Joining the Conversation: How Agencies View Social Media

Like marketers of all stripes, clients of direct marketing agencies are looking to social media to build better relationships with customers.

“There has never a better time to be a marketer,” says Michelle Bottomley, co-president, Ogilvy New York. “We’re looking at ways to distribute content originally made for Web sites to where the target is most likely to experience them. Clients are asking us to think through their Web and e-mail strategies, and customer communities. [They want] to how to tap into those, and use of mobile and third screen distribution.”

Of course, there is the concern that social media can be an unpredictable world, notes Wendy Lurrie, general manager of Draftfcb New York

“Clients having the conversations, but aren’t sure what to do,” says Lurrie. “[We say] don’t up-end your entire media plan but do allocate a portion of spending to use towards more experimental innovative approaches and see what happens.”

And then there’s the question of ROI, says Nicholas Nocca, president, Company C.

“Right now there’s a sense of we’re doing it because everyone else is doing it. But how do we get it to scale and move our business forward? How to translate buzz into behavior?” Nocca says. “Our clients are struggling with that, especially those who are financially oriented. In contrast, a client like Virgin Atlantic is willing to take a leap of faith. They have a bit more of an entrepreneurial bent and they I think recognize some of the softer benefits that accrue from being part of the conversation.”

Mark Taylor, executive vice president, chief marketing technology officer, Wunderman, says he has clients doing brand monitoring on blogs.

“[They’re] listening to the conversations around their brands or products, measuring the sentiment of the blogosphere,” he says. “There’s a lot of interest around that.”

On the business-to-business side, Ron Jacobs, president, Jacobs & Clevenger, says he seeing use of social media to create relationships with customers. “They’re using LinkedIn to communicate,” he says.

For more on the direct marketing agency scene, see “More, More, More” in the October issue of Direct.