Found Results
November 2009 Archive
The following posts were made in November 2009. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for this archive if you would like to take your time reading through our posts.
Subscribe to the results feed
Posted on November 19, 2009
Choosing the Right Agency for Your Social Media - Notes from Day 1 at WOMMA
BY JASON CORMIER
As WOMMA 2009 kicked off today, I wanted to share some notes from the last session I found extremely interesting. As one who runs a social media agency, I am of course completely captivated by a session dedicated to giving insight as to what big brands are thinking when choosing to work with agencies in this space. 
The panel discussion included three individuals with an incredible amount of online and offline marketing experience. Each is a recognized leader within their own organization, and was kind enough to share some candid thoughts regarding their opinions on working with agencies. The background and highlights from each participant's discussion is as follows:
Steve Knox, CEO, Procter & Gamble Tremor: When I first met members from the Tremor team last year at WOMMA, I was surprised to hear that Procter & Gamble was already aggressively working with an agency to engage in WOM and social initiatives. I then learned Tremor was actually P&G's internal agency, working exclusively to support the brand(s).
Over time, Tremor has developed a community of about half a million moms through its Vocalpoint platform, and now successfully leverages the data, learnings and continued engagement to help brands outside of its own. Pretty impressive. The following are some of the things Steve had to say in consideration of working with potential partner agencies:
- If there is zero unique IP that a potential partner agency brings to the table, then anything they can provide is essentially a commodity.
- A successful agency is able to demonstrate that they care about the brand, and have a real understanding of its core equity.
- I don't want to talk to agencies overly focused on digital and tactics. Agencies need to demonstrate they get how offline conversations are going to be activated.
David Witt, Manager, Brand Public Relations, General Mills: David brought a different angle to the conversation, along with a level of humility and humor I think most in the audience recognized quickly. Here are some of the items I noted from his participation:
- From an agency, David is looking primarily for the emergence of creativity and execution
- The first focus should be on customer loyalty, then word of mouth and brand advocacy
- Ideas are power, and are of greatest value when they sustain engagement over the long haul.
- For brands to be social, they must realize it is about giving (example: General Mills just launched tablespoon.com, featuring over 25,000 recipes for consumers to engage with, ratings, coupons, etc.)
Christine Morrison, Social Media Marketing Manager, Intuit: I have followed Christine on Twitter almost since she began her most recent marketing position at Intuit. She has lead award winning efforts (including a Gold WOMMY Award today) for Intuit, and continues to demonstrate what success with social media looks like. Here are the highlights I outlined around her input:
- We look at the hows and whats of social media - and are interested in social marketing assets that are user generated and can be used in conjunction with advertising assets.
- We like agencies that are ahead, out in front, trying new things and have thought through why they are trying them.
- I like to ask, "do you know something I don't know?"
The main theme I pulled from each of the panelists viewpoints is the value they place in people who get the big picture. Social media and word of mouth marketing are a component of a larger marketing mix. These kinds of professionals (and brands) are past the point of "buy in" when it comes to social media. The more relevant questions pertain to how it social media most effectively fits and benefits their customers and business goals.
Share this blog post
