10 ways marketing companies kill social media
If you have worked for an agency, big or small you will most likely have come across some of the pitfalls that i am about to point out, ok they may not have been within social media, but it will have echos of your experiences..
a) Marketing people are generally not technical
b) Most digital marketing staff are not involved in the creative process
c) Social media is a mixture of technical and creative, so each side can find this meeting difficult
d) The shit storm commences …..
1) Pretend to be the client
This is a typical response for a small company who does not wish to loose out on a clients money, they will run an account as the client, even if they do not wish to. This type of approach might have worked for big brands, but it’s mostly smoke and mirrors, if it’s a clients account then someone who works for the client and who can answer company questions directly should be maintaining it.
Don’t – The whole point of a network is to talk to your followers, a brand should be doing this
Do – Set-up social accounts for a brand and make sure that it is all running well and step back. Help them run campaigns alongside the accounts, promote things like contests and help them with blogger outreach via these networks.
2) Charge clients on a set monthly basis for their social media
Agencies cannot run social media accounts for clients on a monthly retainer … why? because the very essence of social media is undermined by the very nature of this way of working. This approach gets so messy with clients paying for 2 days a month and then the social media department having to either struggle to get work done within that time, or having to frontload time for one month and being left with no time for the next two months to monitor the campaigns affects.. so let’s move on!!
Don’t – Think that social media will work within your current billing system of SEO and development
Do – Make sure that you provide a different billing method for social media
3) Working a 2nd agency with a client on a social media campaign
When a 3rd party agency who have no real experience with social media other than “talking allot about Facebook applications” get’s involved, RUN… and I’m not exaggerating. You don’t want to be any where near that campaign when the shit (that you said you smelt in the beginning) hits the proverbial fan.
Don’t – Let a 3rd party agency take over the social media running
Do – Have a meeting at the very start of the relationship to make sure you have all your skill sets defined before progressing any further. A bad idea is always a bad idea no matter how much you try and dress it up!
4) Confuse social media with SEO (pourquoi?)
OK…. lemme just say this once, If SEO and social media tried to get fruity with each other … it would be alot of dry humping but with no real satisfaction on either side. They are not the same species… don’t confuse them.
Don’t – Call an SM an SEO, it’s upsetting to SEO’s who might thing social media is wanky old bollocks and social media people who think SEO’s are just spammy link heads
Do -Unlearn what you have learned and think of social media as PR and creative marketing
5) Think a social media expert is a magician
Most experts are well connected, after all if they aren’t, they are simply glorified link builders. But if those connections aren’t maintained or misused… then those connections will start to see you (the social media person ) as less of a friend and more of a spammer. A social media person or department needs time and a whole heap of it to maintain these relationships and build more. It is the old moral tale of links vs relationships.
Don’t – Make the mistake of asking the social media department to spam their contacts
Do – Give the new department time to develop new relationships and networks
6) Make every second of the social media departments time billable
A social media department or person, needs time… it is the most precious thing you can give them, and by time i don’t just mean the odd Friday afternoon or 1.34 to 2.15 on every second Tuesday in a month with an E in it. I mean 3 solid weeks back to back to build up a niche network, develop some awesome link bait or an entire two days out videoing content in the local town centre… TIME my friends is the life blood of social media.. it will die without it.
Don’t – Give the social media department strict deadlines as you would give then SEO team
Do – Give the social media department the time to do a better job even if half this time is not billed to the client
7) Don’t run their own social media as an example
This is again down to timing and this happens all over, if a company is promoting a product they should be an example of that product. I can understand with SEO it is a matter of battling against some pretty competitive keywords, but with social media we are merely talking about ‘doing it’ and adopting the principles of it, from making videos of colleagues talking about themselves to giving staff enough time to promote the business.
Don’t – talk about how wonderful social media is until your company is also adopting it in-house
Do – Give your staff the opportunity to express themselves and help build your brand via social networks
Sell it as a technical service instead of PR service
The only difference between the way a social media campaign is run and a PR campaign using social networks is run, is that the PR company can afford champange and oysters and the social media guys get a packed of hula hoops and a topic.
Don’t -Sell a service to the technical director of a company and then wonder why we cannot push on creative ventures
Do – Promote the service to the head of marketing
9) Let clients dictate their social media campaigns
“Yes Mr client, you are absolutely right that using 3 days to find influential people who could market your business for you and help build your brand is ridiculous, lets start off with an hour a month and see where that takes us” ……….. (nowhere is the easy answer)
Don’t – Back down under pressure from a client who does not understand and limit social media campaigns possible impact
Do – Enforce the social message and make sure that you are talking to the right people
10) Think that social media analysis is a one stop shop!
The statistical side of social has been raised as the holy grail time and time again, but to be honest it’s not all that difficult. You simply find your goals and try to reach them… there are 100+ of free tools out there to help and yes they take time to plan and get right, but they work and they work well.
Don’t – Expect miracles within the first few months in the stats and expect it to work like SEO reporting
Do – Make time in a budget for a social media department to collate this data, take time to understand the processes and view the data in a more creative way
Well, if i haven’t lost you by now.. thanks for reading and i would love some feedback of what you would like digital agencies to consider… you don’t have to give your name so you won’t get into trouble x
Bye folks
