Our advertising agency have asked us many times before if we would want them to manage our social media stuff for us.
Of course I would think that everybody should do their own social media because of the "authencity" value. But I am also a realist. If people want to out-source their social media and there is a buck to made, it will actually happen somewhere. I also believe that there is some value to a consultant or agency helping people along for the some period of time.
I am not going to name brands but I have seen some big brands with some amazing and sophisticated social media marketing programs. These companies are beggining to make correlations between "share of voice" and true marketshare, using listening platforms to track micro-trends and taking location-based marketing to a whole new level.
Of course these companies have the resources to hire the biggest agencies and best minds in the world to help them navigate social media labyrinths and determine a strategy.
For medium-sized companies. I guess unless you are an elite brand, most companies are desperately confused about what to do about social media. But most of these companies at least have the vision and budget to hire an agency to get them started on social media marketing.
For small businesses - I really believe that social media can provide an advantage to most small businesses, but that doesn't mean it actually does unless they are working on it! Now why isn't it happening?:
- They are overwhelmed by the concept and dont know where to start
- They started Facebook page and nobody "liked" them so they quit
- They understand the concept but don't have the time or resources to do anything consistent and meaningful
- Their marketing budget is tied up on traditional marketing and they don't have anything left for something new
- When you bring it up, they stare you down and tell you they dont need Facebook or Twitter.
The new category of social media gurus are trying to teach best practices and perhaps do some hands-on social media management. My take is the most of these efforts eventually fail because you are communicating for somebody else, which is probably not sustainable, and the labour cost to actually do this stuff is so high and the results so undefinable in the short term that businesses lose interest.
I am also coming across more small agnecies offering social media packages - e.g. one facebook update, tweet a day and one blog a week. I am not quite a fan of this approach because it intstitutionalises lazy marketing. But it is happening. A lot.
I think the only viable long-term solution for most small businesses is to get some coaching and learn step by step plan to eventually create a culture, an organisation and an actionable strategy appropriate for the company resources and budget. This seems to be the approach that will work best.
Posts
