| ||||||||||||
PRINT
COMMENT
SUBSCRIBE
RSSThere is a quiet battle raging in the advertising industry over who will become the Agency of Record (AOR) for marketers' social media efforts. With traditional media for delivering advertising declining in reach and effectiveness, and an even greater call for advertising efficiency in a down economy, becoming a marketer's social media AOR can be a huge win and provide a map to a much-needed new business model and revenue stream for agencies.
Further complicating matters, as technology improves and the proliferation of social networks continue, all media will eventually be considered social media. So those agencies that win the title of social media AOR today, may very well simply evolve into a marketer's overall AOR, acting as the central point of all of a client's marketing initiatives.
The battle for the social media AOR title is even crossing what was once well-defined lines within the advertising industry. It seems to make just as much sense that a marketer's social media initiatives are handled by a public relations agency as it does to enlist a media buying agency. Maybe the creative agency is the right lead for social media efforts? Would it be better to have a small company focused on social media in its DNA, or a holding company, with its expansive resources? All seem viable, and all likely are. It will come down to who can evolve to meet the demands of stewarding a client's social media efforts. Here is a brief look some of the players and what makes them a potential fit as social media AOR:
PR - Because success in social media is more "earned media" than "paid media" -- and isn't earned media what great PR companies deliver? It is obvious to nearly every advertiser that to be effective they need to be in people's social content, rather than simply being placed next to people's social content. It's like the difference between being covered by the New York Times vs. buying an ad in the Times. Buying ads is just fine, and there will be a place for it, but it's not the holy grail.
Media Agencies - Because "free media" is a bigger fairy tale than unicorns. There will be significant capital outlay to earn people's attention in social media, which will need to be spread across various social media vendors and creative partners. It will be incredibly important to track real costs and measure ROI.
Creative Agencies - Because nothing is more important in social media than the idea and execution. With bought media, marketers were at least guaranteed reach even for bad ideas and bad execution; with social media, bad ideas and bad executions are over before they start. Additionally, social media is going to demand creative iteration and evolution based on real-time consumer feedback.
Research/Consultancies - Because "listen to the consumers" is the buzz phrase of choice for good reason. Social media provides as much, if not more, value as a way to listen to people's needs and wants. Marketers can finally have the one-to-one relationship they have been looking for and do a better job of creating and distributing products people want. They just need a way to hear people, and be heard, through all of the noise.
Independent Focused Agencies - Because managing social media efforts requires not only a unique skill set, but a unique relationship between a client and its social media agency. Independent agencies focused on social media have the advantage of structuring their offerings, relationships and organization to maximize return on a client's social media initiatives.
Holding Companies - Because if you think about it for a second, they have all of the above, all of the pieces of the puzzle; fitting them together seems to be the tricky part. But if the holding companies can pull from their various resources to provide an overarching social media solution, it might be hard to compete with them.
Search Engine Marketing Agencies - Because their DNA is based on the type of ongoing, iterative relationships (re: partnerships) necessary to allow success in social media. SEM firms redefined ROI for marketing initiatives, and while social isn't search, it's not broadcast, either.
In the long run, marketers will need agencies that possess all of the above skill sets -- or at least one agency proficient in coordinating a seamless effort across all of the disciplines required to activate their brands in social media. Who do you think wins? What else will they need? Leave your comment here and/or @joemarchese (www.twitter.com/joemarchese) me on Twitter, to continue the conversation.
RSS FEEDS
Keep in mind media consumption has gone up as a whole.
With that being said I do recognize the importance that Social Media can play in an over all marketing plan. However, I believe that it needs a grass roots start. If it is created by and nurtured by the advertiser then it comes off as contrived and insincere and will become as insignificant as Sienna Miller's acting career.
I truly believe that having a cohesive and consistent voice in a variety media will return huge dividends to the advertiser. Today's advertising agencies are fools if they are not addressing this voice with their own internal experts or creating alliances/partnerships with specialty "social media" agencies/experts.
Don't get me wrong, i thinks social media/wom is hot, works and will remain working for some time. But we saw with web agencies back in the late 90's and early 2000's similar prognostications as yours. I elaborate more on my blog at http://parnelljw.wordpress.com/ - but I think accountability and the big holding companies will ensure social and wom aren't the "future agency of record".
Keep up the provocative thoughts!
The winner? Everyone wins with "one-to-one" relationship marketing. Consumer gets exactly what they want...and guides marketers to provide better fitted products and services. Consumers push more "consumerism"! Marketers win because they know through consumers "what" to build next. And the cycle keeps going. All the new technology and applications do is provide this amazing new "link"!
A couple great books that saw this coming were Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Massage"...and "The One To One Future" by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. Both older books...that really saw the future coming!!
www.twitter.com/SarshUpD8
I know that there are a lot of companies that have Interactive Marketing Managers and now they need to expand a role into the social media space. Rogers, a large media conglomerate, here in Canada is attempting to do this by an ad posting that I saw this morning. [http://bit.ly/4rbr4M] It's a start but it looks more like a web savvy PR manager that they are looking for but it is a start in the right direction.
I blogged about the importance of twitter to brands yesterday and think that the post reiterates the why the subject of this story is so bang on. http://powershiftermedia.com/142-battle-of-the-brands-in-the-twittersphere/
JP Holecka Twitter @jaypiddy
We've experienced the best results by creating a client-side 'task force' that crosses marketing, customer service and PR all working directly with us (digital agency) to develop and execute ongoing social media programs. On the agency-side, online WOM data comes from the company best suited to provide the numbers while the marketing insight/strategy is developed by the agency that best understands the digital space and can execute in all digital channels - it's important to manage these communications comprehensively rather than in silos of PR, Media, creative, etc.
I like how you have visualized the historical silos and weave a story how they need to be inter-dependent.
This past Sunday's NY Times Magazine in an article "The Big Fix", http://is.gd/ie3W, by David Leonhardt relates how the new Obama Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel laid out an idea later called "Rahm's Doctrine", i.e. "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. What I mean by that is that it is an opportunity to do things you could not do before."
The tools are there, who is going to pick them up?
However, I think the point that is being missed is that the traditional model of advertising revenue paying for objective journalists and broadcasters to report on social, political economic and business issues is rapidly becoming redundant. The underlying economic structure of the media industry is in turmoil and the ultimate model is still relatively opaque. This is game changing for every marketing discipline outlined in this post. The rise of social media is simply a function of the changing business model.
What is certain is that there is still going to be a need to market products and to manage companies’ perceptions and there will still be a societal need for citizens to be informed. However, how this information will be disseminated and by who is still unclear. What will shape it is how people want to consume information and their taste for varying types of content. Legitimacy and creativity will be the critical components. Knowing your audience will continue to be the DNA of a successful campaign, which in turn will set the messaging and positioning. What medium is chosen to disseminate the message will become increasingly tactical. It’s way too simplistic to think about which marketing discipline can adapt to become a social media agency of record, or whether this should be done in-house. The whole value proposition of marketing agencies is changing and being a CMO is getting an awful lot harder.
Yrs, Jeanine (aka pr)
IMHO, the best social media initiatives are, will continue, and need to be "in-house."
But I would say that agencies that use and can teach companies how to use social media, both internally and externally, will win. This is a completely different mind-set. I guess what I mean is how can a company use social media externally to get customers (via an agency) but not use it internally to help with process? To me, they are missing the boat on SM.
I completely agree that agencies can't wait to see how this will turn out. We are at the ground zero - it's a level playing field. Everyone is learning this at the same time and those that use it and understand it will win.
http://www.twitter.com/donschindler
You article is very poignant in what is going on in our space right now. I work for a social media technology and services provider. To date I have engaged with clients in 3 ways via my company: directly, as a tech/ service provider picked by the AOR and even as recently as yesterday in a meeting part of a team picked by social media consultancy group who is orchestrating the social media intricacies for the client. I was struck to by the thought is the social media consultancy more nimble then a huge agency or tech provider to address the social media needs for their customer? They are not only practitioners which help on the ideation side, but they also have the network to find the vendor (SEO, interactive, creative, and technology) to fill the gaps that some agencies and tech providers may not have. Or is better to have a one stop shop that can provide the holistic social media needs from ideation, implementation down to analytics? I am not sure who is more nimble but I have a feeling we will see more social media consultancy groups popping up…