An Introspective Look at Agency X’s Digital IQ (Part 2 of 2)

I’m going to continue the analysis  I started last week here.

Agency X and Social Media

Agency X has active Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. But are we active enough?

To be honest, Agency X’s activity on Facebook is excellent. There’s room for improvement, but the interaction on the “Agency X Interns” Facebook page is impressive. We encourage employees to upload content – photos of Agency X outings, interesting articles, or a goofy sketch someone did on their lunch break. Facebook alone accounts for 12.3% of all consumer time on the internet (L2ThinkTank), and we need to continue to utilize this goldmine of web traffic. Social media is a place where a brand can be more casual, and the grassroots feel of the Interns’ page is appropriate, effective, and entertaining. It promotes fans’ interaction with Agency X in a less formal setting.

Agency X’s Youtube and Twitter accounts are not used as frequently as they should be. Twitter is a great way for us to post updates, links, images, or anything Agency X-related. It’s a place to establish a voice, a reason, and a following. Some corporations tweet over 30 times a day (and most likely lose many followers as a result), while other companies only tweet every month or so (which probably also turns off followers). We need to shoot for a few posts a day to develop a voice and build a following. Agency X has a few videos on YouTube, but lacks a branded channel. If we begin to regularly upload content onto YouTube or similar video-sharing sites, Agency X’s brand awareness and reach will expand.

Overall, Agency X does a pretty good job in social media. Our Facebook page is a great look into Agency X from a more personal side. However, we also need to focus our attention to Twitter and YouTube to get our voice out there.

Agency X and Mobile

There have been a lot of exciting advancements in mobile technology over the past few years. Mobile sites, spartphone applications and iPad integration are three categories that significantly increase consumer interaction, and I know that will be increasingly important in advertising.

Sure, as an ad agency, it’s our job to get people to buy stuff. However, customer interaction, to me anyway, is even more important than the actual purchase itself. The dialogue between businesses and consumers is paramount in developing a brand identity that meets consumer needs and desires.

After going on Agency X’s website on my iPhone, I was impressed to find that it was very compatible with mobile technology. It is an easy site to use from a phone, but I would like to see a better way to view our uploaded content. Agency X has some great material on the site that communicates our identities as both Agency X employees and quirky individuals. It would be nice to be brought directly to that material on a mobile site – every extra link I need to search for results in me losing interest on the site.

Agency X has been doing some really cool work with smartphone applications. We’re in the middle of a project right now that is not only a great piece of technological work, but it will be an amazing tool for our clients. That innovation is vital to Agency X’s success. As the agency continues to create innovative strategies for our clients, I expect us to work more and more with mobile sites and apps.

The iPad is a really fun way of interacting online. It sucks for typing, but that is not what the iPad is all about. In my mind, it’s for two things: apps and browsing. The iPad is a way to physically interact with the digital world – it’s all about clicking, pushing, swiping and sharing interactive media. As more consumers use iPads (or other brands of tablets), we need to keep in mind that those users want simple entertainment and interaction, and we need to implement both of those elements in digital media campaigns.

People don’t want to see a sales pitch. They want to be entertained. Well, with mobile sites, smartphone applications and iPad integration, they can have both.

So What Is Agency X’s Digital IQ?

For a more traditional agency, Agency X has a pretty high Digital IQ. We’re not quite genius, but we’re not challenged either. Our website is everything it needs to be – clean, functional, concise and easy to navigate. Our digital marketing is good, but I think Agency X could improve its search engine optimization and email clients more frequently. We’re present (and active!) on blogs and Facebook, but our Twitter and YouTube (as well as whatever’s the next big thing in social media) accounts are not as active as they should be. Agency X is always thinking ahead, and as a result, our mobile efforts have been strong, but I expect more resources to go into this field in the future.

It’s hard for an agency to focus so much attention to its own digital branding efforts. I think that part of the problem lies in the very nature of an advertising agency. So much time is spent proactively working on clients’ jobs that it is difficult to find the time to work on our brand’s digital presence, especially since it takes such considerable time and effort. However, as Agency X continues to develop its digital strategy, our devotion to raising Agency X’s Digital IQ will pay off.

Agency X is doing a great job keeping up with the trends in new media. However, I think its time to lead the pack. There is amazing technology being developed all over the world that we need to utilize in completely unique ways. Even though Agency X is a more traditional agency, I believe digital media will have a large presence in most of our future campaigns.

A brand’s Digital IQ is directly related to that brand’s perceived value. Knowing this, we should further develop our brand’s digital strategy. Not only will it benefit our clients, but it will increase Agency X’s value as a whole.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts (some of the people at the agency really didn’t).

An Introspective Look at Agency X’s Digital IQ (Part 1 of 2)

Many moons ago, I worked for an ad agency based out of St. Louis, MO. The company, let’s call it “Agency X,” is known for its on-premise work with large brands across the US. The agency started to get into the digital advertising game.

After doing a lot of reading on the scoring companies’ and brands’ digital IQ’s, I decided it was time for Agency X to see how they were doing. This was sent out as an internal newsletter to the company, but I figured, as long as it’s anonymous, what’s the harm in sharing it with the whole world? It’s a long writeup, so I’ll only share part this week.

At Agency X, we are trendsetters. We are thinkers, creators, innovators, and doers. And our presence in digital media needs to prove just that.

As a full-service ad agency, Agency X is responsible for setting the trends that brands will follow. Our proactivity cannot stop with our clients – Agency X needs to be more forward thinking for its own brand. The opportunities arising in digital and social media are endless, and Agency X needs to separate itself from other agencies by leading the pack, not following it.

I recently stumbled across a study on Digital IQ that looked at some of the world’s best brands, and their use (or lack thereof) of technology. That got me thinking: what’s Agency X’s Digital IQ?

To evaluate Agency X’s Digital IQ, we have to look at four broad categories: the brand’s site, digital marketing, social media, and mobile.

Agency X’s Site

Let’s start the evaluation under the hood – Agency X’s webpage. Within the site, we need to examine the technology, navigation, aesthetics and interactivity. Agency X’s website is definitely adequate. It is clean, functional and very easy to navigate. It is clearly branded, but not an in-your-face display. There are entertaining videos and photos to click through, as well. AgencyX.com looks and works as though someone spent a significant amount of time on it (because they did).

However, there’s room for improvement. It’s 2011. The Web is all about consumer interaction. Where’s the link to “like this on Facebook?” Where’s the button for “Tweet about how awesome Agency X is?” Why can’t I directly send Agency X my LinkedIn profile?

Even if we don’t need to have those types of interactive features on a webpage, shouldn’t we have them anyway? We’re all about pushing the limits and raising expectations. Our website shouldn’t be just adequate. It should be awesome.

Digital Marketing Efforts

How is Agency X doing with digital marketing? Let’s look at web searching, email, digital marketing innovation, and blog presence.

When you search “advertising st louis” on Google, what do you expect to show up? The obvious answer is Agency X. Well, it doesn’t. Not until the second page, anyway. Search engine marketing and optimization are important aspects of effective web strategy, but unfortunately it is becoming more and more expensive. Unless we personally write Larry Page a check, I doubt you’re going to ever see Agency X as the very first result for a similar search, but we need to be on the first page.

Is Agency X using email to keep our name in our clients’ heads? After asking around, I found we send an email newsletter to clients quarterly. Though it would be nice to email every one of our clients every day about what’s going on at Agency X, there is just no need for that. Companies such as American Airlines email their customers almost five times a week. For an advertising agency, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. We don’t want to annoy our clients, just to keep them in the loop.

Mobile optimization is a very important (and often ignored) aspect of email. Email is the most heavily used data function on the iPhone, yet 87% of emails sent from the world’s top brands are not optimized for mobile technology. That’s a pretty crazy disconnect. I’m not saying that we need to view every email on an iPhone before we send them out, but it is important to think about how our emails will look on mobile devices.

The next sub-category is digital marketing innovation. Agency X has done some pretty cool, interactive campaigns. Even as far back as Agency X’s “——————-” campaign, we have been driving consumers to the web to browse, discuss, and participate in a way that traditional media stops short. We need to keep pushing the envelope. Instead of waiting for trends and opportunities to arise, Agency X needs to start trends and create opportunities. Every campaign, whether focused in traditional or new media, should have some sort of digital element. The web is an amazing tool, and Agency X needs to continue to find new ways to utilize it.

Agency X does great with blog presence. Corporate blogs are nothing new, but ours isn’t just any corporate blog. Here’s what’s cool about Agency X’s blog – it actually has a voice. Agency X’s blog is not telling you what to buy or what Charlie Sheen is up to. We are telling you what interests us (which might be what Charlie Sheen is up to). That passion and excitement (and don’t forget insight!) is carried throughout every blog, regardless of who wrote it – creative department, account services, media, or interns.

Overall, Agency X is pretty good when it comes to digital marketing. We’re known for our innovation, proactivity and forward thinking, and that is evident in both our client work and our personal digital media presence. That being said, we need to keep pushing the envelope in web and mobile categories, and start our own trends in digital media.

I’ll continue with this post next week!