Ad agencies are as clueless about social media as they still are about blog advertising, content sponsorship and presence management

I stole that headline from a comment left by respected blogger and Internet marketer B.L. Ochman on a recent post by Rebecca Lieb at ClickZ.

B.L.’s an author and blogger who has written comprehensively about Internet marketing and social media for years.  She’s also orchestrated some pretty successful programs for companies ranging from IBM to McGraw Hill.  So she knows what she’s talking about.

There are plenty of ad agencies that don’t get social media at all.  Of course there are plenty that do.  There are also lots of SEO and digital agencies that remain clueless when it comes to building brands.  And I’m pretty sure someone could make a list of PR agencies that don’t have the creative chops to generate content that’s actually worthy of an invitation into people’s digital homes and communities.  But I digress.

For me, B.L.’s comment and Rebecca’s post are reminders that successful social media programs call for all three:  SEO, PR, and content worth remembering.  SEO marketers are essential if you want to be search-friendly and findable. PR professionals, once they master the relatively easy task of listening and engaging, are likely to excel at inspiring, building and mobilizing a community of followers.  And lo and behold, even as modern marketing makes the transition from one-way communication to a conversation, guess what? Once every brand is on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, once there are more conversations going on than anyone can ever keep track of, one of the only things that will matter is the idea and the experience or content that brings that idea to life.

Add to that the eventual arrival of Web 3.0 (or whatever we end up calling it) and the increased contextual relevance that will make search even more powerful.  When that happens, attracting attention, getting asked to join the conversation, or finding anyone to listen will be even harder if someone’s not already looking for you. You want an invitation, attention and buzz?  You’ll have to do more than learn the etiquette of social media. You’ll want to make sure that everything from your comments to your blog posts to your contests to your video not only adds value, but that it does so with the kind of cleverness and creativity that will make it stand out. True there’s no rule that says advertising agencies are better at that than anyone else, but the good ones have an impressive track record.

My prediction is this. CMOs, being overwhelmed as they are, will demand that their agencies offer all three capabilities:  SEO, PR and big, creative social media ideas. And if they can’t get them in one place, they’ll definitely insist that their two or three agencies work as partners to maximize a brand’s investment.  So here’s my advice, for what it’s worth. Let’s all focus on something positive.  Instead of constructing an argument as to why other types of agencies are clueless, we should all prove that we’re not, by building our capabilities and our alliances.

Wha are your thoughts?

Related posts:

BL Ochman,  How to pick your social media guru

Joseph Jaffe, Why charging a digital or PR agency with social media is a flawed

Bruce Nussbaum in Business Week,  Are Big Ad Agencies So Clueless That Corporations Should Avoid Them?

Peter Young,  Managing reputation: SEO vs PR

How to get started in social media if you don’t have any time

Today I had a conversation with an employee who is working 50 hours a week taking care of clients. She wants to learn as much as possible about social media, but doesn’t have the time to blog, create original content, or build a personal following on Twitter. So what should she do? How can she understand the dynamics of social media when clearly you have to participate to get it? Here’s what I suggested.

1.    Use Twitter as a search and monitoring tool.
You can always watch. All you need to do is go to search.twitter.com and poke around. Search your clients, your company, competitive brand(s), relevant topics. That’s all you need to do to know what’s being said, who’s saying it and where it’s coming from. Without spending a lot of time you can at least get a sense of the conversation. You’ll be able to listen, learn and get smarter about whatever it is you want to get smarter about. Including social media.

2.    Take the effortless approach to Twitter
Twitter is a time suck for people who feel compelled to generate a lot of content or who determine their self worth by how many followers they have. You don’t have to take that approach. Just get on, identify and follow the people who tweet, share, and post content related to your interests or your clients’ businesses. If and when you want, you can interact. If not, you can simply be the beneficiary of their thinking and the links that they post.

3.    Create a Ning site for your own personal use
Just make one for your extended family. Or your colleagues at work. Or your book club. It’s free. It’s easy. And with no pressure you can take your time and learn how to re-arrange the appearance of your community site, post content, upload photos, and create links. Surprisingly, a lot of people who haven’t blogged don’t even know how to do that. Here’s a way to start, experiment, fumble around, and fail with no risk. You might even like it and end up being able to show clients how to do it.

4.    Join Stumbleupon
Social bookmarking is another very simple way to try out social media. You can use it to discover new content — based on easily filtered topics — that  you may never have otherwise found (just press that Stumble button). You can save it and share it. And you can discover and identify other bookmarkers — some quite influential — who find, review and share sites and information that might matter to your clients or your own brand. Again, because you can proceed at your own pace, it’s risk-free. There’s no commitment on your part to create daily content or respond to the expectations of your followers.

Social media doesn’t come with instructions. You have to try it, play with it, and experiment a little in order to get it. Rather than commit a lot of time, why not just commit a little. Then see where it takes you. What are your thoughts? Any other easy ways to benefit from social media without falling victim to the time suck?