Although I could agree on "most agencies don't get social media" it is not even me saying this but a recent survey by TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

The survey, based on 60 responses from marketeers in the US, UK and in France had one clear message: agencies - be it PR, Marketing or Creative/Design agencies - do not understand social media and tend to treat them like any other medium.

One critique that came back from in house marketeers was that agencies themselves have no real hands on experience with these new tools and apply the same communications model they are used to apply.

Here's my take on this, based on my own experience as a freelance consultant/trainer:

• Agencies have been my very first clients; my first training session about social media was with a "traditional" PR agency eager to understand what social media could mean to their business. So do they "get it"...? Well, I think they all know that blogs, RSS feeds etc.. are influencing their profession and are on the agenda of their clients. But that doesn't mean they are all experienced in using social media.
• Each year I track which PR agencies (based in Belgium) have RSS feeds on their websites. I do believe that this is one of the signs that show if you "get" social media or not, as RSS is the basis of good content syndication and information management. Guess what... agencies are very, very slow to get with the RSS game and only 8 out of more than 20 agencies use feeds to promote their content.

So what's the problem...?

It is the model... or rather the fact that the communications model we all learned in PR, Communications, Marketing school doesn't apply to social media at all. It is not about the "sender" and the "receiver" as it used to be.

When using social media we are entering an ecosystem where feedback, two way communications and transparency rule, and most of us are simply not used to this. Many of my colleagues in agency are used to the command and control model and feel very uncomfortable engaging the public online, for all to see and react.

But to be fair - several of my corporate clients feel exactly the same way and need as much information, awareness training and hands on experience before using social media than my agency colleagues. In short, we all have a very long way to go.