DMS ’11: Automating the Social Marketing Agency for SMBs

Smack dab in the middle of today’s social media forum at DMS ’11 was a session to highlight agencies that specialize in social media marketing.

David Lifson, CEO of Postling, and Mike Nabasny, regional sales manager of Wildfire, spent the majority of the session talking about how they’re applying algorithms to bring the traditional agency model to SMBs.

The key there is becoming part reputation management play, and part toolset to empower businesses to be more effective with Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, et al. It’s the “teach a man to fish” mindset.

Another key concept is “one-stop shop,” given the growing number of online/social outlets where customer voices are being heard and SMBs’ limited time.

“These SMBs don’t have time. They need a one-stop shop,” said Lifson. “As time goes on they need more to listen and respond. We built a tool to make it easier.”

This includes Postling suggestions, a way to scale an agency approach with an automated system. It alerts businesses of top things they should know about and how to respond or redistribute. This can include things like a five-star review on Yelp or a new influential Twitter follower.

“Lots of SMBs can’t afford an agency,” said Lifson. “Can we use algorithms to get you 80 percent there?” This automated approach is an imperative to scale and needs to be engineered in a way that approximates agency service, without the agency.

“We’re a technology company,” added Nabasny. “If you’re looking for a full-service agency where someone will tweet for you, we will do that through third parties. But our core competency is engineering and we’re sticking with that.”