10 Comprehensive Tips to Evaluate Social Media Agencies – Part 2

Posted on | May 30, 2009 | No Comments

This is the second part a 3-piece blog series that tackles the topic of outsourcing your social media efforts to an agency or social media consultant. To start at the beginning, jump to Part 1.

4. Are you paying the agency to learn on your buck?
The temptation to throw in another service offering when social media is the talk of the town, and that’s every town, would no doubt be tempting for a number of agencies seeking to cash up on a few extra dollars. For this reason it is important to see some tangible evidence of a return on investment having been delivered to former clients. Do not pay an agency to learn by trial and error on your project.

The thing about social media is that the basic concepts are fairly easy to grasp, the tools and platforms do not require a high level of technical expertise to master and it is for this reason, that so many social media evangelists are springing up like mushrooms. Social media strategists that have been at it for a while will be able to drive real value through a combination of experience, expertise in their field – they do it day in and day out, knowing what works and what does not, understanding which tools and platforms are best suited to meet certain objectives & business goals and capable of assisting you develop a comprehensive strategy prior to campaign development.

Social media may be fun and accessible to every man and his dog but it is a real business function that requires a real understanding of business strategy in order to drive real results.

5. First the WHY before the HOW
Why do you want to do social media? It is a valid question and each business should ask this question before moving an iota forward in this regard.

Figure out what you are trying to achieve and then determine whether a social media strategy offers the right tactics to meet your objectives.

If you do not know how to start developing a social media strategy, do the required research so that even if you do choose to completely outsource the project, you will a have a little bit of insight into determining if the agency knows what they are talking about.

Take a little bit of help from the experts – they offer fantastic advice and are not even that difficult to find as they are cited ubiquitously. Chris Brogan writes a great piece about starting a social media strategy while another worthwhile piece discusses a few common outcomes of social media marketing efforts.

6. Read about what social media is and what it is not
As with any profession in which there is a proliferation of service providers claiming to expertise in the field, the real experts tire of seeing their subject matter dragged through the mud. Perhaps, because they could either cry about it or laugh about it, they have taken to writing lists that cite the DO and DO NOT’S of social media.

These lists are worthy reading because they are a great reference point against which to mark potential social media agencies. Below are some links that should be useful in developing your understanding of what social media is really about:

Top 25 Ways to Tell if your Social Media Expert is a Carpetbagger

25 Signs you’ve Got a Strong SM Consultant or Agency

What I Want a Social Media Expert to Know

What Social Media is Not

7. So you’re a social media expert – Prove it
Ask for a few case studies for review from the social media agency you are considering to outsource your work to. And Social Media Expert or Con Artist? no, providing a single case study on a single project does not make an agency an expert.

Better yet, request client examples or case studies for the specific social media that is being recommended by the agency or those tools that interest you. If you are given 3 case studies that ALL use a blog and Facebook, this may be a self professed confession of the agency’s limitations in social media.

Even if companies do not have a vast array of case studies to showcase, they should be able to link to examples online, i.e: We are doing an outreach program with Client X and here Client Y has a review forum where clients can provide feedback on their product.

Social media is not a one trick pony – do not be fooled into thinking it is.