MARK CRIDGE
Why social media is a long-term prospect
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Many digital agencies have perhaps been blindsided by the rise of social media
The problem with being a specialist is that when everyone can do what you’re good at it ceases to be particularly special. That certainly seems to be rapidly becoming the case for many of those self-styled social media gurus out there.
It’s barely six months since the future looked set to be defined by your local common or garden social media influencer listening strategy agency; now everyone seems to be doing it for themselves.
It all seems a bit unfair. At least with the original wave of digital we had a good run of about ten years before most people worked out what we were talking about. At this rate, though, social media agencies will be lucky if they get a clear ten months.
Many digital agencies have perhaps been blindsided by the rise of social media; it has levelled the playing field for agencies of all creeds, giving everyone the chance to develop new credentials. Just being digital doesn’t mean you’ll be any better placed to deliver socially.
What’s becoming clear is that the field of play isn’t just open to all agencies, but every client business and corporation out there as well. Now that the Government has seen fit to issue an informative, useful and practical guide on how to use Twitter, we’re clearly going to be hearing a lot more from all manner of civil servants and ministers. No doubt we’ll also see a surge in take-up from all manner of commercial businesses as they get on with getting social all by themselves.
With its low barriers to entry, Twitter is a clear first step for any organisation finding its feet in social media, with or without 20 pages of best-practice guidelines - made all the easier, no doubt, by Twitter’s active moves to help businesses get signed up and tweeting.
Pete Blackshaw of Nielsen said in AdAge, “It’s hard to turn over a rock in social media, dip your toe into Twitter or comment on someone’s blog without rethinking the fundamentals of a firm’s organisation or product development. Such first-hand experience begets inspiration. Inspiration powers change. And change is needed now more than ever before.”
Just as increased listening and participation may help a traumatised political system regain some respect and understanding, there’s nothing like being part of the conversation to force reappraisal of how, why and where we do what we do as clients and agencies. Rather than exploit social media simply to make up for shortfalls in current ad budgets, it demands we take a longer-term view, reconsidering how we use different media together, the role and expectations we have of creative work, and our definitions of success.
While we might lose out on a few opportunities to knock out a quick blog or a couple of widgets in the short term, we’ll more than make up for this with richer, broader, more genuine and more entertaining client and agency partnerships, which has to be a better prospect.
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Readers' comments (3)
Nathan McDonald, Managing Partner, We Are Social | Fri, 25 Sep 2009 1:26 pm
Hi Mark,
You're right to say social media is democratic. You're also right to say companies can start "getting social all by themselves".
But as I'm sure you know from the age old debates on whether "ad agencies can do digital", the question isn’t whether anyone can do it – it is whether anyone can do it well. Government departments, traditional PR agencies, digital agencies, marketing managers, advertising agencies, DM agencies and interns can suddenly claim to "do social" because they now have a Twitter account.
However, just as with the rise of the specialist digital agency, it's only by having a team of people doing and thinking about it all day everyday (in both their personal and professional lives) that they get really good at it.
This is the role of a specialist: it's not simply about "being able to do it" but doing it better than anyone else.
And although you may not be worried about missing out on building a blog or a widget, I think you miss the point: social media is not about the destinations or toys that you build, but about the conversations people have around these.
cheers
Nathan
Managing Partner, We Are Social
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Carl Martin, Mobile Strategist at Redweb | Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:52 pm
The validity of both arguments is unquestionable, and agree 100% with 'doing social media and doing it well', but won't the ultimate and long term goal be to recognise an ROI in sales from a social media presence/campaign?
(Taking into account campaign objectives vary to disparate degrees!)
The best examples of social media currently involve monitoring and reacting to consumer conversation, but in reality many brands and companies will be looking for 'Compare The Meerkat' type returns on their investment.
So you can do social media, you can do it well, but when a client wants conversions and sales, that's when an agency can stand up and say 'we do it best'.
Carl Martin
www.mobsessed.co.uk
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Camilla Hicks-Duarte | Mon, 28 Sep 2009 5:32 pm
Absolutely agree with both Nathan and Carl.
The number of times I hear people talk about their social media 'strategy' being based upon them largely extending their broadcast marketing to outward-facing twitter/Facebook pages is almost immeasurable.
Social media isn't just a platform, it requires strategy to maintain (in a manageable way!) ongoing comms, and expertise to make sure it's done properly.
Whilst there's an argument for tentatively dipping one's toes in the water, if that water turns hot due to some ill thought-out messaging or lazy tactics then a brand is likely to avoid social media altogether.
Which, in today's climate in which the consumer/audience is growing ever-hostile to those brands who DON'T seek to bridge te gap between consumer and product, could result in the death knoll being rung for those brands who don't embrace.
So, whilst we're in agreement that to miss it is to miss out - to mess it could be even more damaging.
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