You might imagine that many of the top digital agencies will be fearsome Twitter users, not least because many agency staffers regularly use the platform to communicate.
So have the majority of agencies claimed Twitter accounts for their brand names? Are they tweeting about their innovative campaigns and web projects, to spread the word and gain kudos?
I was perplexed to discover that many agencies haven’t yet bothered, and I’m not sure what message that sends out to the client-side.
I checked out the top 50 agencies (based on NMA’s list, which is UK-focused and ranks agencies by income generated by digital media activities). The results may come as a surprise…
- Sapient – the user name is taken and is a person, rather than the UK’s biggest earner in the digital agency sector.
- LBi UK – @LBI lives in Taipei while the user name @LBIUK ‘doesn’t exist’.
- Conchango – user name claimed, with links to a bunch of videos. No branding. No user profile information. 11 tweets.
- AKQA – none, by the looks of it. User name claimed. 61 followers. Zero branding and no updates.
- Digital Marketing Group - @DMG is taken with updates protected, but it doesn’t look like the agency in question.
- Detica – no account. User name has been suspended.
- Avenue A/Razorfish – woop! @razorfish is up and running and they’re doing a good job of keeping it updated. They’ve amassed an impressive 1,628 followers so far, and are the standout winner in this list.
- MRM Worldwide – no account.
- Ioko – no account.
- IMG Digital Media – no account.
- Perform – no account.
- Web Technology Group – no account.
- Agency.com – woop! Kind of. @agencycom has been claimed for ‘unofficial tweets, could be fun?’. No followers, possibly due to only one update from earlier this month that simply says ‘Test’. Get to it!
- Dare – woop! @daredigital appears to be the real deal. 176 followers and nine ethereal tweets.
- Javelin Group – no account… @javelin is a dude from Philly, while @javelingroup ‘doesn’t exist’.
- GT – no account. @gt and @wearegt both taken but there’s no action to speak of.
- Amaze – no account. @amaze is taken and @amazeplc remains unclaimed.
- Agency Republic – woop! @agencyrepublic has a Twitter account, 198 followers, and has posted 63 updates. Kudos.
- Global Beach – ‘this person has protected their updates’. One follower, one update. Not convinced.
- TBG London – woop! @tbglondon is claimed and is being used as a feed for the company’s blog headlines. 16 followers, 62 updates, but it isn’t following anybody as yet.
- Reading Room - @readingroom is taken but not by the agency in question.
- Investis - @investis is taken, but has no description, followers or updates. Doubtful.
- Syzygy London - @syzygy is claimed, and not by the agency by the looks of it, while @syzygylondon ‘doesn’t exist’. But search for @syzygyuk and you'll find the official Twitter page. Woop!
- Carlson Marketing Group (UK) – no account.
- Chemistry Communications – no account.
- Publicis Modem - @publicis and @publicismodem have both been claimed by somebody at the agency’s Zurich office. Not too much action though.
- The Grass Roots Group (UK) – no account.
- Digitaltmw – no account.
- Profero – woop! @profero is indeed the agency’s Twitter account. 221 followers and 112 updates.
- Glue London - @gluelondon is taken but there’s nothing going on. Unconvinced.
- Archibald Ingall Stretton – no account.
- Rufus Leonard – no account.
- Sift – woop! Account claimed with 30 followers and a solitary update from earlier this month.
- Proximity London – no account.
- RMG Connect – woop! Last month the agency’s Sydney office had the foresight to bag @rmgconnect. A lovely background image too. 33 followers and 28 updates.
- Grand Union – no account, user name claimed.
- Interakting – no account. User name taken, and not by the agency.
- Altogether Digital – woop! @altogther has 63 followers and has posted 158 updates, although the tweets are few and far between this year.
- Red Bee Media - no account.
- Tequila\London – no account.
- Metia – woop! @metia has been claimed by the agency but has yet to post a single tweet (despite accumulating 64 followers).
- Twentysix – no account.
- Delaney Lund Knox Warren – no account. @dlkw ‘doesn’t exist’.
- Lida – no account.
- Poke – no account. That said, the user name is taken, but if it owns the @pokelondon account it isn’t doing much with it, despite the 100 followers it has picked up.
- HeathWallace – appears to have claimed the user account, though there’s nothing going on.
- Lightmaker – woop! @lightmaker started tweeting last month and has 42 followers.
- cScape – woop! The official @cScape Twitter feed sparked into life earlier this week! 33 followers so far – early days.
- Zone – no account. @zone has been suspended, so there is hope.
- de-construct – no account. The user name has been claimed.
That's roughly a 25% adoption rate... much less than I had anticipated.
If your agency is using Twitter then leave a comment below and big yourself up. You can also create an agency profile in our supplier directory (which will become a much sexier beast in the months to come).
Chris Lake is Director of Product Development at Econsultancy, an entrepreneur and a long-term internet fiend. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin.
12:07PM on 25th March 2009
Rather than twittering generically as EMC Conchango a large number of the team twitter directly (@polydee, @cobrophy, @jamiet, @julianharris etc). I have 223 followers and 507 updates. We feel that this is a more personal way of interacting with people via twitter and regularly talk about our events, awards and general company news.
12:09PM on 25th March 2009
We're on Twitter! Metafocus are SEO and internet marketing experts based in Nottingham Uk - check us out http://twitter.com/metafocus
12:11PM on 25th March 2009
Maybe they're actually getting on with some work?
12:11PM on 25th March 2009
ID Media London are on Twitter too:
www.twitter.com/idmedialondon
The agency behind:
www.timesspellingbee.co.uk and
Great post!
Meera
12:12PM on 25th March 2009
Perhaps the adoption rate is higher with the slightly smaller digital agencies.
We not only have a twitter account but also have many of our staff with their own twitter accounts that are ambassadors for the business.
www.twitter.com/leapfrogg
12:13PM on 25th March 2009
Vertical Leap is a SEM agency, and we have (recently) adopted Twitter http://www.twitter.com/verticalleap
Paid Search & Display Director at Guava
12:16PM on 25th March 2009
Cue the search agencies flooding the post with their Twitter accounts - You'd have to wonder at any search specialist company that didn't use Twitter.
Guava have a well established twitter account, and most of their employees also have some good stuff to say - check out @GuavaUK and who we follow.
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
12:19PM on 25th March 2009
@Michelle - yep, I think the personal approach is the best way of communicating too but reckon you lot have enough to shout about as a brand, so I'd do both (we do). I'm hoping to unearth more agency staffers who tweet as a result of this post ; )
@Jon - quite right!
@Rosie - I think that's going to be the case...
12:19PM on 25th March 2009
Fletch McGull is on Twitter for Sagittarius Marketing
12:34PM on 25th March 2009
I think what your article is missing here is that nobody really wants to follow a 'company' on Twitter - we want to follow people, so the premise of your article is flawed.
These companies probably get that Twitter is a person-to-person medium and it is more important for the people who work at their companies to be using it than to be pumping an RSS feed through it.
I'd suggest a follow up article on who _at_ those agencies is on the service - I think you'd get a 100% hit rate of someone senior at each agency having an active, conversational and useful Twitter account.
12:36PM on 25th March 2009
We have jumped on the bandwagon (how could any agency not?).
http://twitter.com/fluidcreativity
We could do with tweeting a bit more often but that's more than made up for by the output from myself
http://twitter.com/_chappers_
and my colleague Matt
http://twitter.com/matt_davies
12:37PM on 25th March 2009
An interesting observation - but I tend to agree with Michelle Flynn, most of our guys are, (and have been since 2007) twittering from a personal perspective - which you could argue is what it's about - personal sharing, rather than the recent (UK) influx of 'brands' or PR companies tweeting on behalf of companies, representing a collective.
Not that this is necessarily wrong, but should agencies have a single voice on platforms like Twitter?
12:38PM on 25th March 2009
Another great post from econsultancy!
Keep it up -this is bookmarked!
chris | @sensorpro | http://www.sensorpro.net
12:40PM on 25th March 2009
Our Snow Valley Twitter is in its early days - http://twitter.com/snow_valley - but it's worth having.
I agree with Michelle though, that it's the personal Twitter accounts that people want to follow. Many of us here are on Twitter - @sarah_clelland, @jillrobbuk etc - and although my followers have to put up with the occasional tweet about Brentford FC/my irritations with South West Trains, most of the news that we would tweet as Snow Valley would also be tweeted by me anyway. But I think it's important to have both.
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
12:41PM on 25th March 2009
@Stef - I agree with you about wanting to follow people rather than brands, but without a central brand account it is difficult to know who they are.
If an agency has a Twitter account it would be more obvious who to follow (by looking at 'following' and '@replies', for example). Without this hub the staffers are lost in the quagmire. Why not try to aggregate all that talent?
So while I'd like to run a follow up article I'd be spending a long time trying to find out who works where...
12:42PM on 25th March 2009
Just who would follow @officialcompanyaccount and look forward to being spammed with tweets about "their innovative campaigns and web projects"?
Unless a corporate twitter stream is providing a service in itself - ie, providing an audience with something useful, not just self-important 'news', I think @officialcompanyaccount is best avoided.
Twitter is a people thing....so rather than dive in with two big corporate feet, the best thing anyone can do is use twitter search and listen to the world out there. That and leave their staff to use twitter as 'people', not a corporate spam machine.
Paid Search & Display Director at Guava
12:46PM on 25th March 2009
@Stef @Spencer @Andrew
but twitter is about information sharing as much as it's about coversation. Whilst there's no point in companies using it if they're purely doing so to distribute PR, its important they get 'officially' involved in this information sharing, as much for their brand awareness as anything else.
Also twitter is a great way to provide an online point of contact. I often tweet @ a company with a little moan or suggestion. This is a much better way to gain customer feedback, and its important to then interact with that customer.
Why should agencies (especially SEO agencies) preach at clients about audience engagement and online interaction if they don't do it themselves!
That said they should encourage employees to tweet in their own right too, and not just to distribute the corperate message
1:01PM on 25th March 2009
I agree that there are lots of ways to use Twitter! I've done a couple of Twitter micro-services that aren't personality driven: eg. @tweetlet and @tweejay and I see lots of different ways of using the service emerging daily.
But I read this article as implying that these agencies didn't 'get' twitter by not having a group account, which I think isn't quite right - it's just that they are using Twitter in a different way to how you'd probably thought they would.
Whilst I can see where you are coming from on the 'list of people the account is following makes it easy to find employees' idea, the reality is that if I actually follow one of these brand accounts (which I tend not to) I feel mightily peeved if they don't follow back immediately, and then unfollow them after a while if they don't. If they follow back then that makes the 'list of people' argument not really workable. Much better would be something along the lines of @wefollow for companies.
But you're probably right - if you have a brand name you should probably secure the twitter account either way and routing any @replies or DMs to a named person in the organisation.
Hey - here's an idea for you: an app that answers the question "Who's tweeting from this company?".
(Chris BTW - I'm @stef on twitter and I just followed you if you want to chat there)
1:26PM on 25th March 2009
Hi Chris,
Here's another one for you: how many interactive agencies do interactive advertising. How many do sell their services online? I'll save you the bother - it's none. And that's not because we don't believe in online advertising or e-commerce, it's because it's not appropriate for us.
A bit more research will, I'm sure also reveal the penetrating insight that most people subscribing to twitter feeds for agency xxx are staff of that agency. Because the truth is that twitter is about a wide variety of uses, but - as I think has been said amply above - none of them is particularly useful for digital agencies to communicate to the external market. Why? Because no-one in their right mind would sign up to hear a generic corporately-approved twitter feed. People want to hear from people, and - like every other agency on the list - we (Conchango) have a huge number of individuals using twitter as a useful tool for doing that in a broad range of communities.
So I'm actually delighted to hear that most agencies either aren't doing it or have long since moved on from the experiment. It shows that they, at least, have understood the dynamics of the service, and hopefully will be not be advising their clients to thoughtlessly or inappropriately jump into twitter or any other social media.
Tom
1:46PM on 25th March 2009
Great responses thanks, good to see an open debate. My twitter is www.twitter.com/michelleflynn if anyone wants to know more about EMC Conchango
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
2:09PM on 25th March 2009
Hi Tom,
Are you sure? From where I'm sitting a bunch of agencies advertise online, and all should be selling their services online. They use the internet to promote their skills, and to share their opinions. Twitter is surely an extension of all that? I guess you aren't the best person to explain why Conchango "now has a Twitter account".
I'm certainly not recommending that any company 'inappropriately jumps into Twitter or any other social media'. I'm just surprised that more from the top end of the agency sector aren't making more of it, given that a lot of staffers use Twitter already.
Thinking of Twitter as a channel for 'corporate-approved' tweets seems to suggest that it has to be entirely vanilla or devoid of opinion. It doesn't need to be that way, but each brand is different. I don't think it should be used only for PR messaging, but if you create brilliant websites or cross-media campaigns then why not shout about it, or share the findings / challenges / issues, etc? There is always much to discuss.
And as an agency, isn't it a good idea to wade into discussion while wearing your brand hat? Is it more valuable to hire somebody solely for the purpose of entering dozens of awards every year (as some do), or to focus some of your existing talent to represent the brand's 'official' tweets? Is it wrong to give the brand a real voice?
I've seen thought-leadership work wonders for agencies and Twitter enables that quite brilliantly. No longer do you have to release a white paper, or in-depth blog posts, but you can communicate at a micro level on a platform that is targeted to people's interests.
As for the 'penetrating insight' comment, one look at Razorfish's 1,600+ followers proves that you're mistaken.
All I know is that I'd be doing this, if I were working at an agency, and many niche / smaller / subject-specialist agencies use Twitter effectively, to raise their profiles and win work.
2:14PM on 25th March 2009
Critical Mass is very active on Twitter! Follow us http://twitter.com/criticalmass/ or our folks in London specifically, at http://twitter.com/CriticalMassEU.
We tend to have one main person manage the Twitter account so we have a good balance of company updates and personal voice.
I would agree that followers want a real personality over a bland PA system used as a soapbox for award wins and such. But do we want to forgo using the platform for company branding benefit? Nope.
It's a healthy debate... and been getting a lot of talk lately. Ad Age published a compelling article to that end earlier this month. "For Online Brand Reps, Getting Personal Can Be a Tricky Situation." Have you read it?
2:16PM on 25th March 2009
You'll find fish in a bottle, on Twitter in both official and personal guises. But only the personal ones are actively used.
People build relationships with people, not just organisiations. Myself @JustinEames and cofounder @DrewMedia are active as are some of our team.
For us, professionally, Twitter isn't a PR service. It's a way of engaging with our peers and clients on a personal level.
Happy Tweeting...
2:22PM on 25th March 2009
I guess that in the same way as smaller companies took to Twitter before the big brands, the smaller agencies are better represented - tictoc recently decided to start using our Twitter account properly, as well as individual staff tweeting too. Obviously there are issues about who tweets, and tone of voice, and trying to avoid pure self-promotion, and liability, but Twitter is a great way to personalise your brand/organisation. I totally disagree with Stef that people don't want to follow companies - I do want to follow companies, and I do so for the same wide variety of reasons that I follow certain individuals - shared interests, information, keeping an eye on the competition, being interested in what they're promoting, being plugged in to a network...
www.twitter.com/tictocfamily
3:03PM on 25th March 2009
Great post and comments everyone. For the record, when I was Chief Executive of MRM we posted regular points of view from the UK office at the company blog www.participationmarketing.co.uk. This was set up in 1997 to coincide with the presentation I gave on the Age of Participation at Cannes. [written by Mobbie Nazir @mobbie and me @AlastairDuncan]. The blog and the name stuck and can be seen here www.participationmarketing.co.uk. There is also a twitter feed at http://twitter/participationm. I took this blog and the twitter account with me when I left to set up my new venture this year, so I guess this confirms there is sometimes an issue over personal vs corporate brands for the larger agencies and certainly networks.
I promoted the freedom of individuals to blog an twitter as they wished, as in fact most of the digital agency leaders I know do. The reality is that a tiny proportion of the team (as was/is the case at Conchango/Sapient?LBi/AKQA) actually do post stuff. For the record, there is an MRM twitter account @MRM_Partners but most of the tweets are in Romanian as it's done by guys from Bucharest.
PS I often see google ads for digital agencies.
4:27PM on 25th March 2009
Great article. At Razorfish we try to do both - encourage individuals to have their own accounts and also run one company account which a few people contribute too. They both seem to have their place and their benefits. I think there are some best practices developing around company accounts and people generally know what to expect of them.
4:36PM on 25th March 2009
While I am not affiliated with them, Big Spaceship has some great tweets
http://twitter.com/bigspaceship
4:45PM on 25th March 2009
The Kombine Group is on Twitter as well http://www.twitter.com/kombinegroup
While this account is the 'official' Kombine account on Twitter and is branded as such, we are not taking what I consider to be a corporate/sales approach. We /very rarely/ plug our own offerings [such as stock and custom icons] and when we do it is only when it is appropriate and relevant to the conversation. We're really there to learn from others, keep up on industry events, news, etc., to contribute what we find interesting, and of course to network in the community. Overall I would say our approach is informal as opposed to a carefully controlled business presence.
We follow individuals and companies representing a fairly diverse set of interests, loosely held together by threads such as web design and development, graphic design, social media, presentations, content management, industry analysts, PR and marketing. But there are a number of Tweeple who don't fit into these buckets and the diversity of conversation is something we value and enjoy.
I'm looking forward to going through the list above and seeing what other agencies are talking about on Twitter - thanks for publishing this. Cheers!
Kombine is a small web development and multimedia agency based in Fort Collins, Colorado. We make search engine friendly, attractive websites using modern Internet technologies.
4:51PM on 25th March 2009
I am shocked that Critical Mass was overlooked when we've been on Twitter for nearly 2 years with almost 2k loyal followers. What an oversight.
4:52PM on 25th March 2009
The Real Adventure have taken an apporach similar to Shiv's description of Razorfish. There are a few of us with individual accounts, and we have an agency presence which we all contribute to as and when we feel like it.
http://twitter.com/realadventure
We also agree with Justi from fishinabottle that tweeting is about individuals, so we always try to identify ourselves in tweets, and indeed most of our 'following' relationships are with individuals rather than other companies. Many companies seem to be using twitter for pure self-promotion (LOOK AT MY GREAT WEBSITE!!!) without building any kind of rapport, personality or interaction.
4:55PM on 25th March 2009
http://www.twitter.com/theadvanceguard is the twitter home for my company The Advance Guard.
Formed in October 2007, The Advance Guard is a new media consultancy that creates radical marketing programs using emerging technology and community platforms. We have offices in Boston and New York.
Great list you've pulled together here and it was fun to start following some of these other agencies on Twitter. Thanks for the post.
5:00PM on 25th March 2009
This is bad research. Molecular is on Twitter, as well as facebook, slideshare, youtube and flickr. So our many of our Isobar sister agencies such as MindBlossom and AmmoMarketing. Very disappointing that we didn't make the list - especially considering we are part of the largest globabl digital network - Isobar....Maybe you can add us.
thanks!
5:04PM on 25th March 2009
I agree with David Armano @criticalmass is missing. I am also running a digital agency (much smaller than Critical Mass) but with a few solid clients. @iTangelo
5:11PM on 25th March 2009
IQ Interactive is on Twitter - follow @IQ_Interactive
Paid Search & Display Director at Guava
5:17PM on 25th March 2009
"I checked out the top 50 agencies (based on NMA's list, which is ranked by income generated by digital media activities)."
Don't be upset if you weren't on there - blame NMA not econsultancy!
Director of Product Development at Econsultancy
5:20PM on 25th March 2009
@ David / Kathleen / Tangelo - sorry to shock you but there's no oversight... I actually only looked at the top 50 agencies ranked by income based on the NMA top 100 list. That formed the limit of the sample for this research, which is more of an observation really. There are loads of agencies out there using Twitter that aren't on the NMA list for whatever reason (no UK office, lack of disclosure on income, etc).
The side effect of compiling this list is that we are unearthing a bunch of interesting agencies / agency folks for people to follow ; )
5:26PM on 25th March 2009
@criticalmass has a wonderful twitterfeed, I don't work there (anymore) but I do value thier voice, opinion and prescence (1,735 followers can't be wrong?)
7:01PM on 25th March 2009
I think Steff has hit the nail on the head. Twitter is a personal thing and although some of these groups may or may not have a corp. acct., they probably have several active peeps from their group involved personally.
8:39PM on 25th March 2009
Though Squeaky Wheel Media is not on your top 50 agency list, much to the first commenters point, many of our employees use their personal accounts to speak of the latest Squeaky projects/ events. This could also be the case for other agencies as well. My account is @Jacob_Ramos.
9:09PM on 25th March 2009
@Stef @Spencer @Andrew
Actually, I use Twitter to follow companies, but that is companies that provide very useful information like @criticalmass (and I'm surprised they aren't on this list), @pentagramdesign, or, even more useful right now, @authenticjobs.
Withover 1700 followers, @criticalmass can't be just fluff like PR spam and personal anecdotes like @zappos. If you work with new or social media at all, their tweets are incredibly useful collections of news and industry information and rarely created by them... it's like a BBC RSS feed that's specifically tailored to new and social media. Hell, they can't even comment without referencing a useful article.
I want personal stories from people and useful info from companies. Occasionally, I like the funny story from a celebrity or impersonator like @cwalken.
****and really... even if a company has people personalizing and tweeting on an individual level, THEY should claim their names and what's appropriate on Twitter. Companies should've bought their personalized domain names in the 90s, but they didn't and now they're shelling out millions to buy them from people who had the foresight to buy them then.
9:14PM on 25th March 2009
Oh hai!
http://www.twitter.com/barbariangroup
400+ followers, 50 or so employees on twitter (over 50%), and 7 twitter apps made so far!
http://www.myfirsttweet.com
http://www.rappersontwitter.com
http://www.twitter.com/probablytrue
http://www.twitter.com/mediaisthriving
http://www.twitter.com/holycrapfacts
http://www.mytwitterweighsaton.com
http://goldstars.barbariangroup.com
9:25PM on 25th March 2009
From Chile
Cardumen Digital Agency
http://twitter.com/cardumen
9:28PM on 25th March 2009
Hi Chris,
Well congratulations on starting a lot of disucssion, whatever the viewpoints are. I think my main misgiving approach is to assume that because agencies aren't on twitter that they haven't thought about it, or likewise, just because they are on Twitter that they have thought about it.
Perhaps one point that's not been mentioned with regards to large and small agencies is that the pure range of conversations that large agencies (or really any large group of people from digital) are involved in are so wide ranging that one 'corporate' voice would not appeal. At EMC Conchango, staff go deep into subjects as far reaching as user experience and SQL Server Integration Services.
One Twitter feed, like one blog doesn't cover it, and that is why - when a real human voice can so easily be conveyed, that multiple twitters suits us better.
Good luck with stirring up the debate.
2:48AM on 26th March 2009
I tweet on behalf of Intouch Solutions, a medium-sized digital marketing agency in the U.S.
http://www.twitter.com/WendyBlackburn
I mostly use Twitter for following our industry (pharmaceutical niche), making contacts for business development, learning, sharing, and driving to our company blog which I also write.
We may evolve to a branded Twitter model (we had the foresight to secure the account), but we don't want to commit to that until we have the right strategy and resources in place. Plus, I agree Twitter is extremely personal. You can't build a relationship as well with a Twitter account that represents multiple people. There's a risk that's precisely when it becomes more of an advertisement and less of a social exchange.
Marketing Assistant at MCM Net Ltd
8:20AM on 26th March 2009
We're one of the fastest growing digital agencies in the UK and we're on Twitter!
www.mcmnet.co.uk/mcmnet
Marketing Assistant at MCM Net Ltd
8:22AM on 26th March 2009
Sorry, www.twitter.com/mcmnet
9:14AM on 26th March 2009
I tweet on behalf of Digital Personnel, but do try to personalise it with some general ramblings alongside digital job updates and news reports. I believe you can follow a business as long as it isn't just a propaganda exercise. Twitter is what you want it to be, you choose who you follow and that is the beauty of it. Follow Digital Personnel @DigitalRec.
Director at Velocity
9:33AM on 26th March 2009
Here's one area where B2B agencies might just be a bit ahead...
Velocity runs a couple Twitter accounts (individuals and the business) and we do twitter work for our clients in tech markets.
It's great to be in at the early stages and it does help engage with markets.
But I wouldn't be scandalised that so many agencies haven't seen the need yet.
I always get suspicious when people start shrieking "Look who's missing the bandwagon!!"
Director at Eggbox Marketing
10:03AM on 26th March 2009
I agree that Twitter is more of an individual user thing, but I would have thought any digital agency would have at least reserved their 'official' Twitter name some time ago.
Also, I notice that plenty of those mentioned here and in the comments list seem to have only been Tweeting since maintream media interest picked it up. In this industry I would have thought it imperative to be ahead of the game, not a follower (no pun intended).
When I see these announcements in NMA about 'so-and-so appointed to head of Social Media at XYZ agency' I look them up on Twitter, usually to find they're not there. Hey ho.
Account Manager at Sabi Digital
10:13AM on 26th March 2009
Interesting. Would expect that brands would at least reserve their username. There is likely to be lots of username squatting by people who do not own the brand names on platforms like twitter. The only limit to username squatting on twitter is the number of email accounts one holds which is not a barrier really.
@chipo_madusise
@sabiOne
10:22AM on 26th March 2009
Hey Vanksen is there too :)
www.twitter.com/vanksen
www.twitter.com/culturebuzz
www.twitter.com/buzzparadise
11:29AM on 26th March 2009
Since this has sparked such an interesting debate EMC Conchango have decided to make it the topic of the next The Fantastic Tavern (the last one was the World of Rich Media).
If you would like to find out more about TFT check out: http://blogs.conchango.com/michelleflynn/archive/2009/03/12/some-thoughts-on-the-fantastic-tavern.aspx
Email me on to be added to the mailing list for more information on the next TFT.
11:55AM on 26th March 2009
Vivid Lime have been twittering away for a while too
http://twitter.com/VividLime
2:30PM on 26th March 2009
As a digital agency, we find it very important to be involved with social networks. We have a twitter account: twitter.com/imcsquared where we post anything and everything. While we haven't promoted too many campaigns using twitter (due to client persmissions), we have congratulated our employees on awards they've won, talked about conferences we were attending, and pointed out interesting articles.
MD at Screen Pages
4:23PM on 26th March 2009
@screenpages
I wonder if the leading digital agencies:
* do email marketing
* send bills out by PDF
* have portals for client support
* send press releases to Google news
Let alone Twitter.
Sales & Marketing Director at Crafted Media
5:33PM on 26th March 2009
Hi all,
Digital Marketing Group - DMG (who are 5th in the list) are represented by various specialist areas of DMG, including:
@CheezeDMG
@inboxdigital
@Graphico_Agency
Give me a shout with any questions:
@TomGriffola
Thanks,
Tom
6:03PM on 26th March 2009
Someone had already registered @gluelondon so Glue is currently http://twitter.com/weareglue
We're getting it back though.
In the meantime you can find us in action at:
http://twitter.com/markcridge
http://twitter.com/goooodtojo
http://twitter.com/domobrien
http://twitter.com/martinbailie
http://twitter.com/beeker
http://twitter.com/yodanny
http://twitter.com/mimpi
http://twitter.com/hellokinsella
http://twitter.com/daSmartster
http://twitter.com/FraserJNicholas
http://twitter.com/nickyhartnell
http://twitter.com/tails1018
http://twitter.com/jens_meijer
http://twitter.com/byrnzey
http://twitter.com/timmingsly
http://twitter.com/discomole
http://twitter.com/gluewho
http://twitter.com/Kirkoss
http://twitter.com/robmccardle
http://twitter.com/the_defiance
http://twitter.com/digitalminor
http://twitter.com/likewings
http://twitter.com/kinslowdian
http://twitter.com/mcha
http://twitter.com/Document_Tree
Ahhhh.. you get the idea.
Love the glue team
11:11PM on 26th March 2009
The Visionaire Group is on Twitter, too! Check us out at:
http://twitter.com/VisionaireGroup
Great list. Thanks!
10:22AM on 27th March 2009
I originally set-up the Altogether account to live tweet a conference at the back-end of 07 but at the time it hadn't really built up the volume, in terms of users, for it to be a particularly useful tool for us. And so we decided to essentially use it as a broadcast tool for pushing out blog posts (and a drop in the number of posts we're been writing is the reason for the drop off in tweets). What we have been doing instead of using the agency account though is to use our individual accounts to 'talk' for the agency.
Co-founder at Pod1 Group
11:24AM on 27th March 2009
Be interesting if you did the same analysis but for the agencies that rank 51 - 100...Anyone interested in taking this up?
http://www.twitter.com/pod1
12:35PM on 27th March 2009
Vivid London are on Twitter, they've been tweeting for ages: www.twitter.com/vividlondon
12:48PM on 27th March 2009
Greenroom @ Momentum have jumped on the Twitter wagon too:
http://twitter.com/greenroomatmomo
We also feed Twitter into our blog:
http://blog.greenroomatmomentum.com/
1:16PM on 27th March 2009
Interesting. i can only summise that they have work to be getting on with.
Personally i'd rather engage with a person than an "entity", most of whom, like my experience of @econsultancy recently dont reply to messages anyway ;-)
@mikeashworth
Online PR Business Manager at Amaze
2:50PM on 27th March 2009
Chris - Great post. We're proud we have plenty of our
connected specialists who are incredibly active on Twitter,
@michaelcooper and @paulfabretti being two of the most highly ranked
tweeters in Manchester.
Twitter should be used for conversation rather than just broadcasting
messages which is how many companies choose to incorrectly use it.
Our individual team members have done a great job so far of representing Amaze but we agree that we should have a brand presence and will be using @amazeplc to discuss digital issues and all company news in the future. I hope everyone follows us and we look forward to tweeting you all soon.
Strategic Director at Engine Creative
3:26PM on 27th March 2009
Great article. Even greater comments. What an interesting can of worms you've opened!
Surely Twitter is whatever you want it to be whether that's to inform, converse or sell? We use it for all of that and much more and no doubt we will change how that is used as the service evolves.
Social networking: People. Technology. Communication. Ideas. Choice.
Obligatory link: http://twitter.com/EngineCreative
4:37PM on 27th March 2009
LBi Lonodon on Twitter = @lbilondon - see URL (http://www.lbiq.net/lbi/twatted-tweetjacked-twunted/) for the semi-comical story of LBiUK.
We're tinkering with @lbilondon - it will develop its own momentum naturally. In terms of 'what message this sends out to client side', I'd hope it lets clients know that LBi doesn't do things just because they're this week's flavour. The value inherent in Twitter is yet to be demonstrated - when it is, we will be involved in realising it.
4:46PM on 27th March 2009
A few GT employees use twitter. But we don't tweet as an agency. In my experience, people tweet not companies.
5:20PM on 27th March 2009
Interesting survey and some great debate.
John Brown may not be a 'pure' digital agency but we have a number of staff with access to tweet @johnbrownmedia and over 100 followers. It helps when the corporate name is also a person(!) but why shouldn't a company present a personal identity?
We also encourage staff to tweet, hence @williamsitwell - editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated.
6:37PM on 27th March 2009
LBi UK Techie here. 122 followers. Flying the flag.
9:03AM on 28th March 2009
I don't think I've seen one person on here question why their agency DOES in fact need a Twitter account. It's all turned into a self-promotional landgrab...again...
The whole thing seems to smack of "social media for social media's sake".
Surely, (and I presume this is the case for the vast number of wonderful agencies involved in the list) they would only advocate a certain type of social media tool if it was appropriate and of value to the end user?
If so, they will then apply those rules to their own business. If they think they can add or do something of value to their business by being on twitter (and who can say that it absolutelky won't), then go for it - but don't do it just because everybody else is.
Didn't we all learn our lesson with the great Facebook Application goldrush...
6:06PM on 29th March 2009
I am using Twitter for a combination of letting people know about projects I'm working on with my consultancy the Hai Media Group, and posting some personal information @lisadevaney
As a small business, it is proving valuable for watching others in the industries I work in, and offering input to conversations they are having. I thought about setting up an agency Twitter account, but think it is more honest and real to use my name.
Of corporate entities using Twitter the best example I've seen is @comcastcares because it uses Twitter to interact quickly and directly with customers, rather than just pump out promotional updates.
6:52PM on 29th March 2009
Hi, @icrossing_uk is ours. 596 followers at the moment.
We try to keep it industry related, as opposed to just iCrossing specifc. We like to think we have our finger on the pulse, we reply as often as possible to answer people's questions and try to give it a human tone of voice.
I hope you find it useful, enjoy.
12:30AM on 30th March 2009
Hi
We have been using Twitter for our agency and clients and are getting some great results.
http://twitter.com/xcommedia
One of the best examples for a client has been our work with Tourism Queensland and supporting the Best Job In the World Campaign across Social Media including FB, You Tube, eye on Q and others. The twitter account has been priceless for supporting applicants and further promoting the amazing campaign and brand.
http://twitter.com/queensland
Great article and quite surprised at the lower than expected engagement rate amongst Agencies.
3:50PM on 30th March 2009
wow, lots of comments - does anyone read this far down? ;-P
we have one twitter.com/neoco
we use it as a place to store useful links to articles, websites and more. Things that interest our team and will likely be of interest to our clients.
it also updates our website.
we update it via Ping as we have too many things going on at once.
1:33PM on 31st March 2009
JAZIO.NET is on twitter. JAZIO.NET is a small company that provides niche high quality design and human interface design, e-commerce platforms.
www.jazio.net
1:34PM on 31st March 2009
http://twitter.com/JAZIO
3:34PM on 31st March 2009
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Joannah
http://2gbmemory.net
5:26PM on 31st March 2009
de-construct is there!
we're under the user name "deconlondon"
10:02AM on 1st April 2009
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often. Joannah http://linuxmemory.net
search & e-marketing at mvgmedia
12:40PM on 1st April 2009
I am a bit surprised by that i would expect a greater take up of agency names on twitter. I still feel that it is just a question of how does an agency use twitter.
I am sure this debate will grow as more people find out about it. At mvg media we take a slightly different approach in that we use the personal touch to share information. Come and see us @askfelix .
Ps I have just followed one you above. kool
11:36AM on 9th April 2009
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslistpostingtools.info
11:00AM on 15th April 2009
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In my opinion Twitter is a “share with the world”, spontaneous, almost promiscuous practice. Most ad agencies are terribly guarded and secretive about their ideas, incredibly fabricated in their day to day work and reigned in (yes even creative departments) by a corporate structure. Finally, most of the big agencies do not Twitter because they have nothing to share with the rest of us. Should be loose sleep over it? No.
Head of Interactive at Mediavest Leeds
12:35PM on 24th April 2009
Very tasty article and I am some what surprised at the lower than expected engagement rate amongst Agencies. I think a lot of digital agencies should be practicing what they preach.
Anyway, we’re on Twitter! MediaVest Leeds.
Follow us at http://twitter.com/MediaVest_Leeds
3:46PM on 25th June 2009
Syzygy group is also twittering!
Even live from the Canne Lions 2009!
11:15AM on 30th July 2009
We have been Cotweeting for some weeks now, and we have incentives internally to keep us actively tweeting.
It's also interesting that we can all collaborate in finding extra users to follow thereby creating a dense pool of tweets that interest us as a team.
3:09PM on 17th December 2009
Brings up the question of how agencies should market themselves, do they need to 'practice what they preach' and 'keep up with the joneses'?
For me agencies should do whatever marketing is most appropriate for them and not necessarily jump on a band wagon. That said, my gut feeling is that twitter is highly relevant and a great way of talking to a wider audience (if they use it well!)
Anyway, might as well throw my contact details in the mix too! @fletchthemonkey
8:37AM on 21st January 2010
Work at Play is on Twitter: http://twitter.com/workatplay
6:07PM on 11th March 2010
Good to see so much self promotion. I personally like to twitter from time to time - more for personal opinion rather than self promotion though. We're reviewing which way to go on this at the moment, though I do take the point that clients are ultimately interested in our view - builder's houses somewhat!
11:55AM on 1st April 2010
Twitter isn't a PR service. It's a way of engaging with our peers and clients on a personal level.
4:14PM on 22nd July 2011
Have to say I am surprised that more agencies have not adopted this approach. Twitter is a great way of widening your audience. Many companies have achieved significant increases in traffic using twitter and I do not see why this would not apply to agencies.