Traditional agencies may be slow to adapt to social outreach due to their sheer size, says Michael Litman, senior social strategist at AnalogFolk. The larger an agency gets, the more processes and layers it encounters, and thus, it becomes harder to adapt and change alongside industry trends and client needs.

“You can compare a traditional media agency to an oil tanker and a boutique agency to a small dinghy,” says Litman. “Both have their benefits and drawbacks. Oil tankers are safer, been around longer and have a greater amount of resources at their disposal. But moving them is pretty tough and needs a lot of people. Boutique agencies are nimble, adaptable, have few layers of hierarchy and are more likely to experiment and iterate.”

Still, traditional agencies have been creating conversations since first opening their doors, although they’re not presumed to be on the pulse of social media strategy. It’s simply that the mediums of communication have evolved, from print and television to include social media. And while that’s a big consideration, it doesn’t change the fact that effective messages make a splash, no matter the delivery method. So don’t necessarily assume that traditional marketing firms can’t also approach social media effectively — it’s likely they’ve been talking to customers for a long time.

via Does Size Matter? The Pros and Cons of Boutique Media Agencies.