Social Media Agency Wars in Dubai: PR Agency vs. Digital Agency [Updated 2023]

This might be seen to be the most biased article that I have ever written, after all, I'm the CEO of a digital marketing agency arguing that agencies like ours are much better suited to manage social media accounts instead of traditional PR agencies. Hear me out; I've got good reason for this stance. I'll be as fair as possible, though I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below to discuss it further. 

When a PR Agency Manages Your Social Media

• Content: Your PR agency has a good understanding of your business and creates content in the form of marketing material and press releases on a regular basis. The content they create is of a high standard and is generally newsworthy. PR Agencies are also great storytellers and this is what drives a lot of social engagement.
• Access to media: By nature, most PR agencies have direct access to media outlets, which means that they also have access to influencers such as reporters and magazine editors at their disposal.
• Responding to enquiries: Most PR agencies have media monitoring and crisis management setup as part of their day-to-day operation in the unlikely event that a client receives bad publicity that needs to be managed.
• Awareness: If a business only wants to generate awareness and isn't interested in measuring the revenue generated from this activity, the PR agency can provide a cost effective solution.

When an Integrated Digital Marketing Agency Manages Your Social Media

• Strategy: As a digital marketing agency, social media networks are used as part of a digital marketing strategy, rather than be the focal point of the strategy. A digital agency will therefore use things like websites, microsites, landing pages, email marketing and videos and integrate these within social media to provide a stronger overall strategy.
• Research Driven Content: An experienced digital agency will create a content marketing plan as part of a company's social media strategy. Rather than create potentially newsworthy content that may get picked up by new news sources, a digital marketing agency will create content that actual customers (and potential customers) will be searching for, host these within a company blog and use social media to distribute the content to your exact target audience.  
• Search Engine: a major by-product. By creating content that customers are actually searching for, digital marketers by default, are employing highly effective search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques. This content also plays a pivotal role in your online strategy and will drive more qualified traffic to your website.
• Content Distribution: Digital agencies employ various tactics to make sure that content is marketed to the specified target audience. Rather than just post and boost content on Facebook, a well-informed digital agency will use advanced targeting methods aimed at those believed to be potential customers. The digital agency will also use page specific retargeting, where those who have visited your website will be targeted on social media with closed-loop marketing messages to drive conversion into new business.
• Technical Implementation: Digital agencies have the technical ability to target your followers across other platforms, including Google's search network at incredibly low costs.
• Digital Content: Digital agencies create content such as photos and videos specifically for digital platforms rather than for offline (or internal media use) that then needs to be re-purposed for use on social media. These are created by experts that these agencies work with frequently.
• Full tracking and conversion mapping: Every aspect of your social media marketing should be tracked for click through rates, lead generation and conversion into new business. These tracking tools need both implementation and ongoing management and are generally managed by a digital marketing analyst whose sole focus is to increase the effectiveness of each campaign.
• Clear ROI: We are way passed the days when social media was used for general awareness only. Today, any experienced digital marketing agency will provide you with a clear path and strategy that will demonstrate return on investment (ROI) from this activity.

Comparing Your Agency Choices

Despite having more 'reasons' as to why a digital marketing agency should manage a client's social media strategy, I genuinely believe there is room for PR agencies to offer this as an additional service to clients. For example, if a client is already happy with the work being provided by the PR agency, then for an additional fee, why not extend these services on social media platforms? It makes sense. Well, as long as the PR agency outlines the limitations of their service that is.  For example, if they don't have any technical expertise with implementation (and understanding of) tracking tools, retargeting technology, advanced customer targeting and closed-loop marketing opportunities cannot be provided, these should be stated clearly. Also, if the PR agency cannot track ROI or even revenue generated from their social media activities, clients should also be notified of this. It's only fair, right?  

The problem is (and this is why I care), is that we speak to many businesses who have been put off by social media marketing. Social media isn't for every business - we totally understand that, but when we see a business that is so perfect for marketing on social networks who say "We tried a social media campaign but it didn't work for us," it's hugely frustrating. When we ask how they tried it, we generally find that either their PR Agency or a Freelance Social Media "expert" (don't get me started on these guys!) were the ones who failed them. In other words, those who are not skilled at digital marketing nor strategic social media but are masquerading as credible service providers are ruining things for those of us who are.  

But not every client being serviced by a PR Agency or Freelancer is unhappy or seeing poor results. I fully accept that.  But I can't also help think that these are the very clients who have no idea what the possibilities are with social media marketing and the opportunities for their business. If I've got this incorrect, I'll gladly hold my hands up and admit I'm wrong, but I'll need some serious convincing to do so. 

In my mind, the path forward is clear. There is a lot of room in the industry but for clients to get maximum value for their social media efforts, PR Agencies will either need to become more technically minded or work closely with digital marketing teams to ensure that content reach and distribution is maximised. After all, that's what PR is supposed to be about.  

In addition, many PR Agencies wanting to engage in social media marketing services need to revisit traditional sales pitches.  The old "PR versus Advertising" debate cannot be carried over onto social media and PR agencies need to become comfortable with having advertising related conversations without compromising their core business ethos. Today, it's virtually impossible for brands to generate strong, meaningful results on social media platforms such as Facebook without spending money on advertising. On the face of it, this seems very anti-PR and so certainly presents a challenge.

I also think that digital agencies need to work closer with PR agencies when it comes to social media marketing. A PR Agency's ability to tell a story can be a powerful marketing weapon if distributed correctly. I don't think is happening enough and again, for clients to get maximum impact from social media activity, conversations between the two agencies needs to happen more frequently. This is, of course, happening in some cases and our agency works with a number of PR agencies that do work closely with us or other digital agencies to make sure that their clients are getting the best possible service and results from their campaigns.

Note: I also didn't intend to provide just 4 reasons why a company should use a PR Agency to manage their social media, but I genuinely ran out of possible reasons. That said, I'm more than happy to edit this section if a PR Agency can send me some more reasons.  I want this article to be as fair and as balanced as possible.

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