15 Top Social Media Agencies

In the last month I have had 6 separate conversations with peers surrounding the question “What is a social media agency?”

There are several types of social media companies out there. Some are research focused, or software heavy, or app developers, or monitoring services. Some are purely extending the PR battle plan to a new medium.

The social media agency is one that can grasp all these segments and help companies extend their brand and marketing through training, long term strategy, and execution.

For the purpose of this list, I have focused on companies who mostly do social media. There are many companies making social media a piece of what they offer. These companies are the top ones focusing on social media.

As Armano points out “What McKinsey would offer in SM would be very different than Crayon”. Since almost every company would almost be it’s own category, I am avoiding the categories for now. Perhaps in future lists we can add some delineation.

Advanced Guard of CC Chapman fame. Acquired by Campfire, which may not fall into our criteria of a “social media agency” but now has some major talent in the arena.

Altimeter Group, of Charlene Li and more recently Jeremiah Owyang fame, “provides thought leadership, research, and consulting on digital strategies, with a core focus on how companies can leverage social and emerging technologies.”

Ant’s Eye View “At Ant’s Eye View we concentrate on helping companies of all sizes understand and engage in customer collaboration, social media, and community building.” Clients include Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Dr Pepper, and Maker’s Mark. [added per @TShelton]

The Conversation Group “The Conversation Group is a global consultancy broadly dedicated to the art, science, and practical application of social technologies. We’re enabling organizations around the world to radically scale their ability to discover, engage and collaborate with their constituencies, both inside and outside the enterprise.” [added per @PeterKim]

>carrot creative “is a new-media marketing agency located in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY specializing in social media marketing and user experience design. We have the unique ability to take a project from the initial ideation stages to full scale application development all under one roof.”

Collective Bias “The Wisdom of Connected Crowds – this is CollectiveBias, a partnership between us, consumers, brands, & retailers.” CollectiveBias, of John Andrews, @GeekMommy and Walmart Moms fame, is a new social media company underneath the MARS Advertising umbrella.

Crayon, of Joseph Jaffe fame, “is a strategic consultancy that helps its clients achieve positive change and impact by joining the conversation.”

Dachis Group, of Jeff Dachis, Peter Kim, and David Armano fame, “was created to unlock the value of social technologies for large corporate enterprises through its Social Business Design global advisory practice and technology implementation program.” Dachis has $50 million in funding from Austin Ventures and recently purchased London/Sydney based Headshift.

Ignite is “the Original Social Media Agency ®. We’ve combined content developers, technologists, and social media strategists to form the Ignite team. Together, we keep up with trends, filter the noise, and help companies like yours put social media to work.”

the Kbuzz “is a Word of Mouth Marketing firm that creates and sustains buzz through word of mouth and social media marketing.”

New Marketing Labs, of Chris Brogan and Justin Levy fame, “is dedicated to solving your online marketing and social media challenges. They approach this in two ways, events and education (see Inbound Marketing Summit) and through guiding you and pitching in as a social media marketing agency.”

Mullen “is a social media agency rooted in strategy, public relations and a belief that creativity is as important as community. Social agency of record for Panera, Olympus, Grain Foods Foundation, Stanley, Stop and Shop and others.”

Shift Communications “is a fast-growing, national agency that lives at the intersection of Influencer Relations & Social Media. We measure our performance according to the impact that we have on driving your business forward.”

Social Media Group “Highly respected independent social media shop, delivering results as Ford’s social media agency since 2007, clients include SAP, Yamaha, ING & govt. One of the world’s largest independent agencies devoted exclusively to helping companies navigate the new socially engaged web.”

Undercurrent “is a think tank based in NYC that provides digitally-focused strategic planning, ideation, measurement, training, and advisement to global brands ready to engage a new generation of human beings that were born digital.” Clients include Pepsi and Ford.”

We Are Social is “a conversation agency. We help brands to listen, understand and engage in conversations in social media. We’re already helping Ford, Skype, Eurostar, The Economist, Absolut, Dunlop, Barclaycard and the WWF.”

Deloitte, McKinsey, Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence, and Porter Novelli are also in the space. Not sure any of them would pass the “mostly social media” standard, but I felt the need to include them in the discussion. They are all contributing to what a “social media agency” is evolving into.

Also, Charlene Li of the Altimeter Group has a great Wiki going with more information if you want to dive in deeper.

Who did I miss?

Include it in the comments and I will add them to the post.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

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