What Are The Red Flags To Avoid When Choosing A Social Media Marketing Agency?

Over the years we’ve heard plenty of horror stories from our clients about their past experiences with some social media marketing agencies that never deliver anything apart from an invoice and a headache.  

We empathise with anyone who’s been mistreated or not had the outcome they wanted. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of red flags that will help your business avoid the same fate. 

Red flags? Yup. Wanna know what those are? Course you do. Follow me, partner… 

What Are The Red Flags To Avoid When Choosing A Social Media Marketing Agency?  

Low cost 

Pricing can be a relevant factor when deciding on a supplier for your digital marketing, so you need to find the right one for you. Often differences in cost can be down to the size of the agency, and other times it can be about the quality or uniqueness of the content created.   

There’s no right or wrong way to go, but if you’re looking for results and good social that supports your brand message and ensures you look good online, then avoiding the cheapest option is probably a good idea.

Is this our stance just because we’re not cheap so we’re going to bad mouth cheap agencies or ‘one man band’ social media types? No. We’re good friends with some fabulous freelancers who we love and trust, and we greatly admire some of our competitors. It’s just previous experience from the past 10 years tells us that problems come more from cheap social than they do from larger agencies. #Facts. 

No transparency 

Be wary of agencies that are all cloaks and mirrors. If the marketing agency won’t or can’t tell you exactly what they’re doing with your marketing budget, then you should be suspicious. With us, if you do Google Ads or Facebook Ads you’ll pay them directly so you’re in control and can be sure every penny of your ad spend goes exactly where it should. 

A good marketing agency will be more than happy to explain their process and show you what’s going on under the hood. Be wary if they just send you reports and can’t explain them, either. As Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” And that includes hiding behind generic reports and not having conversations about them. Reporting should be a way of showing progress and making improvements.  

Holding your company’s social media pages and website hostage 

Ah man – this happens too much! We’ve recently blogged about the importance of off boarding people from social media because so many budget or cheap social media folk make a real mess of becoming an admin on your social or setting up Facebook ad accounts in your name, but on their logins. 

If the agency or social media ‘guru’ you’re talking to is going to ‘save you some time’ by setting it all up for you, just check that you’ll be the main admin or… run a mile! This’ll be a messy and costly mistake if and when you part company. We’ve become experts at untangling these messes but frankly we’d be happy to never have to deal with it again. 

Poor communication/ghosting when there’s a problem 

Typically, a cheap/budget social media service (understandably) won’t be able to offer you much time to run the account. These accounts are often run using automation and lean processes that require little or no human input. 

Sound ideal? It’s not always. Social media is a fluid and real-life content piece. If the agency suggests that you rarely need to talk or exchange ideas, then you’re unlikely to get much in the way of bespoke content. Your Facebook Page won’t get much engagement if they’re posting generic images saying ‘happy Friday’ etc. Snore.  

We’ve also spoken to people who’ve been unable to get ahold of their account manager to deal with any issues. This can be very frustrating and leave the client anxious and unsure. ?

Vague discussions around team members 

Agencies that don’t specify who will be doing the actual work can do this because they’re usually hired on outsourcing sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, or LinkedIn. And the freelancer is only hired AFTER the client has been signed up and tied in for a year. 

That’s fine if you’re happy for them to use random freelancers, but at Spaghetti Agency we only use individuals we know, like, and trust. We prefer to stick to our employed team and regular outsourced team as they understand what we do, our values, how we deliver, and the standards we have. 

Too good to be true 

Be wary of the slick sales pitches. A budget social media company might be great at the sales piece and kudos to them if they are. But you need to be comfortable with the deal or package that you’re signing up for.  

Don’t be fooled or pushed into a service if you’re not confident they can deliver what you want. Sometimes the hype and illusion hides a very poor rinse and repeat, high turnover of clients model. They’re happy to get clients on board for a few months, take their money, and then move on.   

At Spaghetti Agency we’re proud of our client retention and we have hundreds of positive reviews and testimonials. 

Promising specific results by a certain date 

Agencies that offer to get you XXX number of social shares, comments, or links are just not worth your time. 

Apart from the fact that follower numbers, reach, or likes are vanity metrics at best, you can easily just buy these from sites online. You want real interaction and real results, and these are never guaranteed.  

Watch for red flags ?

To avoid being hoodwinked you’ll need to read some client reviews, ask plenty of questions, and listen to your gut. 

When times get tough, it’s easy to be tempted by the cheap packages that are out there. However, while they may seem like a great way to save money in a difficult economic climate, it’s important that businesses prioritise value over cost. 

Remember, like many things, you get what you pay for. The right social media marketing agency for your company may require a larger budget, but the results and client satisfaction they provide should more than make up for the cost. 

We find that if you buy cheap, you buy twice. We’re often the second or third agency people have tried, and we fix a lot of mess when we onboard clients too. From broken social, to incorrectly set-up websites, email account and tracking, we often spend hours fixing what a ‘social media guru’ had a go at doing and got wrong.  

Social media and online marketing is very public.   

Is it really worth the risk?  

Want to find out whether Spaghetti Agency might be the right agency for you? Get in touch for a quick chat. 

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