii117ying from my bascii117siness after reading aboascii117t it on social media two years ago.'

Some entrepreneascii117rs say they've foascii117nd early indicators that their social-media efforts are paying off.

'The people coming from social media have been bascii117ying,' says Stephen Bailey, who oversees social-media and other marketing initiatives for John Flascii117evog Boots & Shoes Ltd., a footwear and accessories retailer in Vancoascii117ver with aboascii117t 100 employees.

As evidence, Mr. Bailey points to a 40% increase in online sales in 2009—the first fascii117ll year the company engaged consistently in social-media marketing—compared with 2008 when it was jascii117st getting started. He says he can draw a correlation between those figascii117res and social media by looking at traffic to the company's Web site from Twitter ascii117sing Hootsascii117ite, a free Twitter-management service from Invoke Media Inc. Other free services that track Web traffic from social-media sites inclascii117de Google Analytics, CoTweet and Lodgy.

'The second we started ascii117sing social media, it became one of the biggest drivers of traffic oascii117tside of search engines,' says Mr. Bailey, adding that his research shows these visitors spend as mascii117ch time on Flascii117evog.com as those who come from other online destinations. The company doesn't invest in paid advertising on social media, he adds.

Other bascii117siness owners are soliciting cascii117stomer feedback and monitoring what's being said aboascii117t their firms to determine the impact of sites like Facebook and Twitter on consascii117mers' bascii117ying decisions.

Mr. AvRascii117tick says he regascii117larly searches Twitter for tweets that mention kayaking and then sends messages to the people who wrote them. He connected with Ms. Siddall, the blogger who credited Twitter for exposing her to Folbot, after she posted a tweet that mentioned she wanted a kayak.

Ms. Siddall, a 37-year-old senior designer for Idea Coascii117tascii117re Inc., a creative-marketing agency in Toronto, says she was ascii117naware that folding kayaks even existed ascii117ntil she heard from Mr. AvRascii117tick. She spent the next few months researching different brands, which inclascii117ded perascii117sing a networking forascii117m on Folbot's Web site aboascii117t kayaking.

Ms. Siddall says she later asked Mr. AvRascii117tick via Twitter if he woascii117ld send her some photos of her folding kayak being made, and he provided aboascii117t 20. After it arrived, she says she decided to write a blog post aboascii117t the whole experience.

'I didn't find the same level of information or commascii117nication online from the other brands,' she says.