AdWeek reports that while the majority of advertising agencies have a presence on social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, they rarely use them for marketing or pursuing client prospects.
According to a new survey from RSW/US and Second Wind, nearly three-quarters of the 2012 agency leaders polled are connected to LinkedIn, 66 percent to Facebook and 56 percent to Twitter. However, when asked how often they use these social networking services, an overwhelming majority said no more than once a month. When it comes to Twitter, 47 percent said they never tweet, seven percent said they tweet less than once a month and four percent tweet once a month. Blogs have similar findings, with 56 percent of the respondents reporting that their agencies have blogs, yet only five percent use them daily. In addition, 66 percent said they blog no more than once a month.
According to AdWeek, RSW/US president Mark Sneider attributed the respondents’ limited engagement in social media to laziness and a lack of time. But such sites can be powerful tools for getting to know CMOs or sharing agency thoughts about marketplace issues, said Sneider, whose Cincinnati-based firm helps agencies hone their prospecting skills.
“Any one [site] in and of itself on its own isn’t enough. You really have to use them like a media plan,” said Sneider. “And each of those components should have a different purpose. [Agencies should] stay true to that purpose, and then integrate the entire social space with other more traditional initiatives” such as e-mail marketing.”
