Joe Thornley nails it with his post about credibility in social media coming from firms actually being active in the space. In my day job, I work with a lot of agencies, both advertising and PR, and almost all of them claim to be experts in social media. The reality is, however, that many of the agencies who tout themselves as experts do not invest adequately in training or in actually participating in the space.
I’ve talked before about the importance of marketing peopel to really dig into social media – exploring both the mainstream and the esoteric, and really understanding the culture. Sadly, it’s easier to jump to conclusions about technologies based on a cursory knowledge of the space than it is to actually experience the culture and the people.
Traditional advertising has almost nothing in common with social media. Old models do not apply as they once did, and in order for agencies to call themselves “experts,” they need to move beyond assuming and start participating.
