This morning I noticed a tweet from Aussie ex-pat, social media wunderkind Paull Young that referenced a blog post by Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang, in which Jeremiah offers advice to marketers looking to choose a competent, experienced social media agency.
His post is worth reading in full, but his main point is that while many traditional agencies (including the maintream digital shops) now pitch social media services as part of their integrated offering, it is incumbent upon the buyer to dig beneath the surface and make sure the agency isn't all talk. In other words, make sure the agency you're hiring really knows the channels, understands how to leverage them appropriately and can give you concrete examples of how they've done so for other clients.
All good advice -- the truth is that for most agencies today, social media (or more broadly, conversational marketing) is a "sure, we do that too," in much the same way online was a "sure, we do that too," for ad agencies in the mid-1990s.
But I'd suggest that you should also submit the agency to an additional layer of scrutiny. More precisely, this isn't really about the agency per se -- it's about the individuals in the room, the people who will actually work on your business.
The truth is, most agencies have at least one bona fide social media expert on staff -- after all, we're a dime dozen these days.
I was "that guy" at Digitas. But if you were a client, the odds were pretty low that I would ever touch your business and, let's be frank, one guy (or even two - I brought on a smart and capable #2 just before I left the agency) out of thousands simply isn't enough. This doesn't mean that Digitas didn't do work in social media. They did (and they do) -- and they can certainly trot out examples of Facebook Fan Pages, widgets and corporate blogs to prove that they can get the mechanics right. And their case studies probably strike all the right chords -- they speak of transparency, authenticity, positive Net Promoter scores.
The real question is, are mechanics enough? And of course the real answer is, no.
(For the record, I'm not singling out Digitas here -- I don't believe they are any different from other similar agencies. They may even be better than most.)
So if the formal review lets you down, how do you know that you are really talking to a roomful of bona fide experts who can help your company navigate the murky social media waters?
It's simple actually, but first we need to agree on what makes an expert an expert. Here's my take...
When I say bona fide expert, I don't necessarily mean a person with formal training or any sort of proper pedigree -- there quite simply isn't any such thing. But on the other hand, I also don't mean the casual observer (read: everyone else at the agency) who has read all the trade articles, can spout the jargon and maybe even has a Facebook profile just cuz all the kids are doing it. Agencies are full of these people -- for that matter, so are client-side marketing teams.
I mean someone who has a true passion for social media and has made it a personal mission to 'live' in the space and experience new social channels as a consumer first, marketer second. This goes well beyond professional curiousity. He (or she) is the guy who blogs every day when his colleagues don't even read blogs, he's on Twitter long before his colleagues have even heard of it, he uses social networks as true active hubs for his personal community of friends and followers. He has learned through first-hand experience what swims and what sinks, and is smart enough to suss out why.
So back to those individuals in the room -- the people pitching for your social media business. How many of them have the passion - how many of them are "that guy?" Here's my suggestion. You need to look those people in the eye and give them the "You Test." Ask them some simple questions like:
- Can you tell me about your personal blog?
- What is your Twitter handle? I'd love to follow you.
- Can I meet you in Second Life for a follow-up conversation?
- Can you friend me on Facebook? I'm really interested in getting a sense of how you use it to build and maintain relationships with your community.
- I'm really interested in getting a sense of what you find most interesting online. Can you point me to your deli.cio.us, Digg or StumbleUpon pages?
I wouldn't expect everyone you ask to be active users of every tool out there -- I'm not, but I've certainly tried them all and can tell you why some didn't stick for me. But there is no substitute for real, first-hand personal experience -- odds are that if someone knows how to make a given social media platform work for them, they can help you figure out how to make it work for you and your brand.
Trust me. The answers (or lack thereof) will be telling and might give you all the information you need about whether or not a given agency is right for you, regardless of what the creds deck says they've put into market.
