Why Advertising Agencies are missing the boat with Social?

This week I had the largest advertising agency in the United States reach out to me in a panic! During our conversation, I could tell the sense of urgency based on the first three seconds of the call.

“We’re in trouble” is the first thing I hear! I asked, “What is the trouble?” The agency CEO replied, “We lost our Digital Marketing Manager, and he took our only two Social Media Managers to start up his own digital agency. Now he’s trying to take our clients. We have 20+ clients and we don’t have anyone ready to help us manage. Can you help?”

I can tell you that I’ve heard this similar situation happen to other agencies, but typically it’s the social media manager leaving for a better job. In this case, they we’re leaving to start their own agency, and left this large agency high and dry when it came to their digital department.

This is what I would call a Social Business Crisis. Throughout the 6 years of our business we have seen more of these calls, and I think that most advertising agencies are missing the boat!

1) They do everything in-house. This offers many limitations. As most agencies only work Monday through Friday, there would be no one to manage the communities on nights, weekends, and holidays. The biggest pitfall with this model is, “What happens when people leave?

2) They’re afraid of outsourcing. I cannot tell you how many times I hear “You’re AWESOME,” from our agency partner clients! But this never happens on the first day. Our job as a social media outsource company is to build trust daily, and it allows us to prove our worth. After 6 months, we normally have agency partners for life. By outsourcing and working with a team of social marketers allow you to never have the issue of turnover, and training!

I believe that advertising and marketing has truly changed due to the power of digital media and social networking! However, I would suggest that every agency think about what happens after your team members’ leave. And how would you manage engagement during times that your teams are not available to work. Social Networking is happening 24/7, and without the right plan you will be left on the dock, while all your competitors sail away into the future!