Member Avatar for MktgRob

As a long time marketer who has worked with traditional ad agencies in the past, I have heard at some events and on some webcasts that many companies are shying away from involving their ad agencies in their social network marketing plans. The big reason is that the ad agencies are not able to dedicate resources to monitoring the communities and when they do they are not nimble enough to respond in a timely manner when needed.

Is anyone using an ad agency for all or part of their social network marketing and if so what have the results been?

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A concise, practical framework for the choose/structure question raised by and .

Start with a decision checklist: required coverage hours, nature of interactions (service vs. social/brand), speed expectations, legal/compliance constraints, and internal capability to own escalation and official statements. Require agencies to name the team and provide a sample escalation flow, access to the live dashboards they will use, and a short pilot that proves response and reporting behavior before signing a long-term SOW.

Operational items that make agency relationships work: clear SLAs (example targets: initial triage within 30–60 minutes during business hours; escalate urgent issues within 1–2 hours; publish routine replies within 24 hours), a shared content calendar, daily or weekly syncs, and one agreed single-channel for urgent alerts (instant messaging + phone). Put ownership of official statements and high-risk moderation rules in-house or explicitly shared; preserve control over legal/regulatory responses.

A common and effective split is hybrid: agencies handle strategy, creative, paid social and campaign analytics; in-house keeps day-to-day community management, customer-service escalation, and crisis response. Measure performance with actionable KPIs: first-response time, resolution rate, sentiment trend, and campaign lift tied to conversion or leads. Require regular reports and quarterly strategy reviews.

Red flags: no named community managers, refusal to show real-time reporting access, no crisis playbook, or vague staffing commitments. A 30–60 day paid pilot with clear acceptance criteria gives objective evidence of commitment and capability, which addresses the confidence concern raised by and the capability point from .

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Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Some ad agencies partner with a sister company to provide the social marketing surveillance and strategy. Some agencies specialize in providing social marketing surveillance like VML.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

I have heard of a few that have branched out into social media as you describe. But I believe the ones who make a show of embracing web 2.0 but are seen to be less than enthusiastic are going to whither and die off very quickly. I would imagine that any company looking to off-load their SMM efforts to a third party they want to be extremely confident in the dedication of that third party.

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Embracing social media in-house is a must for survival for traditional agencies. Why? Clients expect it and Agencies must abide in order to save the business.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Embracing social media in-house is a must for survival for traditional agencies. Why? Clients expect it and Agencies must abide in order to save the business.

Agreed. I just think that some of the older agencies who do not adopt the concepts quick enough will become extinct.

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