Social Media Beachhead

Want to win an RFP? Include social solutions in your proposal. Less than 6 months ago it would have been laughable to suggest that you would utilize social media to form the sharp point of an RFP. Today, it's a reality. Social is sexy. It's what clients want to hear about.

However, until social gains mainstream buy in (and we get a C-level position associated with it) we are restricted to being the barb at the end of the hook. In essence, we are restricted to two slides in a power point. Fortunately, these are the two slides that everyone wants to see.

The main winners here? Integrated/multi-faceted agencies, who now have another avenue to sell their capabilities to the client. Note: This only applies to integrated agencies that actually have social capabilities/expertise. Not a glorified PR department that discovered what a blog was two weeks ago.

Unlike other previous shiny objects social media actually has a legitimate shot at sticking and creating lasting business for both agencies and talented in-house marketers. Social plays well with all aspects of the sales cycle and forms a glue that can hold an integrated marketing program in place.

Going social has interesting side effects though. You become accountable. You flatten your company and increase cooperation amongst different departments. You speed up your product innovation cycle. You allow your customer to win.

Why is this seen as being innovative though? Shouldn't companies technically be going in this direction in the first place? Yes, but if companies made all the right decisions the need for agencies, consultants and marketing teams would cease to be useful (which I don't foresee happening anytime soon).

In a down economy, RFPs are scarce. Social is now providing an opening for agencies to go in for the kill. If you are well equipped and have a proven track record? Get ready to create some fantastic results/case studies (and make some money).

After all, I'm kind of sick of hearing about Zappos. They are just the beginning of the culture change, the best is still yet to come.

Photo Credit: 60058591@N00

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tagged as agency social media, RFP, social media agency, social media beach head, social request for proprosal, social rfp, social solutions

David Kutcher

But RFPs AREN'T scarce! Every week between 300 and 400 RFPs are uploaded to the RFP Datdabase found at http://www.rfpdb.com by the site's members. These RFPs range from advertising and accounting to public relations, marketing, and web development. The full gamut of RFPs. And yes, there are even a few looking specifically for social media solutions.

And the best part is that this service is not expensive, has no subscription fees, and if you upload projects that you've found but aren't going to bid on, you get 5 projects for free for each lead you post.

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Stuartfoster

You can't succeed unless you have a beach head. What you do from there is up to you. I do think at the moment "social media" needs a c-level position because of the complete lack of understanding internally of what it is. Until that knowledge gap goes away the need is there.

In 5 years? Social Media won't exist...it will be just another channel.

Absolutely. You can't just tack a "Social Media" title onto your PR department and expect to make any sort of headway in terms of culture change. You have to take small steps and effectively guide companies (and your agency) through the process of adopting social.

It's all about managing expectations effectively (and having the person who is the social director designing the social strategy).

David Spinks

Even if you did bring in a "social media expert" to your agency, that's not always enough. You still need to develop an understanding of social media throughout.

I was speaking to someone the other day who I don't want to name, that was hired by an agency to do the "social media stuff" and now they just throw in the "social media stuff" into every RFP, without realizing how unreasonable the goals are for the "social media expert".

You can't just throw in social media because it's sexy. Sure, your potential customer might bite and sign with you, but unless you understand exactly what you're offering and the reasonable amount you can offer, your results are going to suffer.

@DavidSpinks

prostylus

I can't deny that social marketing solutions make an increasingly well-baited hook for businesses, but I dispute whether they deserve a C-level position. (This isn't as off-topic as it sounds.)

Social media is a marketing path like, say, channel marketing. It has a legitimate place alongside other marketing pathways and tools. It may even be the tool on which hangs the rest of a business's marketing strategy. But that doesn't mean SocMed is than a tactical tool. So, to your point, it can decisively win battles, but not the war.

The beachhead is a good metaphor for SocMed's value in RFPs, but don't forget: D-Day's success was followed by the failure of Operation Market Garden.

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