In this article in BizReport by Helen Leggatt entitled, "Marketing agencies lack social media know-how," there is this quote by Jim Nail, chief marketing and strategy officer at TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony: "You get the sense that agencies talk a good game… They put up a good presentation about what social media is, but when you get to implementing campaigns, the day-to-day management skills are not meeting the marketers' expectations."

You can say that again. I owned an establishment firm once. I know how to talk a good game. As long as the agency has that skill, it can keep talking the good game to bring new clients in through the front door at a rate more or less equal to the the count of disgruntled clients exiting out the back.

A more important concern or question — and one I've been trying to figure out for some time now– is why are the traditionalists so slow to the fair? My leading theory so far: for a traditional agency to master social media is akin to a pharma company inventing an over the counter remedy to their own, leading, expensive, perscription drug. Much of social  media can be DIY (or DWA, as in, Do Without Agencies).

The article is actually about the risk of having an agency faking it on your behalf. Summarizing the feeling of a range of corporate types, Ms. Leggatt writes: "…by applying old models to social media, traditional agencies could do more harm than good."  In my experience, that happens to be very, very true!

Share This