Can too much social media presence actually be bad for your brand? P.J. Lamberson, an MIT management professor, is in the process of completing a study that says yes, there is such a thing as negative social media buzz.

The key to Lamberson’s study can be summed up as such: if the initial public response on social networks or other discussion forums to a product launch is unimpressive, say due to an off-key TV campaign or unfavorable reviews (cough… iPad), then consumers are not likely to buy it. Early negative reviews are that lethal.

Lest you think this is a bit of marketing mumbo-jumbo, the Lamberson study applied advanced mathematical equations and was published in the Berkeley Electronic Journal of Theoretical Economics. Still, his findings are more intuitive than anything. If you are going to invest tons of money into R&D and traditional advertising, then you should probably invest in some social media monitoring too to see if your new product will live up to the hype. After all, customers often seek out for a second opinion – Amazon’s customer reviews being just one of many places – before making the final purchase.

Most moves by companies into social media are designed to augment their brand’s presence as much as possible. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the study confirms that if you do, you should be smart about it. In other words, don’t just “bolt on” a social media advertising component to the launch campaign. Perhaps its time for your company to start hiring some experts.