Yesterday, Ad Age posted a controversial piece on the lackluster Twitter accounts from ad agencies. They pose the question: why would clients pay money to agencies to use Twitter, when they themselves can't seem to figure it out?
@greynyinterns got a slap on the wrist for releasing unauthorized content (clarification: I'm one of the "account interns" not part of the Twitter account). On the contrary, @cmithun got an IHF for being awesome. I think it's because Libby works there.
While the comments posed varying degrees of self promotion and intelligence, it seems as if everyone has an opinion on the subject. However most agencies (and companies) can't seem to figure out the questions: why are you here and who are you talking to?
To me, it seems the only reason I would follow an agency Twitter account is because I'd want a job there. I get my industry news, agency gossip, and new creative updates elsewhere. So what's the point of an agency even having a Twitter account? I'd rather hear from individuals working there, than the 140 characters that have to go through corporate.
Signed, Yaybia's First New York Correspondent
5 comments:
I believe it can have some value. Bite size learning nuggets for busy marketing execs can keep them current on latest thinking, strategies or tactics in the marketplace. If done well (i.e., without shameless self-promotion), it can halo the agency's brand as forward thinkers. But let's be honest - we are ad people at heart, so "follower beware."
One agency I follow is @fasthorseinc because they use it to release new blog posts, which I regularily read and comment on. I think an account can add value if the agency is a regular blogger, or has relevant news on a regular basis. But if it's not being used correctly, having a Twitter account just for the sake of having one is kind of pointless.
i think it's like anyone else you follow, an individual or an agency? it all depends on the value you get from their tweets? i follow a few shops, but i'm not remotely interested in working for them. too comfy living the good life here in SoCal ;) the value i get from these agency tweets is to read about their POV on the conversations taking place in adland. the ones with a unique POV and voice are the most interesting ones to follow. Our little shop is still trying to figure out what our voice is still. until then, we'll just squat on a twitter profile.
Added to that there is the stat that almost 2/3 of self proclaimed social media experts use Twitter less than once a day (http://bit.ly/ItMGh)
The article made a good point though, I admit that our agency Twitter account (@thisiscow) isn't as good as it good be and there's a simple reason for that.
I run both my own (@dirkthecow) and agency (@thisiscow) feed and obviously post things that I personally find interesting on my own one - result, it has 5x as many followers.
That in itself has made me question the value of an @company feed, and whether it's better for all brands, agencies or otherwise, to have a nominated, named person (or tweeple) who tweet under their own names
This dropped today. Good to have as a resource, but I don't plan on following many of these.
http://www.mojaveinteractive.com/think/list-of-advertising-agencies-on-twitter.html
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