Sell, sell, sell
Fortunately, it's getting easier for agencies to sell their clients on social media services, although that wasn't always the case. Clients that are getting ahead of their agencies online is a more common problem.
Buddy Media, which is almost two years old, has gotten some of its business from clients whose agencies weren't ready to take them into social media.
"It was a hard start. We had to convince the agencies to convince their clients," Lazerow admitted. "Now we have clients saying, 'Give me a social media solution yesterday.' They're looking at where consumers live."
While Buddy Media gets many of its clients through partnerships with others that don't offer social media as part of their marketing packages, sometimes clients will come to it directly when their agency isn't moving fast enough on the digital front.
Thanks, in part, to the growing popularity of Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, businesses are becoming more aware, on their own, that these are tools they need to use. And as these websites age, agencies are able to provide their clients, for the first time, with some data about how social media can help them.
"Our direct stakeholders are seeing in other industries that companies are using social media to stand out. Clients are easier than ever to convince," said Mulder. "There are a lot more success stories and a lot more metrics and results."
Keep your team on its toes
Now that clients want to use social media in their marketing strategy, the questions they're asking agencies are starting to change.
"The questions that they come with are a lot more immediate: 'Is my audience ready for social media tools? How do I add to my online presence?'" Molecular's Mulder said.
The challenge an agency is more likely to face, according to Zimmerman's Jorishie, is convincing a client that although many social networking sites are free and, socially, require little time, that's not the case for them.
"It's been hard to convince some clients that it's not a one-time thing. It's a commitment," he said, adding that Zimmerman offers different levels of digital services to its clients. "It's a participatory thing. Like a garden, you have to grow it."
When it comes to a presence on social websites like Facebook and Twitter, or even commenting and participation on their own brand sites, it's important to have someone posting new content and moderating user-generated content.
"One of the assumptions companies make is it's easy and cheap," Jorishie said. "But you need to staff that can keep the dialogue alive. You don't want to have ratings and reviews that aren't moderated. You need to watch for spam."
On the technical side, it can take a team to come up with new ideas and ways for companies to get themselves out there.
"There are a lot of moving parts and it's labor intensive," said Lazerow. "It's more than just placing ads."
Some industries have been slower to latch on to social media than others. The financial sector, for example, is more conservative and takes to new strategies more slowly. Medical companies have had concerns about privacy and legal issues. But, as social media has continued to grow steadily even those last hold-outs are coming around.
"We have healthcare firm client and we're seeing a lot more flexibility and openness than there was two years ago from legal with what we can experiment with and try online," Mulder said.
Conclusion
Social media is the wave of the future, but what the future will look like is anyone's guess. Clients are more likely to expect a social media aspect to their marketing plan, but who provides that content will depend on an agency's capabilities. For some, it makes sense to start an internal social media department, but for others, partnerships might be your answer.
Ultimately, an agency that is going to be successful in social media needs to be ready to adapt to clients' needs while constantly watching changing technologies.
Meghann Ackerman is a freelance writer.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
<< Previous page
