Die 15 Arten, wie Agenturen Unternehmen bei Social Media helfen können

Einer der interessantesten Aspekte, die der Umschwung von Social Media auf die PR mitbringt ist, dass auf den ersten Blick die Existenzberechtigungen der Agenturen wegbrechen. Denn, wenn ein echtes Interesse am Dialog mit dem Kunden besteht, dann darf ich diesen Dialog nicht an einen Dienstleister auslagern. Aber es gibt Leute, die finden auch in Zeiten von Social Media noch genügend Betätigungsfelder für PR-Agenturen. Einer davon ist Dave Fleet aus Toronto. Er hat 15 Dinge aufgeschrieben, bei denen die Agentur dem Kunden helfen kann. Ich hab sie hier mal dargestellt und kommentiert:

1. Baseline audits

One of the first steps in any communications initiative should be an online audit to both understand the current environment and to set a baseline for measuring results of future activities.
–> Ja, wenn das Audit nicht zugleich ein Verkaufsgespräch wird.

2. Audience research

Alongside an initial audit, learning to understand your target audiences is a foundational piece of a communications strategy, be it online or offline.
–> Idealerweise ja, wenn das Geld dafür vorhanden ist und seitens der Agentur valide sozialwissenschaftliche Parameter zur Verfügung gestellt werden,

3. Corporate policies

Whether your company is engaged in social media or not, it is important to set boundaries around social media. If you are engaging in proactive outreach online, it becomes a somewhat  more involved process covering more areas (for a quick start, check out this ebook on corporate social media policies)
–> Sehe ich nicht so stark bei der Agentur, denn die weiß in der Regel nichts über interne Abläufe und Bedürfnisse. Außerdem ist das in Deutschland auch eine stark rechtlich orientierte Geschichte und da gibt es in der PR keine Kompetenz dafür. Würde ich eher bei einer spezialisierten Unternehmensberatung.

4. Workflow processes

What happens when you spot an issue? When someone asks a question? When someone discusses your company with other people? When someone criticizes you? Who is involved in the response? What will you (and won’t you) respond to?

These are the kinds of questions you need to consider before the occasion arises, and which experienced agencies have encountered often enough to help you answer.
–> Sehe ich wie 3. eher bei einem Berater, der Ahnung hat von Prozessen und organisation. Nicht bei einer PR-Agentur, sondern bei einer Unternehmensberatung.

5. Social media training

While it doesn’t take much expertise to send a tweet, the norms of communicating in social media channels can require education and explanation. Social media can require a bit of a departure from the way companies have traditionally communicated. It doesn’t mean anarchy, but traditional “messaging” approaches don’t fly so well in these informal channels. Agencies can help to transfer the necessary knowledge around this to clients new to the social media realm.
–> Ja, warum nicht.

6. Social media scoping

You don’t need to be everywhere online. Twitter and Facebook might not be the right places – perhaps your audience is primarily hangs out on forums or message boards. An agency can help to scope-out the right places for your company to establish a presence online.
–> Klar

Strategic planning

7. Strategic development

Agencies can bring together a wide variety of communications experiences and expertise that make them well placed to assist with or lead the strategic development process for social media for their clients.
–> Finde nicht. Wenn ich als Unternehmen keine Strategie entwickeln kann, sollte ich das mit social media vielleicht besser lassen.

8. Campaign ideas

Right now my perspective of the ideal approach to social media is a foundational long-term strategypaired with well thought-out campaigns that provide spikes in attention and engagement. As above, agencies can bring together creative minds to design those campaigns.
–> klassische Domäne, wobei man skeptisch sein kann, ob kampagnen (alleine) Sinn machen bei Social media.

9. Campaign extension

Unfortunately, PR is still often at a point where it is called-in last minute to support other initiatives, whether it’s announcing something that’s already decided or supporting a marketing/advertising program. At those points, it can be difficult to come up with anything effective that benefits the organization. Agencies aren’t a silver bullet, but again they can contribute ideas.
–> klar, warum nicht.

Execution

10. Ongoing monitoring

Monitoring can be very resource-intensive, especially if your company has a significant footprint online or in peoples’ minds. Agencies are well placed to help deal with this pressure.
–> jepp

11. Online engagement

This is one area that I’ll rarely recommend the agency take on. It’s a lot of work and requires a thorough understanding of the online environment, but it’s something that (in most cases) should be done in-house. It allows for shorter approvals processes (important in a fast-moving conversation) and a more authentic voice.

Still, sometimes companies either can’t or aren’t ready to take this on. It may be resource issues, uncertainty over the medium, trust issues or a variety of other legitimate reasons, but there are times when an agency can undertake this work, as long as it’s transparent. It’s not ideal, but it’s possible, with the goal that, over time, the company will in-source this work.

Regardless, agencies can help to advise companies on their outreach – be it advice wording and norms or on whether in fact to engage or not with specific people.
–> Dave sagts selbst: Ich würde niemals eine Agentur für mich online sprechen lassen.

12. Influencer outreach

I used to call this “blogger outreach” but online influencers are so much broader than just bloggers nowadays. Just as agencies undertake media relations activities in traditional public relations, so they can also reach out to online influencers in the new form PR has taken.
–> Tricky, wenn die Agentur sich aber einen guten Ruf in der Community aufgebaut hat, dann geht es.

13. Issues management

If your company is interesting and matters to people, they will talk about you. That talk won’t always be positive. Sometimes it’s something you’ve done; sometimes it’s something about your product; sometimes it’s “news.” The list goes on. Regardless, monitoring for issues, identifying them early and coming up with suitable responses isn’t easy.
–> Ja, kann man auslagern.

Full-service

14. Design and creative

More often than not, you’ll need some kind of design work done for your social media properties. Maybe it’s a Twitter background; maybe it’s a Facebook page or YouTube channel design; maybe it’s something more involved such as a stand-alone site. Either way, a full-service agency can help if you don’t have the in-house resources to undertake this work.
–> Ja.

15. Development

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and their ilk are tremendously powerful sites, and they may well be where your audience hangs out. Still, there are times when they just may not suffice, or where you want to build on top of the platform they provide – Facebook or mobile apps, for example.
–> Klar, wenn das Geld dafür da ist, warum nicht.

Also wenn man sich das anschaut, bleibt vielleicht doch noch genaug übrig für die PR-Agentur. 🙂

Bild: CC-by http://www.flickr.com/photos/revcyborg/5228173/