How to choose a social media agency

by Robin Grant in News on 30 December 2008 at 11:51 Google+

Philip Buxton, the former editor of Revolution, has written a great checklist for brands choosing a social media agency:

  1. A new approach – since everyone claims to ‘do’ social, look for those seeking to develop new models for approaching it, not those seeking to map on their existing models
  2. Technology – everyone claims to have unique talent, to be ‘leading’, to have great clients, and real expertise. Technology, fortunately, can’t be faked, demonstrates genuine investment and expertise, and really can be proprietary and unique. So, which agency has developed/is developing their own technology to support their new approach?
  3. Measurement – the true value of real engagement by brands in social media is really hard to measure. I’ll be dropping my bank as soon as I don’t need them anymore because of the way it treated me when I was a student – good social media strategy will have a similarly long-lasting effect. Nonetheless, some agencies are having a very credible stab at it. Just steer clear of the ones who claim it’s that simple
  4. Existing credentials – being good at something, in my view, is a transferable skill. Muhammad Ali liked to say that if he’d been a dustman (I’m translating of course), he’d have been the best dustman in the world. I believe him. So, is the agency now claiming to be brilliant at social media brilliant at what it already does?
  5. Case studies – trade journalists will tell you that finding people to talk about social media is not a problem. Finding people that have real projects to talk about is a good deal more difficult. What has the agency really done in this area?

My shortlist would be made up only of agencies that tick all five boxes

We would agree with him…

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  • The Client

    Hi Robin, i thought i would share a clients view on this.

    1. I have met with numerous social media agencies over the last 18 months (and worked with a handful) and they all claim to do things 'differently' however the approached always seems to be pretty similar once you get into the detail and i have yet to see anything that was anything near revolutionary and think that social media consultancies need to 'fess up to the fact that they all trade on pretty similar methodologies.

    2. isnt the best technology open source these days?.. why would you build something that already exists and is being developed by the people that use it ? why would i invest in building a blogging platform rather than using blogger/typepad?

    3. youtube views, visits, number of comments left are all great metrics.. how do you calculate real engagement? The IAB cant crack it and until someone can get a handle on making some real sense of this then those of us that has to justify spending A&P on social media vs. other online (or offlne) media will struggle to make the case.

    4. i'll give you this one.. you cant make up for good people with good experience

    5. again, i would agree but i dont think that there is a formula… it depends on what the aim is… video content is easy compared to trying to communicate a new product proposition.. some of the best case studies (Sony Bravia work for example) come from traditional PR agencies

  • http://wearesocial.net Robin Grant

    Hello Mr Client! :)

    I’m intrigued to know who you are – perhaps you could drop me an email in private if you want to remain anonymous here?

    Anyway, I obviously can’t speak on behalf of Philip who wrote the points in question, but I do agree with him, so it’s worth me responding:

    1. You’re probably right in what you say here (and you’re probably in a better position to judge than I) – however, it misses the point that the original post was making – specialist social media agencies have a different approach to traditional PR, Digital or Search agencies. The fact that these specialist social media agencies seem to have an similar approach to each other is perhaps a sign that there’s some validity to it? I would of course argue that we to have an approach that is unique, hence our positioning as a conversation agency – but you’d perhaps want to wait until we’d worked together to form a judgement on that.
    2. In our case, the technology we’re developing isn’t available elsewhere – we have built and will continue to develop tools for campaign reporting and measurement, conversation response and in other areas. In all cases we’re building our solutions on top of open source platforms (i.e. we are not trying to reinvent the wheel, and definitely not by building another blogging platform!). Our existing clients seem to think these have value, and we know our tools have helped us win pitches against other specialists without similar tools of their own.
    3. Again, I agree with you. As Philip pointed out, measurement is hard, but we really are trying to lead the industry on this, both in terms of how we measure our own work, through the IAB’s Social Media Council (of which I’m a member – watch out for something from the IAB on this next year) and our involvement in other industry initiatives (such as MeasurementCamp).
    4. I’m glad you agree – we’re really happy with the team we’ve built so far and I think you’ll be impressed with the calibre of people who will be joining us in the New Year.
    5. There are a dearth of good case studies, which is perhaps the biggest problem. It’s worth noting that the Sony Bravia work was done by another specialist social media agency, not a traditional PR agency (and it may be that one of the people I mention in point 4 above was responsible for the campaign ;)

  • http://www.garyviray.com Busby SEO Test

    Hello Robert. Great article piece for a year-ender. I think the challenge with social media, being evolving in the process, is that no one can claim real expertise without being challenged. In the recent social networking conference I got involved last May, I came to conclusion that social media agencies with experience, whether success or failure, has insight that values more. If they lack project opportunities but are visionaries, they can also be worth taking the risk with. They must also be active users themselves. I laugh whenever I meet folks who claims to be a social media consultant but detest of even creating a Facebook account. Happy New Year!

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  • http://twitter.com/nanouk/statuses/1092007999 nanouk

    Twitter Comment by @nanouk (Isabelle Ayel)

    rt @paulfabretti We are a conversation agency [link to post]

    – http://twitter.com/nanouk/statuses/1092007999

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://tinyurl.com/cabezas haroldcabezas

    Great, insightful article….Busby SEO-hard to believe their are people like that! I think it is interesting to note that these are natural problems for a nascent media such as Social Media.

    Social Media's future is the future of media. That's great for us. ;-)

  • http://www.garyviray.com Busby SEO Test

    Hi Harold. Yes there are, I met one who is a Plurk user. It is even funny that there are folks there cheering his decision to stay Facebook-free. So I just end up giving a quote like, “who you are is not what you say are, but what you do.” He got the point and has a Facebook account now. LOL!

  • http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com olivier blanchard

    Robin, I can't say I agree with anything Phil states in that piece.

    1. How does a Social Media agency (or self-professed “expert”) produce credentials in a field that is still so new? We're all still learning how to do this right. Can you or Phil name a single “agency” with solid creds when it comes to having real Social Media experience? (Real would be defined as more than 8 months of work in that area.)

    Talent is not necessarily transferable either. Great copywriters don't necessarily make great web designers. Just because a Marketing firm rocks at doing one thing doesn't mean they can jump into SocMed and ever become good at it. Muhammad Ali was prone to the occasional metaphor and hyperbole. I wouldn't quote him in this instance. Phil is completely wrong about this. (If you don't believe me, look around. How many ad agencies even have a significant SocMed footprint? Almost none. Case closed.

    I like the sentiment behind Phil'spost, but he is completely wrong.

    2. On another point, unique technology solutions have very little to do with crafting and executing an effective Social Media strategy for a client. The tools and channels are already out there. Knowing what they are and understanding how they work = important. Building proprietary tools (technology can't be faked) is kind of irrelevant in this discussion.

    3. As for metrics, the key to making social media truly viable for any company without stacks of cash at their disposal for cool (yet vague) “engagement” strategies is to tie customer engagement to sales. Because SocMed isn't at all a sales channel, it takes a little bit of savvy to know how to connect the dots between customer engagement (via social media) and increases in net new customers, frequency of transactions, customer loyalty indicators, etc. Unless you can tie SocMed to sales, you won't be in the SocMed business for very long. Measuring “engagement” without tying it back to the P&L is about as self-serving and hollow as measuring 'eyeballs' (reach) in the advertising world. It's a sucker's model, and it won't fly in this economy. ;)

    1 and 5 are the only bits of wisdom that make any sense in Phil's post. 2, 3 and 4 are completely wrong.

    Cool of you to post this though. ;)

  • http://twitter.com/JDEbberly/statuses/1093049242 JDEbberly

    Twitter Comment by @JDEbberly (J D Ebberly)

    How to choose a social media agency | We Are Social – [link to post]

    – http://twitter.com/JDEbberly/statuses/1093049242

    – Posted using Chat Catcher

  • http://www.mediaquake.co.uk Philip Buxton

    Hi Olivier,

    Have replied on the post itself but to respond here too…

    1. Real case studies means real. Real work. Real results. And there are quite a few that have that.

    2. Disagree. Being ‘good’ I really do believe is a transferable skill. Give me someone who’s been brilliant at client service, for example, in any field at all over someone who’s done account management for an agency for a few years not very brilliantly.

    3. Technology to be able to track, record, measure and participate in social media exists and is very important indeed. Having it – as well as delivering the information we need and enabling us to act well – demonstrates investment, skills, and (hopefully) understanding.

    4. Tie it back to sales if you want (in fact I've said before how important tying social media stuff to sales is (http://connect.icrossing.co.uk/social-media-fac…)). Just develop ways of measuring whatever is deemed to be ’success’.

    Best,

    Phil

  • http://www.contentandmotion.co.uk/online-pr-agency-services/ Roger, Online PR Agency C&M

    Hey Robin

    Great list – I'd agree broadly. Not sure that having your own technology is a must. Fine if you can really support it and sell it, but it'll only be as good as the number of clients on the system and the inward investment. Softeware development is hard – often best left to specialists.

    Measurement – I wouldn't put a value of anyone who told me measurement was hard. It should be made simple, in nice formats. Much of this depends on what and how the client wants to measure…. in understanding their conventions and benchmarks. One guys PPT is anothers poison. It's a messy one – the value is hard to track, but from what I see most clients would just like a basic quantitative handle on it as a starter for ten… spo they can justify a spend. Then they can go do something bolder …

    Cheers

    Roger

  • http://www.contentandmotion.co.uk/online-pr-agency-services/ Roger, Online PR Agency C&M

    Hey Robin

    Great list – I'd agree broadly. Not sure that having your own technology is a must. Fine if you can really support it and sell it, but it'll only be as good as the number of clients on the system and the inward investment. Softeware development is hard – often best left to specialists.

    Measurement – I wouldn't put a value of anyone who told me measurement was hard. It should be made simple, in nice formats. Much of this depends on what and how the client wants to measure…. in understanding their conventions and benchmarks. One guys PPT is anothers poison. It's a messy one – the value is hard to track, but from what I see most clients would just like a basic quantitative handle on it as a starter for ten… spo they can justify a spend. Then they can go do something bolder …

    Cheers

    Roger

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  • http://twitter.com/SCHugarmama Christine Ryder

    Love this post even two years later. We referenced in our latest blog post here: http://www.goelastic.com/theblog/index.php/2010…
    Thanks for a great article. Cheers.

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