I have an upcoming meeting on the books with a new client. One I am actually dreading, well not quite dreading, but nonetheless not exactly looking forward to.

You see, I have to tell them they need to start over, and not only start over but repair the damage. Like many companies today they jumped into influence media marketing, chose an agency/firm (whatever you want to call it) that claimed they did ‘social media’. As one of my colleges likes to say, “you can swing a dead cat today and hit a ‘social media agency’.”

Unfortunately, they chose an agency that is a shape shifter. You know the kind: one who was first a web agency, then a design agency, then branding agency and now they’re social media. I am not talking about legitimate agencies with deep roots in marketing, branding, and digital media that evolved, like us, to harness the power of social media. Many have. As they should. I am talking about those who think it’s enough to set up a Facebook or Twitter site and add a blog to a Web site.

And so now I have to tell my client that their blog is useless, Web site has major issues, that their Facebook was a complete miss and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s more than I can discuss here. Bottom line- it is more likely that they have been disengaging their key targets than engaging. My biggest worry is that we won’t be able to re-engage those they’ve lost, for they have likely moved on to a competitor who did it right. And by doing it right I mean one who developed a social influence strategy that embraced their brand promise and community, was relevant to target needs, opened communications, offered tiers of engagement, empowered super-users and delivered.

So I will jump off my soap box now but leave you with this. Just because someone can play the game Operation doesn’t make him a surgeon, be careful who you entrust your brand to.