Learn!observations, links, ideas

Chris Lake has tried to track down the twitter accounts of the top 50 UK interactive agencies (as ranked by New Media Age) in his Econsultancy post Digital agencies on Twitter (or are they?). While looking at who is practicing what they preach he found that of the top 50, a couple of agencies are very active on twitter, some slightly active, others have only claimed their names, while many are no where to be seen.

He suggests “roughly a 25% adoption rate” so I decided to spin some numbers for a closer look and found that if you include those who have at least claimed their names then this boosts the figure to 36%, or 18 out of the 50 agencies.

Out of those 18 agencies with twitter accounts, only 33% are independently owned – this surprised me as I had assumed that independent agencies may be more inclined and less restricted by red-tape to leap on to twitter. On the other hand I did have a correct hunch when I found that 67% of the twittering agencies, whether independent or otherwise, have less than 100 staff members – perhaps smaller companies find it easier to react to new technologies and co-ordinate engagement.

Breaking down the types of agencies that are twittering: 67% classify as Marketing, 22% as Design & Build, and 11% as Technical.

The comments to Chris’ post vary from minor debate about whether or not to judge an agency on its twitter presence to pointing out that individuals within the companies are often active tweeters even if there isn’t a company presence. Some responses question the point behind setting up a company account.

Claiming your company brand is useful to avoid brand-squatters and communicating via twitter can help to spread news. A central account can provide a link between staff, helping employees to connect, and potential employees to explore further in to the agency. Depending on the type of agency, a company twitter account can be used to:

• Share information and findings
• Seek advice on solving issues
• Update industry friends or inquisitives about latest campaigns
• Link to useful articles
• Develop partnerships with local businesses
• Promote your business
• Encourage staff knowledge-sharing
• Provide an accessible point of contact
• Announce job vacancies
• Demonstrate the culture of the company to potential employees
• Access a community willing to give you a few minutes for testing/feedback
• Spread the word about industry events
• Have a laugh

It doesn’t hurt to think about defining some measurements (they might just help you with your next social media pitch) but remember that not all metrics are equal. If you’re interested in measuring twitter success, I’d recommend reading yongfook‘s recent post, Social Media ROI, which provides helpful tips and examples of defining metrics.