I read an article today on the 10 Twitter Mistakes made by Ad Agencies for New Business, and it really struck a nerve with me. This is probably because I am much more aware of advertising agencies and websites in my role at The Creative Circus than I was before.

As I try to build an online brand for this great advertising portfolio school, I am struck by how awful a job the vast majority of ad agencies and ad websites do in social media platforms, especially Twitter. It’s all about broadcasting and sales, as they post their own work and awards, and the employees and team members simply Re-Tweet those things over and over.

This is madness. We have many alumni at many of these places and I can’t even get them to follow us back, let alone thank us for an RT! How could you ever expect to develop new business with a strategy like that? It’s very old-school, and reflects the reality that so many agencies are dinosaurs, and truly behind the curve in the online space.

If I were looking for an agency to build my brand, get me exposure, and track all of those things online, I wouldn’t go with a shop that couldn’t even do it for themselves. How could they ever do it for another brand if not for their own? Crazy. And so, completely out-of-touch.

Of course, not all places are like this, but it’s just sad that so many are, and that there is such arrogance in the industry and with the people who work in it. I’ve had people reach out to me to post things under our unique and strong Circus brand, and then when I reach out to them to give us a shout-out for something great our students have done, it appears they’ve died. Absolutely NO reciprocation. That’s ridiculous, big-headed, and not at all how social marketing works.

That’s my rant. But seriously, agencies need to get with it. Yesterday.