AWARD WINNING DALLAS AD AGENCY LOOMIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media have turned everybody with a computer into a potential journalist.  Whether you are in advertising in Dallas, or software in Seattle. That’s what purveyors of social media and advocates for streaming streams of consciousness would have us believe.  Not so fast.  Social media may provide the conduit, but it is no substitute for journalistic skill.  This very post is an example of social media at work.  But, despite my degree in journalism, I make no claim as to its journalistic integrity.  In fact, judging by the standards I learned in J School, I’d say this post is a far cry from journalism.  It’s editorial at best. I'm a Dallas-based advertising professional, not a professional journalist.

The allure of social media for advertisers is undeniable, and understandably so.  Quality of content be damned. As long as the social medium itself – FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn (insert your favorite here) – is aggregating enough eyeballs belonging to people we deem worthy of reaching. And with so many media outlets dying on the vine these days, why not?  At least social media is growing.  LOOMIS is certainly one Dallas ad agency leaning full tilt into the newest of new media trends. Many of our clients are shifting budgets from traditional to social media.  The shift toward interactive and what we used to call new media began long ago.

I met with a Dallas advertising agency executive just today and he lamented the fact that social media is replacing what he calls "real media."  Whether you're an ad executive in Dallas or a publisher in New York, social media is now the real media. Newspapers, radio, television are all struggling in one form or fashion. They are twisting and contorting as they yield share to the newest of new media.

When I graduated from Texas A&M University in 1987 with my journalism degree in hand and hundreds of hours logged on the university newspaper, The Battalion, I could never have envisioned the place we are now.  Not in my wildest dreams.  The 80s and 90s were the Golden Age of print journalism in so many ways.  I thought long and hard about a career in print or broadcast journalism.  The Internet was still a secret government project that none of us knew anything about.  I didn't even know about Al Gore back then.  He had yet to invent the Internet.

Alas, I chose a career in advertising instead of journalism, and began my career at a Dallas advertising agency.  Today, I am president of The LOOMIS Agency, a full-service advertising agency in Dallas.  While I pursued advertising, most of my classmates became journalists.

And now, all those still-gainfully employed classically trained journalist friends of mine are waking up each morning and kissing their jobs on both cheeks. Then again, many folks in Dallas and other places are doing just the same through no fault of their own. Indeed, the rules have changed.  So what are the rules today?  What, more specifically, are the rules of social media?

1. Anybody can be a “journalist” in the world of social media. You can be an advertising professional, an engineer, a waiter, a dog washer.  And you can still be a journalist.  Whether a person can write, think, use proper grammar and punctuation, or even spell for that matter, he can still be a journalist in the world of social media.  There is no vetting.  Pick your information sources carefully in an environment like this.  Beware of the blogger, for example, who uses other bloggers for source information. 
2. If you are going to participate as an active contributor in the world of social media, make sure you have decent content.  You have to be able to pass the “so what” test, otherwise known as the, “why should I give a shit?” test.  Start with a subject that is topical and do a little homework.  At the very least, write cleverly.  In this space I sort of bang out my thoughts.  I reserve my more thoughtful pieces for my agency’s own blog, BARK: The Voice of the Underdog.  It’s a space where Michael Tuggle, our executive creative director, and I put forth more carefully formulated opinions on all things advertising.  What am I doing in this space?  Let’s just say this is all about search.  I digress, however.
3. When writing avoid jargon, idioms and unnecessarily complex syntax and sentence structure.  Most people tire of that nonsense and won’t read your work.  Besides, you should never over-estimate the intelligence of your audience or your own desire to impress them with how smart you are.  Best to keep it simple and straightforward.
4. Make sure you honor the integrity of the social media pact.  Others get to play journalist just the way you do, so you have to respect them when they have a dissenting point of view.  You honor the pact by responding appropriately and not ignoring them.  If you control the social medium where the discourse is taking place, for instance, the worst thing you can do is delete disagreeable posts.  You’ll do yourself a tremendous disservice that way.
5. Keep it short.  People just don’t have the attention span for long blown out posts.  Make your points quickly and succinctly.  To that point, I will sign off now and post some additional rules later.

I will sum up this way.  If I were a marketing director doing an agency search, I most certainly would make expertise (or least knowledge) of social media a key criterial.  Great creative, solid strategic planning skills, and strong media talent are table stakes nowadays. Some brands, like Papa John's, Dairy Queen, and Coca-Cola do an excellent job leveraging the benefits of social media.  But many others are still learning.

Mike Sullivan is a Dallas ad executive and is president of The LOOMIS Agency, an award winning Dallas Advertising agency.  Mike Sullivan began his career at Tracy-Locke after determining that the pay grade for journalists was far too low.  He started his advertising career in Dallas earning $14,400 per year.

The LOOMIS Agency's clients include Dairy Queen, Cash America, Papa John's Pizza, First United Bank, and other retail challenger brands.  In addition, LOOMIS has worked with Stanley Steemer International, Pier 1 Imports, Community Coffee, Coca-Cola, and a variety of other notable brands.  The agency has collected more than 150 awards for work for these and other clients.  In addition, The LOOMIS Agency's sister company, LUMINOUS Sound Studios works with Eryka Badu, Beyonce Knowles and 5-time GRAMMY Award winner, Kirk Franklin.