Ad Agencies and Social Media: Is there a disconnect?

If you've ever tried to find employment at an advertising agency without any 'agency experience', you probably know how difficult it can be to even get your resume past the gatekeeper reviewing the emails much less get in to interview.  With the appearance of social media and this type of emergent media marketing ad agencies are trying to keep up.  The reason is simple, to be good at social media monitoring it involves actual interaction with the community and others online.  Creating a campaign for a client involves much more than just creating generic content to post every holiday, which is different from standard ad operations that normally send out  'holiday blast' commercial copy across all normal marketing channels for a client. 

Social media requires 'interaction'.  One does NOT need a Masters degree or agency experience in order to get to know your buying public and interact with them online.  Many small businesses and even some not so small ones have opted to adopt their own methods of social media implementation, and for some it's working well.

....and this...has ad agencies quaking in their castles. 

Now I'm not saying that all ad agencies are the devil, quite the contrary. What I am saying is that there should be some semblance of a partnership between the two operations that encompasses working toward getting to personally know your clients consumer, at least on the digital field. 

The formerly locked down ad agencies need to give the common man a break and allow for the induction of intelligent and knowledgeable people into their circle.  Remove the 'agency experience only' caveat from your job postings, and see what you come up with. 

Social media will not be barricaded by education, job experience or years of marketing experience.  Instead what we will see and are seeing is the connections people make online that formulate viable networks.  PEOPLE, not AGENCIES make connections.  Smart companies will see this and turn a healthy profit simply by being connected and paying attention to their audience.  Smart agencies...will learn to take in the people that are able to create these connections regardless of their educational or marketing breakdowns.