- Their Facebook profile picture is the default silhouette head.
- You ask if they would advise getting an in-house tweeter and they recommend Bose.
- Their agency blog has just one post (outlining tips on “how to prepare for Y2K”).
- Every time you ask for some social integration ideas they invite you out for drinks.
- Their LinkedIn network has 7 connections, and they’re all relatives of a summer intern.
- Your A.E. says he’s tried QR codes once…at a Brazilian churrascaria.
- The Creative Director forgets to log out of the agency account and spams your Twitter
feed with beer-by-beer updates from Mardi Gras. - A disgruntled former Design Intern hijacks the agency’s YouTube account, posting
clips of himself brewing a special pot of coffee…and it has over 820,000 views
(and counting). - They’re “waiting for this whole social media thing to blow over”.
- The “viral video” you emailed was quarantined by IT staff.
#1
YOUR BRAND IS WHAT PEOPLE SAY IT IS, AND THAT’S THE NEW TRUTH IN ADVERTISING
Far more than a trendy new channel to add to your marketing mix, social media is the evolution of something remarkable. It takes the oldest communication channel in the world — Word Of Mouth — and supercharges it with Internet speed, unprecedented and mass-individualized reach, and a world of third-party endorsement credibility.
That’s why it’s important to put the same rigor into your social media execution that you’ve always applied to the rest of your media spend. This assures your social media conversations don’t simply revolve around speaking to niche audiences with strong brand affinity, but instead deliver a sense of empowerment that gets everyone talking about, and actively transforming,
your brand.
Unfortunately, too many “social media marketing” agencies are focused on simply creating and maintaining a social presence – without the forethought and strategic planning required to fully, and safely, integrate social with the marketing architecture of an existing brand platform.
And that’s why it’s always good to have a Plan B.