The reality is this isn’t a warning just for social media agencies; it’s a warning for any agency that tries to encapsulate their diverse marketing services within a single industry buzzword.

In a recent Adweek article about social media agencies becoming less social, Jim Tobin, president of Ignite Social Media, stated the following: “Social is a totally different discipline, it’s part SEO, it’s part [audience] development, it’s part advertising, and it is part PR. There’s a lot of interest in specialists out there.”

His view of social media is quite holistic, almost to the point where you could call these specialists “online marketing specialists.”

MORE:  Why social media agencies are a farce – iMediaConnection.com.

It’s not technology or inventory (or lack of it) that’s the problem. It’s not the sites or the screen size or the devices. And it’s certainly not measurability.

It’s how video is sold online. And until it changes, TV will rule.

Digital video, specifically in-stream, is marketed as a TV-like experience. Indeed, like TV, viewers must watch the entire ad to get to the desired content (although they rarely do in either medium). What’s fundamentally different, however, is the connection between the programming and the ad — the emotional or thematic link that captures a viewer in the right frame of mind for a specific product or idea. And it’s totally missing online.

MORE:  Why online video remains in TV’s shadow – iMediaConnection.com.