Social media is part of the daily activities for digital agencies. In fact, external agencies are responsible for 22% of social media activities. One would therefore think that agencies are most active online and in social media to show their creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. But is that the case? Do agencies walk the social media talk they so often do for clients? Are they role models in this field? These are some of the questions we attempted to answer with the webZunder Social Media Research.

We looked at the top 50 agencies in Germany based on the agency ranking list from BVDW as well as the ten most used social media platforms and the blog. The study reviewed the profiles and content from July 1st to September 30th, 2016. More specifically, we examined the following for each of the social networks:

  • Their presence (on the specific social media site)
  • The completeness of their social media profiles
  • The frequency of posting content on social media
  • The different types of content shared
  • The percentage of own content vs. curated content

Here are the top insights and social media statistics about agencies:

The top 4 social media networks are LinkedIn, XING, Facebook and Google+.

Top Social Media Networks for Agencies

Visual social platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat are not nearly as popular (yet) as the more established networks.

Presence of Agencies on Social Media Sites

Content is most posted on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Frequency of Posting on social media networks

Based on posting social media content at least once a week.

Legal information was forgotten frequently.

  • 9% of Facebook profiles were missing this information compared to 38% on XING. All other social media networks are worse off.
  • Note: In Germany, it is required by law to access this information with no more than two clicks.

The social media channels with the more diverse content mix are Twitter and Facebook.

  • 81% of the top 50 German agencies share at least three different types of content on Twitter while 68% do so on Facebook.

Business networks LinkedIn, XING and Google+ are mainly used to share owned content.

  • 63% of agencies in Germany curate content from other users through Twitter followed by Facebook with 43%.

Even if there are a few limitations to our study (e.g. the examined timeframe, other social media channels for agencies (such as Behance and Vimeo) and the simplification of certain criteria), the insights are interesting and give social media benchmarks for agencies.

In conclusion, yes, agencies are active and we can say that they are a role model for other industries. Should you want to download the study (available in German only), get it here!

How does the use of social media among agencies look like in other cities or countries? Stay tuned for more articles and insights about digital agencies.

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About us

Our goal with this study is to understand agencies better and work with them to support their clients through social media. A full-service model is not ideal for small and medium businesses as it is not authentic for end-customers, does not fit their tight budget and does not communicate the expertise of the client. Instead, we recommend a hybrid model where the agency takes care of the strategy and idea generation while the client participates in the daily activity through a social media management tool such as webZunder. webZunder makes social media easy for small and medium businesses and supports collaboration, both internally and with their agency. Start your 14-day free trial or get a demo!