We’ve been telling you a great deal about how to link social media with surveys; combining the 2 tools really ramps up the power of both.

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review shows how powerful–and simple-it can be and how surveys can not only increase the power of social media but also answer the all-important question, “Is social media getting me anywhere?”

And here’s the best news: The survey reported on in the Harvard Business Review article used the EXACT model of one of the templates we’re providing in “Turn Surveys Into Cash.”

Two researchers sent out a survey to customers of a Houston bakery. They then set up a Facebook fan page and invited everyone on the bakery’s list to become a fan. The bakery began updating the page with pictures of its tasty goods, intros to their employees, positive reviews of the bakery, and updates of contests and promotions.

After 3 months, they sent out another survey and this time, they received many more responses than on the initial mailing. They compared several groups of customers, including those who became fans, Facebook users who did not fan the page, and customers who weren’t on Facebook.

What did they find? Well, in a nutshell, the fan page had a positive effect on customers who became fans: Customers who replied to both surveys and became fans turned out to be the best customers, according to the survey. Fans were the most likely to say that they’d choose this particular bakery over others, whenever possible.

This simple model is one of the ones we’re teaching folks to use in the MySurveyExpert community–it’s a “before and after” design in which you measure where your customers or prospects are before you give them something–a fan page, Ecourse, coaching program, or whatever–and then measure the attitudes or behavior again, after they’ve used your stuff.

It’s a super simple but incredibly powerful way to find out what’s working and what isn’t!