Gordon's Republic

I don't think it's not that they don't get it - I just think sometimes the big agencies aren't reactive enough. And I honestly find it ridiculous that they aren't practising what they preach. I even saw @AKQA re-tweet the article of AdAge which was slating them - I couldn't understand it..

That's a hilarious; retweeting when people slag you off. Sort of like anti advertising.

I think Twitter needs to be seen in the wider perspective of an agency's online operations. We blog at Baby Creative (www.babycreative.com/babyblog) and use our Twitter feed to notify our followers as to when there is new content on the blog. We're now ramping up to use our Twitter presence to play around with ideas that probably wouldn't justify blog entries on their own but which develop our identity and push the issues that we work with. We feel our presence is thought through, and not just me-too-ism, and have had positive feedback from clients and our followers.

Hi Gordon. It's a good point - I think it's very difficult to give good advice on the subject unless you're part of it, but also worth taking account of the people inside agencies that tweet. As a client, it would be more important to me that the person (or people) giving me advice practiced what they preach, not just the agency. Interestingly, there seem to be quite a number of digital and creative agency participants than media agency. Not sure why that is.

Neil you make a good point and I know that a lot of individuals agency folk tweet, but really it isn't that difficult to get a handle on this stuff either.

@Seth - sounds what you are doing is just right. it doesn't have to be a lot and it is all about exploring and seeing what works and what doesn't. Some stuff that goes on Twitter doesn't need to be blogged. It might be you are simply letting your friends/clients know about something you think is interesting or useful to them.

twitter.com/spacetimemedia embraced social media and actively does consultancy work for non-clients keeping them up to date on the many ways Twitter et al are adding value. I've been twittering for 2 years http://twitter.com/mediastarz so wanted Space & Time offering this as clients expect their agency to be all knowledgeable. We now look after the Twitter needs of many clients.

Who cares?

Which agencies have a facebook group or a myspace page? Not many, if any. Do any of them have a Google profile? No.

Do any agencies have in house directors or lighting cameramen? No. And yet we know they are all capable of producing a great TV spot.

People are getting carried away with the importance of Twitter. Some adfolk use it some don't. Even your main example is flawed.  Although Lowe Worldwide don't have an active agency account Mark Wnek is a prolific twitterer so would seem to be in a decent position to advise clients.

I feel like a right clever dick, we only got on to Twitter a few months back (@nexusbrighton) and have nearly 300 tweets. Like @Seth we use it to draw attention to new blog posts but also to give out the odd hint and tip. We have a Facebook and Myspace presence too. We get a few new business enquiries from them but in essence its just about visability. We practice what we preach and like @Jon we help clients with their social networking.

A lot like companies that try and sell a social media strategy to Clients but don't even keep their own blog up to date (assuming they have one in the first place ) - is this hypocrisy or simply  "do as I say not as I do" ?

Gordon, I work for Lowe. I can't comment on the Lowe Worldwide twitter stream, but I honestly don't care about a corporate twitter. It's not like ad agencies need the account to firefight or answer questions about their branding practices.

I talk about twitter, present on it, have been on it since October 2006, been blogging since 2006 - so yes, I'm with Neil; it really doesn't matter about the party line, it's all about the people who advise others.

I'm sure the same applies for Saatchis et al. The people who use the services can advise; those who don't, shouldn't.

Sorry Will I don't think that's good enough. You Twitter and blog very well et cetera, but you don't run the agency or create how it is perceived to the world. You don't define its brand. Whether you like it or not this all counts. It is part of an agency's overall branding. I'm surprised you can't see that. It seems very clear.

I've always thought an agency was the people who were in it - of course, I recognise that to advise on the tool, you should have a presence on it.

And I think, by virtue of me working at the agency, of course I have a handle on how it's perceived to the world - if I come across as an arse online, or vaguely clueless, people are less likely to consider working here.

I've always believed that if you have little to say online, you shouldn't say anything. If there's no agenda/immediate need, then there's no point.

Gordon. Team Saatchi are the boutique 'Saatchi' agency shop, part of Publicis Groupe. So this was not a name mistake.

@Will yes, of course the agency is the people in it. But here's the thing if i want to know what's going on at Lowe i would like to be able to sign up to their feed. I want to know what they're doing and what they are up to. I don't necessarily want to follow five or ten people at the agency. If i was MD I would have a feed. I would get people from across my team to feed into it. No harm there.

@Melanie - i should have clarified that; i meant it is somebody at the agency who has taken the name rather than not being Team Saatchi.

Perhaps it's not ad agencies or corproate advertising/marketing teams that should "own" a company's online presence.  Think about it: social media is for creating one-on-one relationships...relationships with members of the public.  Sounds like Public Relations to me.

Social media strategies should fall within public relations (and of course be further aligned with business, brand and marketing strategies.)   Social media give us a platform for the most fundamental of all public relations disciplines -- grassroots communications -- based on genuine conversations, not slick promotional messages.  We need to start thinking of things more holistically, and integrate and escalate public relations into our marketing, branding, advertising and promotional plans.  Marketeers may have managed o.k. before without a strong PR component but in this new era of democratised communications and personal relations made possible through technology -- they cannot live without it.

Christina

@cdivigard

I couldn't agree more with Gordon's comments particularly with regard to @Will. It is sort of like saying in retail that so long as you have great products that is enough. Yes it will get you a big chunk of the way but to be truly great you have to offer the whole package, people, products, brand etc all at the same level.

So on the one hand it is about agencies practicing what they preach and on the other it is about them running a business with all elements pushing to be the best they can, not just relying heavily on one.

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