Traditional advertising agencies and your social network plan

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.