Are agencies providing the kind of relevant use of "social media" that they would have us (the public, consumers and their clients) believe? I don't think so. Apparently, clients agree. There's a new study conducted by RSW/US, the "Survey of Social/Digital Landscape; Marketer and Agency Perspective" (download the pdf). In the September 21 issue of Adweek, Andrew McMains brought up the question in his article, "Social Challenge", New Study shows social media disconnect between shops and clients. Mark Sneider, President of RSW/US said of the results of the survey, "marketers aren't satisfied with the level of support they're getting." He went on to say, "Just talking the talk" is not enough.
While the vast majority (over 75%) agency executives believe that they're "cutting edge" in guiding the use of social media for their clients, only 38% of the marketers acknowledged "getting the support they crave". Interesting. These results remind me of a previous blog I wrote several months ago, "CMOs And Digital Marketing Disconnect".
Online marketing is a difficult thing to do well. Virtually every client or prospect I talk to admits that they're own company's (whether agency or consumer brand) marketing effort is weak, or incomplete, or "not where we'd like it to be". Everyone would like to have a new, better website that more effectively communicates who they are and what they do. They'd like to be incorporating social media, the way they know it should be incorporated. There's rarely the time or resources devoted to an agency's own marketing effort. It seems incongruous . . . perhaps it is.
The need to educate clients and ourselves continues and will never end. It would be great if there were more outstanding resources for both client and agency to learn more about social marketing (online marketing) trends and tactics. Clients care about results, as should agencies. Finding ways to prove value from the agency/consumer perspective is not easy and is a continuous task, always needing refinement.
The internet has replaced traditional media as the prime source of business intelligence for executives. Agencies should be leading by example about the most effective ways of presenting a company on the internet. They should be making a visit to their site compelling, dynamically informative, and motivating for the visitor. It just doesn't seem like that happens enough.