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.
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.
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 🙂
Well said Lee.
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.
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.
Amen to all said!
I just want to say I’m newbie to blogging and actually enjoyed this website. Very likely I’m likely to bookmark your website . You certainly have beneficial stories. Thanks a bunch for revealing your web-site.
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. …
This website is extremely good. How can I make one like this !
If you could message me with some hints & tips on how you made your website look like this, I would be thankful!
I experimented with taking a look at your blog with my ipod touch and the format doesnt seem to be right. Might wanna check it out on WAP as well as it seems most cellular phone layouts are not really working with your site.
An intriguing argument about casino and betting agencies is worth to comment. I do believe that you need to write more about this subject matter, it might not be a taboo matter but generally folks don’t discuss these issues.Casino online bets it’s actually the most respected and secure means to place your bets at this time. The first deposit bonuses and special offers are an appealing approach for online poker. People will probably never find these kinds of choices in any conventional casino.
Wow. This site is sick! How did you make it look like this ?
This site has lots of extremely useful information on it! Cheers for sharing it with me.
Awesome post ! Thank you for, writing on this blog page man. Ill email you soon. I didnt realise that!
After I open up your Feed it appears to be a lot of garbage, is the issue on my side?
I have got 1 idea for your blog site. It looks like right now there are a handful of cascading stylesheet issues while opening a number of web pages in google chrome as well as safari. It is operating alright in internet explorer. Possibly you can double check this.
This is often a wonderful site, could you be interested in working on an interview about just how you created it? If so e-mail me!
http://www.localseoforlawyers.com/
How do you make this blog look this good!? Email me if you can and share your wisdom. Id be thankful!
Can you message me with a few hints & tips on how you made this blog site look this good , Id appreciate it.
Cool post . Thank you for, posting on this blog mate. Ill email you some time! I didnt realise that.
This really solved my problem, thank you!
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he just bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Thus let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
100% natural solution for you to hypothyroidism & being pregnant problems. If you’re worried about your unborn infant’s well being this is actually the remedy for you
Tips On How To Grow Long Tresses Fast – Keep In Mind Be The Rapunzel That You Like
Virtually all of the remarks on this website dont make sense.