--- title: "Marketing agency trends: The opportunity cost of not doing social" description: One digital marketing agency asks whether social really is the be all and end all. Find out now on the FindGood Marketing blog. image: https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/file-21371945-jpg/images/istock_000019668905small-690x459.jpg --- # Our Blog ### Subscribe to Email Updates ### Blog Topics - [inbound marketing (5)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/inbound-marketing) - [B2B marketing (2)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/b2b-marketing) - [LinkedIn (2)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/linkedin) - [Social Media Strategy (2)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/social-media-strategy) - [Blogging (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/blogging) - [GDPR (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/gdpr) - [Thought Leadership (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/thought-leadership) - [growth (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/growth) - [inbound (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/inbound) - [organic growth (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/organic-growth) - [webinars (1)](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/b2b-marketing-blog/topic/webinars) [see all](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/bid/371850/Marketing-agency-trends-The-opportunity-cost-of-not-doing-social#) ## Marketing agency trends: The opportunity cost of not doing social 28 January 2014 [![Share on Facebook](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/INCITE%20IMAGES/social%20sharing%20icons/new/facebook_colour@2x.png?noresize&width=24&name=facebook_colour@2x.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.incitemarketing.co.uk%2Fmarketing-blog%2Fbid%2F371850%2FMarketing-agency-trends-The-opportunity-cost-of-not-doing-social%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on LinkedIn](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/INCITE%20IMAGES/social%20sharing%20icons/new/LinkedIn_green@2x.png?noresize&width=24&name=LinkedIn_green@2x.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.incitemarketing.co.uk%2Fmarketing-blog%2Fbid%2F371850%2FMarketing-agency-trends-The-opportunity-cost-of-not-doing-social%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin) [![Share on Twitter](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/hubfs/INCITE%20IMAGES/social%20sharing%20icons/new/Twitter_orange%20copy@2x.png?noresize&width=24&name=Twitter_orange%20copy@2x.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.incitemarketing.co.uk%2Fmarketing-blog%2Fbid%2F371850%2FMarketing-agency-trends-The-opportunity-cost-of-not-doing-social%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.incitemarketing.co.uk%2Fmarketing-blog%2Fbid%2F371850%2FMarketing-agency-trends-The-opportunity-cost-of-not-doing-social%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=Marketing%20agency%20trends%3A%20The%20opportunity%20cost%20of%20not%20doing%20social%20) # Alan Thorpe, of Digital Marketing Agency, [Indicia](http://www.indicia.com), assesses the success of those who are and who are not taking a bite out of the social cherry. So, what's the cost of not being social? ![Social media](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/file-21371945-jpg/images/istock_000019668905small-690x459.jpg?width=462&height=307&name=istock_000019668905small-690x459.jpg) Last week, a senior client-side financial-services marketing agency man asked me this question. It’s trickier to answer than you think. [Take Apple](http://tinyurl.com/kfmabeg): a global leader that apparently doesn’t live social. Are they suffering? Hardly. Yet others simply could not operate without it. It’s thrilling to see how ultra-modern has met history to create brilliance at Burberry. Indicia’s own clients, in particular Tourism Ireland, have achieved stunning results and fantastic levels of customer engagement by using social to open up their marketing to consumer influence and contribution.    Now we’re seeing marketing agency land use the medium to find the [next generation of creatives](http://tinyurl.com/nhdhbyq). A brilliant idea.   So put yourself in the position of my financial services challenger. What is the opportunity cost of not doing social when you’ve to hit a short-term target? I doubt that any of us would argue that, as a minimum, effective social monitoring is a must. The ability to respond to complaints aired through social media is just good business.   And who would not want to know what consumers are saying about their marketing, products and services? Fantastic feedback – virtually for free. One of our talented planners, Becky Heard, recently blogged about [the best social monitoring tools](http://tinyurl.com/nm72mn9).       To me the opportunity cost of not doing social is the wrong question. The right questions are where are your existing and future customers to be found? What media do they engage with? And is your marketing native to social channels (and therefore effective rather than jarring).    It may well be that, at least in the short term, the social marketing numbers simply don’t add up for all brands.  But in a world where most of us are glued to a screen it’s hard to imagine many brands having long-term staying power outside of the medium. So make sure your marketing department (or marketing agency) can provide a brilliant monitoring tool. At some point, the numbers of interactions are going to soar.  Are you ready? You should be. [![Register your Agency](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/239547/481808cd-5fbd-4f29-80d7-272b1568a6ee.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/239547/481808cd-5fbd-4f29-80d7-272b1568a6ee) Topics: [Marketing Trends](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/topic/marketing-trends) [Social Media](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/topic/social-media) ![Danielle Stagg](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/eff1231c9f9e37c49ec1101586f32e8c) #### Written by [Danielle Stagg](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/author/danielle-stagg) Previous Post [![](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/file-475787600-jpg/images/fotolia_49445611_xs.jpg) ](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/bid/371203/Marketing-Agency-Trends-5-Digital-Predictions-for-2014) [Marketing Agency Trends - 5 Digital Predictions for 2014](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/bid/371203/Marketing-Agency-Trends-5-Digital-Predictions-for-2014) Next Post [![](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hs-fs/file-32995486-jpg/images/experiential_marketing_festivals_fmcg-resized-600.jpg) ](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/bid/372483/Marketing-agency-trends-4-Street-Marketing-tips-for-2014) [Marketing agency trends: 4 Street Marketing tips for 2014](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/marketing-blog/bid/372483/Marketing-agency-trends-4-Street-Marketing-tips-for-2014) ![Incite Marketing](https://www.incitemarketing.co.uk/hubfs/INCITE%20IMAGES/logo/incite_logo_red.svg) The Factory, 2 Acre Road Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey. 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