What to ask a prospective social media agency

Posted by on May 10, 2009 in Social Media | 3 comments

Christine with David Meerman Scott - New Marketing Summit 2008

David Meerman Scott (pictured to the left with me at The New Marketing Summit 2008) wrote an article within his blog, WebInkNow, about the one question anyone who is considering hiring a social media agency should ask.

During a conversation with a colleague, he was asked “if you were head of a major organization seeking to hire a major PR firm to help get your organization into the world of Web 2.0, what three questions would you ask to determine whether they had true expertise?”

His answer was simple. There really is only one question an organization needs to ask a prospective social media agency – what are they doing as an agency and personally to boost their social media presence?

I completely agree with David’s philosophy that if an agency can’t do social media for themselves with success, how can they serve their clients? I mean, you wouldn’t go to a dentist that had rotten teeth, would you?

You want to have confidence in the partner you choose that they have the first-hand knowledge and expertise to help your organization.

As a PR professional for the past 10+ years, I have embraced social media and pushed myself to become completely immersed and involved as much as possible. I have a ways to go before I can claim to be an “expert” but I am going in the right direction and working hard to do so.

Those who pass themselves off as experts with no substance to back it up are the equivalent to snake oil salesmen who were selling “medicine” that is nothing more than sugar water.

Don’t fall into that trap. When seeking a partner to help you achieve Web 2.0 status, do your homework and check to see where they are on the Web – Google them, go to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin. By doing that, you will know just how much of an “expert” they really are.

Update - March 24, 2009: I ran into David Meerman Scott during SXSW and asked him a few questions about his newly released book – World Wide Rave and his thoughts around what to look for when hiring a PR (or advertising) agency to handle social media projects. Here is my video interview with him originally posted to the PerkettPRsuasion blog!

  • Ruth Bazinet

    I agree that David is right. If they aren’t using social media personally, or at the least as an organization, then one must wonder how they could be successful providing this strategy for a client. The tech and how people are using it is constantly on the move so you have to be part of it in order to keep up. Now anyone can have a Twitter handle or a Facebook account, so I guess the next question would be “Can you show me real examples of how you used online social networking to communicate your client’s message successfully?”

  • http://dotcomreport.com/ blogging for money

    A prospective agency needs to demonstrate that they understand how new media actually works.

  • http://www.christinemajor.com/ christinemajor

    Agreed! If the prospective agency isn’t practicing what they preach, then it is likely they aren’t the agency for you. Take a look at the people who will be on your proposed team and see what they are doing in social media. Are they passionate about social media? Can they point to any results? How involved are they? These are all key indicators of a good agency.