The document provides an 8-point guide for hiring an effective social media marketing agency. It emphasizes that the agency should have expert knowledge of social media trends and platforms (point 1), a crisis management plan (point 2), understand the target audience's demographics and interests (point 3), create engaging content (point 6), measure campaign success metrics (point 7), and monitor competitors' strategies (point 8). The agency aims to help brands navigate the changing social media landscape and maximize their online presence.

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An 8 pointer guide to hire “The One”
MAgency
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With advancement of technology, there have been major
changes in the way people interact with each other. The
career pigeons or telegrams are no longer an option for
communication. So transitional is the modern era these days
that we cannot afford to be oblivious to the changing trends.
SMS
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Its impact is multi-fold as compared to other Marketing chan-
nels. Infact, it has already surpassed most of the obvious
media channels and that too by a huge margin.
Marketing is also one of the fields that has seen so many
alterations over time, the latest progression being Social
Media Marketing, a change that is both fun and tricky. For
Social Media Marketing is one platform where things don’t
play by the conventional rules. It is a power-phenomenon
which can be leveraged to generate a stream of brand-loyal
consumers and also increase the audience number.
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Television
Internet
Newspaper
Radio
Magazine**
Out of Home
Video Games
Cinema
Brodcast TV Cabel TV
2013 Ad Revenue Market Share by Media
($ Billions)
**Magazines includes Consumer magazine onlySource- ComScore
With, such a powerful tool in your hand, a lot of things can
work in favor of your brand.
However, Social Media Marketing is not a casual anomaly. A
lot of precision and planning is needed to make sure that the
strategy works and that too in favor of the brand. Therefore,
a competent Social Media Marketing Agency is a staple.
Every time a new customer is added to the brand, its value
increases. But it is costly to engage a new consumer than to
maintain an existing one. This is where marketers come to
play
And here is what you should heed in your Social Media
Marketing Agency before hiring one.

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A marketer’s knowledge and skill are the two weapons on
which the whole battle plan relies. A person constantly in
touch with the dynamics of social media platform can not
only benefit your creations, but also strengthen your brand
standing. It is mandatory to have an expert as the flow of
social media is ever fluctuating. Therefore, the agency must
be well-acquainted with the ongoings to be in a better
position to point out the “Must Be and Should Have” for the
brand.
This ranges from anything ongoing to anything that might
occur. Did your agency mention how your brand can benefit
from SxSW 2015? Or did they mention how your brand can
jump into the #Oscars can create that much wanted ripple?
1. Knowledgeable and Skillful are they?
But those who didn’t still had an excellent “someone”
getting them their fair share of BUZZ
It is not always about being present at a platform that big
and impactful, but knowing and taking advantage of these
opportunities is what makes a brand a success. Such skill
and knowledge coupled with candid approach and timely
action is what is expected of an agency.
This kind of inside knowledge prevents your brand from
flunking any kind of test it might have to face in the virtual
world. Consumer needs, market trend, social media
approach are all the key necessities for your brand to
establish a good image and an expert helps you with that
and more. The agency’s insight is what helps a brand
secure the reputation needed to convert its users from
consumers to fans. So, always make sure your chosen
agency has that kind of skill and knowledge in them.
Some got lucky being featured at #Oscars

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2. Do they have a disaster management plan?
Sometimes, campaigns do go wrong or a post goes viral for
wrong reasons. To err is human, so said the elders. The import-
ant thing for you to keep in consideration is, does your expert
agency has a crisis management plan? Ask questions like, what
will be your response to no buzz? How will you tackle low
number of likes? How would you respond to negative reviews?
And in worst case scenario, do you have a backup plan?
Taking example, of clothing brand Allen Solly, things might go
wrong even with big brands. All that matters is the approach of
the agency in the event of Zero Hour.
So ofcourse people loved it! And Allen Solly saved the day,
or rather their special someone.
But wait, it doesn’t end here. If you thought that it was an
apology and things were done, you will have to see what
followed next.
Ofcourse, their impressions, responses, clicks, everything increased.
This “save” strategy actually became a boon for them. A brilliant save!
And so, an agency not only restored the image of
a brand but also made it the new favorite for many.
Saving a brand from drowning in the current of customer
criticism is very important. An agency must be able
ensure that safe ground for your brand.
A crisis detected. Things get a little dicey from here.
And the first response came. It could still go downhill from here.
But no! It didn’t. It became
an impressive and unique
apology

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3. Do they know where your audience is?
Every brand has a focus area which is its native playfield.
However, there might be some auxiliary territory for the
brand too. Your expert agency must focus on both and
ensure that the brand reaches a larger audience. The
target group might be available on any number of
platforms and focusing on them all is how brand will
become a sensation.
For a camera brand, promoting itself on Facebook is a good
call, no denial there. But having an account on Instagram
would prove even more productive. And while we are at
photo sharing networks, being a part of Tumblr, the
photo-sharing blog would be of tremendous help again.
The point of importance here is how well the agency under-
stands your brand. Once that understanding is developed,
deducing where the core group of potential customers is, is
no rocket science. Therefore, they must know who is your
brand targeted at and what other fields are touched simul-
taneously.
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4. Details – Are they attentive to them?
Once, a consumer becomes aware of the brand, comes the
next step of getting details. The aim of every brand is to
harness substantial ROI. These can be achieved through
effective conversions. Increasing traffic on the official web-
site and creating a BUZZ is very important. For people to
look a brand up on internet, they need to be actually inquisi-
tive. Your chosen agency must be able to create that kind of
curiosity for the brand. Not always can it be achieved
through simple posts, tweets and pins. What exactly can
the agency do to create that kind of curiosity depends on
how well they know the social mindset and reactions of
audience. Sharing posts that actually make a costumer stop
from scrolling down and taking some time to process is, is
where the success of an agency lies. Capturing the fleeting
attention of people is no cake walk. But it is not a herculean
task either.
Triggering the eagerness of a large number of people needs
skill and expertise and is exactly what you must expect
from the agency. Also, they must be able to save your
brand from being awkward on a social media platform

6. 5. Are they good listeners?
Social media is not just about talking, it involves listening
too. Informing audience of a creation is not the end of the
plan. Listening to people and isolating their basic experi-
ence from a myriad of channels is the key to reliable
reviews and your expert agency must make this easy.
Because, listening to your customers brings insights, helps
you understand the root cause of a problem, know what
the customers expect and also plan the modifications and
innovative changes in your product. Like the example of
Maker’s Mark, wherein COO decided to decrease the
quantity of alcohol in the drink. What happened next is an
example of how the brand became aware of customers’
expectation through their responses and the brand was
saved from a backlash and flunking.
People were quick to respond
The marketing agency’s prompt listening and providing genuine and listening prevented Maker’s Mark from taking a major decision all wrong
Having an idea of a general opinion is more effective than
focusing on a test group because this is no in-vitro experi-
ment. This is a global phenomenon. Your expert agency
must rescue you from these kinds of dilemma by buffering
all the noise and letting reliable opinion reach you.
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6. Is content their strength?
Capturing a consumer’s interest is a task. It can be
achieved through effective content. Therefore, the
expert should be aware of the value of the content and
its captivity; also its ease of understanding, for if “Con-
tent is King then Speed is Queen”. So, you must know
what is their Content Strategy? An impressive content
that is delivered in the tone of your brand’s personality
would help audiences gain important insights into your
values, beliefs and agenda. So if the agency’s response is
somewhere in the line of No, we don’t believe in blog-
ging, you know you have to look for another.
Also, no consumer would spend a lot of time or infact,
any time to understand the complicated composition.
Therefore, the agency’s formulation should include an
alluring yet easily comprehendible content
7. What’s your success rate –
Can they measure it?
With the plan on the go there needs to be a measure-
ment for the results too. Not knowing how well your
strategy worked is detrimental to further planning.
Being aware of a strategy’s winning points as well as
loopholes is an ideal next step and should be an
expert’s too. Your expert agency must be acquainted
with and able to use all the tools and means to give at
least the gist of how successful your campaign was.
Also, you should be able to see a marked improvement
in your impressions, responses, etc. otherwise the
whole purpose of hiring an agency would be defeated.
Not only should the agency be able to calculate your
success but also draft reasons for the same. Example,
which tweet generated most responses? Which post
got maximum shares? This is valuable when you
attempt to understand what resonated with your
audiences.
Keep in mind that if this is not a part of their strategy,
you might as well be flying blind in a war zone which is
not a very appealing thought.

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8. Did they caution you of your competitor?
It is an open market and being ignorant of competition is not
a very intelligent move. Being conscious of the competitors
and keeping a keen eye at their strategy is what gives the
marketing plan an extra push. Keeping an eye on your com-
petition would help you understand what they plan on doing
next. Also, you get to know what is not being liked by their
customers. You can use this information to draft or modify
your own product range to generate an even bigger custom-
er base.
Your chosen agency’s attentiveness is the feature which is
dependable in such a case. So, be aware if your expert
agency knows your competition and what could or did they
do to give your brand an edge over them?
Lathesis is a creatively dynamic agency that helps brands
with any and all Social Media Marketing challenges.
Visit us at or get in touch at
An agency has to be a companion on the ever-evolving
roads of social media marketing, a friend to gently point
out the short-comings of a brand from becoming “the”
brand and a partner in sharing the brand’s image and
accomplishments. And therefore, choosing the right kind
is extremely important.
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