When I began shaping Rethink Social, I had the rare opportunity to start again. A chance to question some of the habits agencies, including my own, had relied on for years.

Ok, so cold calling is not entirely dead yet. But we all know, nobody is sitting by the phone hoping an agency will interrupt their days. Buyers avoid calls. They ignore most emails. More importantly though, they investigate (research you) well before they are ready to talk.

Yes, many agencies treat social as a noticeboard. A new hire. An award. A piece of work. And worst of all, a generic opinion on the latest industry talking point – which everyone else is talking about too!

I realised the problem was not a lack of content. It was a lack of focus.

So, I started with a very simple test.

Can the people you want to work with complete this sentence? “They’re the agency that….”

If the answer is a list of services, or something woolly about creativity and results. Then you have work to do.

Social works much harder when an agency chooses the problems it wants to be known for. Your content can show how you think about those problems, what you notice that others miss and where you disagree with accepted wisdom.

This is what thought leadership should do. It’s not a grand title for posting opinions.

And the bit that gets missed the most (when agencies chase algorithms) is the signals that help you to build relationships intelligently. Who is engaging? What are they talking about? What has changed in their business? You can respond, connect and nudge the relationship forward without pouncing with a sales message.

The difficult bit (always a hard part) is resisting the urge to be all things to all people. Agencies worry that a sharper position will cost them opportunities. In practice, being vague makes it much harder for anyone to recognise when they need you.

The positive impact of this is that you create warmer new business conversations because prospects already understand something about your thinking. You stay visible during the long stretches between ‘interesting agency’ and “we have a brief” and you give existing clients more reasons to involve you in the problems beyond the work already on the table.

Social stops being a publishing chore and becomes part of how relationships are built and grown.

Look at your last 10 posts and cover the logo. Could they have come from almost any agency?

If they could, stop posting for a moment. Decide what you want to be known for, identify conversations where your experience is genuinely useful and build from there.

You do not need more content. You need a clearer signal.