Advertising Agencies and Social Media Culture Clash or Made for each other?

by    |   22nd Sep 10 5:24 am   |   6
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RSW US Survey 2010 Advertising Agencies and Social Media Culture Clash or Made for each other?

Though several businesses look at social media as an innovative means for advertising, not all advertising agencies are flocking to social media for their next killer campaign. A recent study by RSW/US took a look at the business-to-business social media habits of a variety of ad agencies and reports that nearly 54% of the agencies polled said they never or rarely use social media when prospecting for new clients.

Is there a culture clash between social media and the advertising world? Or are they partners made for each other? Let’s do a reality check.

RSW/US Study Findings

Amongst the advertisers which use social media, LinkedIn is the most preferred social network getting nearly 51% of the votes primarily because it’s beneficial on the front and back-end of prospecting. Advertising agencies are joining the LinkedIn bandwagon to research and reach out to prospects as well as building strong pre-pitch relationships.

Facebook and Twitter collectively account for nearly 11% of social media activity in ad agencies polled by RSW/US.

I have to admit that I’m shocked at these statistics. Especially, I find it difficult to believe that Twitter is being sparingly used by ad agencies. The study suggests that lack of time and money are the major barriers to using social media. Both Twitter and Facebook are free so the cost argument is a complete non-starter.

Social media is critical part of overall outreach strategy

The study confirms that a large number of advertising agencies admit that social media has become an important part of the overall outreach strategy; it is by no means the be-all-end-all. Social media is gaining acceptance as part of a fully integrated marketing program.

Marketing to the marketers

It ain’t easy marketing to the marketers. Though marketers are champions at using social media to market a product to customers, they are not exactly fond of social media when it comes to marketing themselves.

Being an online marketer and social media activist myself, I can correlate to the time pressure and stretched schedules of fellow marketers. The report suggests that

“People don’t have the time to answer their phones, check out e-mail and be active in the social scene. That [fact] even more so justifies a need to make sure you’re in all those touch points.”

Though that holds true for a majority of advertising professionals, it is a case in point of the importance of social media as well. Social media for outreach can lighten a marketer’s burden assuming that the message is useful and to the point.

RSW/US conducted its poll online in August. The respondents came from a mix of holding company-owned shops like Leo Burnett, DDB, Mindshare and Initiative, and independents such as Northlich, LeapFrog Interactive and Mediasmith.

Do you use social media to reach out to prospects? What role does a social medium play in advertising your products and services? Please share your opinion by leaving a comment below this post.

Douglas Idugboe, Digital and New Media Marketing Strategist. Founder and Chief Editor of Smedio! A Canadian Bestselling Author, Marketing Strategist, Speaker and Trainer, Who Loves Technology
  • http://stephanieburt.wordpress.com stephanieburt

    Social media is an integral part of the agency I work for. Simply from the listening/research phase, it provides instant insight into a target audience. Prospective clients and their customers benefit greatly from knowing we listen to their customers in every way possible.

  • http://twitter.com/leeimorgan Lee Morgan

    Thanks for passing this around Doug, I like your write up.

    I’d add… this study clearly raises the flaw that RSW has inherently in its make up… “Traditional advertising agencies” don’t know how to embrace the era of digital marketing! It’s hilarious that they have even publicised this to a great extent.

    What’s shocking and most misleading is the questions approach. In my experience, as soon as the word “New” is put in front of the words “Business Opportunities” the mindset of the businesses tactics are completely misled.

    Social Media gives can give agencies the understanding of what “Business Opportunities” they need to respond to, not just new customers. I’ve had customers asking for referrals, insights, best practice and so on. I don’t term that as “new business”, it’s relationship development. Someone even recommended we re-appraise our Project management process to include alerts by Tweets! That’s value add to our customers, enables us to be more effective and efficient, will cement our relationship and yes long term create more £!

    Relationships are at the heart of business. If traditional agencies can’t embrace their audience where they want to communicate, they’ll simply loose out.

    Actually, hasn’t this study been about that for RSW :)

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      Well said Lee.

  • http://www.rswus.com Mark Sneider

    Doug,

    Appreciate the post. Actually don’t know that cost was ever cited (by me at least) as a reason why agencies aren’t using social media. It really is a time and resource issue. Cost may have shown up in an open-ended response noted by one of the agencies responding – and there it could have been in relation to hiring someone to help them manage a social program.

    As far as the survey is concerned, and the questions used/words used, as point of perspective, prior to starting RSW/US 5 years ago, I spent 7 years working for a global research consultancy writing surveys for major CPG clients testing new products and advertising, so I think I know just a little bit about surveys and how to write them.

    The majority of the feedback we get from agencies on our surveys is that the insights we glean are very enlightening and very helpful to their overall new business development efforts.

    The point we’re trying to make is don’t put too much emphasis on social media as a new business/lead generation tool. It should be part of the game, but by no means the only way in. I’ve seen too many agencies over my years of running this business that get so overly consumed by it – only to get them nowhere.

    And to Lee’s point about embracing audiences where they want to communicate – we’ll just have to wait and see. My guess is that when we ask marketers in our upcoming survey about their use of social media – we’ll find that the numbers unearthed in this survey (about % of business generated via social media) will make even more sense.

    Appreciate Lee’s thoughtful comments. We have been in the business of helping agencies win new business for 5 years. We have 41 agency clients we represent of all types and sizes across the nation. We operate as an outsourced lead generation/business development firm for these agencies and use social media to help us follow prospects – but it’s only one part of the total effort.

    • http://smedio.com Douglas Idugboe

      Mark,

      Thanks for taking the time to further clarify your brilliant survey.

      The issue of cost has been related to the common excuse of lack of time with many of the agencies for not fully adopting social media as part of their service mix. While I agree social media is not an end-all-be-all tool, it should never be seen as an option for any agency that has a long term survival strategy, it’s a must. The fear of “this is a threat to our industry” should be eliminated; social media would complement and help any agency tremendously, if properly implemented.

      For those that expect direct sales from social media channels are only going to be disappointed. Social media does not excel as much as a sales tool, it’s most effective in building relationships that lead to the sale. With that said, I can’t wait to see the results from your upcoming survey.

      • Mark Sneider

        Amen to all said!