Agency ‘bullshit’ over who leads social media

For what it’s worth, some marketing rooster from Starbucks said in preso earlier this year that they reckon SM should definitely be owned and managed by the client. “We’re happy for our agencies to be our arms and legs, and help out our brains, but not to be our mouths.”

The quote is from memory, but that pretty much captures the gist of it. I think she’s right.

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It scares me that some agencies working in the SM field still don’t grasp the basics. These platforms are about interaction, not broadcasting. The client may need help designing or executing a campaign, but their employees are the ones who need to keep the conversation going, and evolve it where necessary. You can’t cage SM chatter; least of all behind an agency.

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@Vaughn Davis – spot on.

Too many agencies seem to forget that there is a client at the heart of we do – we work for them.

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I really disagree with the notion that regardless of the client, campaign, or any other given variable that Social Media should live either client or agency side and that it is a black and white area. There are so many factors at play that may mean it could work better on either side, pending whatever variable. There is no reason that an agency can’t work closely with the client in owning conversation, the same way that they can own creative or planning for a client.

Client or Agency, what I do think is important is that Social Media not be a small part of a Staff members role. It should be a full-time job and a complete focus, not mashed in as an afterthought for another digital or marketing role.

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Grace I get your point re black and white but I think every marketing function needs an owner… and I also think that social is so close to the core of how brands communicate with their customers that outsourcing it is a mistake. Consult and collaborate, for sure, but own your own conversations.

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In my mind the question shouldn’t be who owns social media, but rather what creates the best outcomes for the community. Community is what ultimately social media is about and what and when your community is happy and engaged they are more likely to become your advocates and support a business’s goals.

In my experience the community doesn’t necessarily mind or perhaps even notice if the management of the community is inhouse or external as long as their needs are being met. Having said that, a purely outsourced community manager is unlikely to be very effective at providing timely responses and the access the community requires to remain engaged.

In terms of which agency is best suited to help develop strategy and manage communities, I think that depends on the people within your agency. I know excellent social media managers at ad agencies and digital agencies, I know excellent social media agencies within specialist agencies and I am fortunate to work with some excellent social media managers within my own agency.

There is no silver bullet solution to social media and often times the best results are achieved when rather than fighting over territory the agencies come together to achieve the best outcome for the community and in turn client.

Full disclosure, I lead the digital practice and social media activity at Edelman, a PR company.

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Trying to create a community directly around a brand or product would always be a bit of a battle for engagement. Other than offering people freebies / discounts / prizes / special deals etc. why would you seriously want be a part of a brand community?

Yeah yeah there are exceptions like Apple – but this not social media success story. Just having an iSomething is now a social badge for being cool (I don’t personally see it that way, but others do) – that’s a branding phenomenon or even a cultural one hitting the right nerve at the right time etc.

In that case you get a bunch of advocates going off anyway making their own social media communities around a brand like Apple.

And who should own the communities on Social Media? Isn’t that a bit of a no brainer?.. the brand.. the angency? Obviously, the community itself.

Wouldn’t you want members to gain that intrinsic value of just belonging to this or that community – it’s got to be a never-ending game of dangling the right carrots in front of people otherwise – that can’t be sustainable, can it?

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I really really want to be friends with starbucks and Toyota. That would be such a cool conversation to have.

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The answer is definitely grey, but just like any communications channel, you need to understand why you wish to be in that channel and what the consumer will take out of it. This is a fundamental approach that all agencies whether PR, Media or Creative take, so in theory any one could take the lead in this space depending on the clients brief.

Agencies must also remember that we are entering the consumers space, and brands in this space must offer relevant value to succeed. It is the consumer that owns this area and it is they who dictate if they engage. There is no point amplifying a creative idea in this space if your audience are not interested in engaging with the brand, or bombarding consumers with constant irrelevant updates. And there’s plenty evidence of both.

Hence I believe that media agencies may be better placed to understand what role social media can play. However, the ideas that add value for the consumer can and should come from any agency.

Unfortunately, Social has become a buzzword for innovation, so some agencies (not all) are spending too much time infighting as to who brings the idea to life, rather than time on creating said brand value within the social space.

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I think one of the main problems is that large companies are used to large ad/media agencies having the skills to handle their marketing/advertising/commuication needs. It makes it “easier” for the company as risk management is to a certain extent devulged to the ad agency who has their account also for ease of communication etc.

The problem is that now a lot of the large ad agencies dont seem to have the social media skills inhouse to respond to clients needs. And clients are increasingly asking for a social media strategy.

Of course the agencies dont want to turn clients (esp. existing one away) so they take on the gigs.

Another issue I think is a little bit of ‘snobbery’ to call it that. Agencies feeling they are experts in marketing/advertising/communication and feeling social media is just an extension of this. It is – kind of.

As to large companies understanding how to use social media – perhaps they need to look to microbusinesses (like Babysitterdirectory.com.au which joined Twitter in June 2008) and SME many of which have been actively using social media as part of their communication/marketing mix for 2-3 years!

Currently a lot of the expertise in social media is with smaller agencies indeed even freelancers/consultants. No doubt key ones will spring to your mind. Agencies need to be connecting with this expertise and utilising it to bring the entire package of the client to life.

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Social Media is still an emerging area in terms of Marketing in Australia. Aussies are voracious participants in the medium so brands have become aware of the potential. Most slowly coming to terms with how to work with this new form of word of mouth marketing.

It is a fallacy to believe that any company can ‘own a community’. Social Media is the reverse of that concept. It is my belief that the best Social Media Planners can work with a marketing calendar and not only feed ongoing community dialogue, but stimulate the public into participating in word of mouth. This role can be inhouse or attached to an agency.

At the heart of any good plan is the layering of activity. I think ad agencies are an important element of the mix as they can use Social to support ongoing TTL campaigns as well as create sporadic noise. Digitally enabled agencies also have the skills to create branded online communications channels.

Meanwhile a team of moderators – either inhouse or agency – headed by a Community Manager engages the day to day activity/dialogue and most importantly, deals in real time with the customer service aspect of Social Media. The Community Manager’s role is PR focused.

All of those involved should also interact with a Data Analyst who can measure online sentiment. The result should be that the Planner can help locate the potential for better services and products for the brand.

And remember – NEVER, ever, engage a Social Media Planner who claims to be able to get a million followers quickly – they’re the Snake Oil salesmen of the business.

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As someone who gets up and speaks on Social Media in Australia, the amount of people I’ve come across that believe they’re social media experts is alarming.

However, on a positive note, I personally believe that those who can’t, are easily discovered and found out.

Personally I admin 15 or so commercial Facebook pages for clients, have 1,500+ followers on Twitter and get 2,000 views a day on my Flickr stream. I regularly use FourSquare, MeetUp, Digg and now starting to use Kontain. I’d put myself towards the more knowledgeable end of the scale.

/end advert

Simon Dell

http://www.TwoCentsGroup.com.au

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This is not a question that has only one answer. It depends on the business objectives. Too many times this fundamental question is not answered. What are we trying to achieve? Once the objectives are clearly defined, the strategy around social media should reveal itself. In our experience, social media management and marketing is a collaborative process with strategy being led by us and the day to day interaction being handled by us AND the client. Transparency is always paramount. Ghost writing is not what we do and is fraught with danger (depending on the situation, of course). If you’re trying to build long term trusting relationships with your audience, social media is a great way of having a conversation with them.

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I believe that organisations need to own responsibility for engaging with their audience via social media. To do this they need to spread their social media function across the business and stop thinking about it purely as a ‘task’ to be ‘managed’ by the marketing department.

The organisation becomes demonstrably open and communicative, it has a scaleable engagement strategy that doesn’t come to a screaming halt because the marketing manager is on holiday or the agency has used up its retainer for the month!

In fact, I’d argue that the marketing team shouldn’t be engaging in social media as brand representatives. If consumers want to hear from anyone representing a brand in social media then they want to hear from specialists who have the authority to take action and provide information, in the same way that media and analysts don’t want to speak to marketing people.

The role of the marketing team as I see it is to create the strategies and the policies, oversee the process, advise on issues, create content, track results and design and deliver training content – supported by their chosen agency partner.

As a side note, on the topic of media agencies and social media, I am skeptical. In my experience, their primary motivation for promoting social media as a channel to clients is the opportunity to shift advertising space in those channels. The actual engagement and all of the touchy feely stuff that goes with it is an afterthought.

The link above takes you to my blog post on this topic, which I have more or less covered in this comment.

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I believe that you all take yourselves far too seriously.

#justsayin

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Thanks for your contribution Joel. That’s really helpful.

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You’re very welcome, Troy.

I’m glad you found it so constructive.

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Quite frankly, I’m exhausted!

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