Recently, Dashal received a fantastic question on our blog.  Cindy Kim, a Corporate Communications Executive from Scottsdale, Arizona asked us this question:

What is your recommendation for agencies that have yet to launch their SM strategy or have no presence at all? I know of several and it? baffling to me that they are in this wait and see mode. Their media buying is the traditional approach. So I would like to get some recommendations on why it is critical for agencies to get started and how this impacts results and branding?

Well according to the classic adage, there are no stupid questions, and this is absolutely not one of them.  The question is so critical and timely that Dashal had to respond immediately on our blog. 

Were just happy to be able to answer this brilliant question in response to Dashal’s recent interview about advertising agencies and social media:

http://www.dashal.com/comments/dashal_interviewed_about_social_media_and_advertising/

Any agency that is not engaged with social media is just like any public relations firm that is not blasting RSS feeds from their own corporate website.  Both types of firms are social-media-phobic and are doing a huge disservice to their clientele. In today’s market, your clients deserve an agency that is both technically savvy and fully vested in social media tools and practices.  And, if you don?�塟 step up to the plate, your clients will turn elsewhere.

Let’s take a look at some current social media usage statistics. Facebook reports that they currently have over 122 million total users and Twitter posts about 22 million average monthly visitors. The difference between social media and traditional advertising is simple. When your company has a friend a follower or a fan you have the ability to talk with them again and again and again without having to purchase advertising space to distribute the message each time.  Not only can you reach your friends, fans, and followers, but you have the potential to reach deep into their extended circles of personal friends and contacts.  Then, if your friends and fans each tell two friends, and they tell two friends, and so on, and so on.  You get the picture; the reach of your message expands exponentially, all without the additional hard cost of purchased ad space.

Social media is also extremely powerful in regards to the feedback loop both for customer service and new product development.  In the world of social media, active participants do not hesitate to tell you what’s on their mind for good and for bad.  You are able to get instant feedback from your customers about your product or service.  In the best case scenario, your customers rave about your fantastic product or service or give you ideas for new product development.  In the worst case scenario, you can also receive negative feedback.  But, this too, turns into a positive in short order.  Previously, you could not have imagined real-time feedback from customers.  Now, if you receive a negative review or comment, you can address the situation immediately and in real time.  That’snever been possible before.

Here is the best advice that I can offer for an agency that is on the sidelines of social media: start today (as in right this minute) or direct your clients to another agency, an agency with bona fide experience in the field.  If the agency (or its principals) lack a Facebook page and/or a Twitter account, you shouldn’t take social media advice from them.

If you are starting on your own in the social media world and you are trying to build a presence, the most important thing you need to do is start.

The first thing that your company needs to do is to answer the following question: What do you want social media to do for you and your company, product, brand, or service?  Will you use social media to field new ideas for product development?  Will you use the media as another customer service channel to decrease your call center costs?  Will you use social media to help define and preserve your brand identity? Then, decide how you are going to measure the success of your strategy.  For example, if you decide to use social media to augment your customer service channel, will you measure success by a decrease in the number of calls that your off-shore call center fields?

From there, determine which social media tool sets will help you best achieve this objective.  Twitter? Facebook? YouTube?  It’s free and easy to set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  Tell all of your friends, and ask them to tap into their networks on your behalf.  Here is where the social part of social media comes in telling your friends and asking them to tell their friends is just like having a fun conversation.  Make yourself interesting.  Would you want to have a conversation with your online identity? People will spread the word if you are engaging and un-friend or un-follow you if you’re boring. Rude? Sure, but it is how the social media game is played.

If you ask people to follow you or be your friend in most cases they will. People arent as evil as I normally rant about.  But, turnabout is fair play.  Then, return the favor when your friends ask you the same favor.  It is all about being social! You never know who you will meet across these extended networks; your next great lead might just come from a friend of a friend of a friend. Then, spread the word as far and as wide as possible. Put your social media address on your website making it easy for everyone to be a friend or follower. Stamp it on all of your print marketing material. I even include our Dashal Twitter account on my work email signature.  Use social media as a powerful tool that can enhance your brand significantly because of the power of your extended network.  Be prepared for the number of people who will see your logo and your company on a daily/weekly basis to grow exponentially.  You and your brand will become a household name within this extended network even if you are not in real life.

Results as you know can vary, but let’s take a look at the @dashahlgroup Twitter account as an example. Right now we have about 2,100 followers which is not bad for a very new account. If we post a URL on one of our blog posts we average about 2 to 4% conversion of people who actually go to our website to read it. So if I post that same URL on Twitter 6 to 8 times in a single day, an additional 100 to 200 people will read that blog from the Twitter post alone. Our Facebook page averages about a 20% lift.  Keep in mind that once your accounts are established and you have a solid network, it is free to post your articles, your blogs, your products, whatever. Also if people like what you have Tweeted or posted on Facebook, they are likely to spread the word, RT (Retweeting, to those of you still learning) or repost it on Facebook, an almost daily occurrence on our posts.

For agencies with limited social media knowledge and its affective usage, we suggest that you work with an experienced firm like Dashal.  And, trust me, we are always more than happy to help. I have never subscribed to the theory that I know everything.  And, well, most of the time, I don’t.  If your agency cannot best help you in this particular area, just find someone who can. 

Dashal does social media for several agencies and public relation firms on a third-party contract basis. They simply outsource the work to us and bill the client themselves.

On the surface, the power of social media is the ability to post freely (and frequently!) without having to purchase advertising space, every single time you want to say something.  However, the true power of social media lies in the extended personal networks into which your friends, fans, and followers will distribute your message. Spreading your message has never been easier.

There are also several other techniques out there including my favorite, Internet Public Relations. That article will be coming very soon to the Dashal blog.  In the mean time, please post any additional questions that you would like us to answer.

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