Social Driver

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

NewSchools Venture Fund is a national nonprofit that funds early-stage education organizations and entrepreneurs. I’m the former director of communication policy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We wanted to modernize and update our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with an initial conversation to look at the website and its functionality. Social Driver was quite helpful in building a compelling case for why the site needed a deep refresh and convince some of our colleagues. We then had a blue-sky conversation about what we wanted the site to be. We talked about the look and feel we wanted, what our organization stands for, and how we wanted people to experience us. 

From these conversations, we moved into an element collage. It pulled together elements to potentially be part of the website. For example, we wanted to make our funding information more accessible to visitors. Our thought leadership pieces and publications also lacked a home on our site at the time. They needed a place that was searchable, accessible, easy to read. 

Then we moved into the design. Social Driver gave us wireframes, and we talked about colors, typography, and visual images. After that came the intense process of going through each page of site, determining what content needed a refresh, and remapping the rest. Finally, Social Driver migrated the new content to the new site, which led to a period of troubleshooting and tweaking. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 6–8 people.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

I had worked with them on other projects, one of which was a website build. I remembered that it was a pleasant experience so I reached out.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2019, and the new site launched in April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve received compliments about the site being much more attractive, user-friendly, open, and clean. 

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

We had standing meetings at 1 p.m. on Thursdays, and then we had regular contact as needed. Social Driver used Asana, so we had our tasks in there. They were a very responsive group if we needed things between meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were flexible and creative. When we came to them with an issue that seems simple but had complicated dynamics, they patiently listened to what we wanted to accomplish. In the case of making our funding information more available, Social Driver built an interface that is visually appealing and very simple to use. They also made it customizable to what our needs were. It was a very creative solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Any advice for potential customers?

Do some work on the backend to make sure you’re ready to go. Their team likes to stick to a schedule and keep things moving. It’s difficult to get the best work out of them if you’re not ready. Do some homework in preparation, and get ready to engage with a quick-moving team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work at the leading online marketplace for art. Galleries can join and sell art online through our marketplace. I am the associate director of marketing leading the B2B marketing team in charge of our demand and partner marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Social Driver?

We have a strong brand and strong site for our e-commerce that is maintained by our internal engineering team but they didn't have the resources to build out a part of the site where we could talk about our value proposition for galleries and maintain it. Galleries were still joining but it was hard to tell how galleries can join and understand what we do for them. Challenge: It was important to have a place with our value proposition for galleries that could be easily updated and maintained by the marketing team without the support of engineers. Opportunity: We needed a separate site that seamlessly fit with the brand of our company and offered a place that marketing could update frequently about what we offer to our galleries. A website with the ability to explore our content offerings and apply to be a partner.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to have a Wordpress site that had a responsive design, a content library and integrates with Marketo that reflected the brand that had been built on our main site. We need to have multiple tabs that could be maintained and updated by people unfamiliar with coding languages. We wanted to use Swift Page Builder and had Social Driver build out different custom components to easily added to pages. We knew that having a site built around our offering for galleries would allow for more galleries to join and understand how to join.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out for quotes from multiple vendors and selected Social Driver as it had the most competitive pricing and understood how important the brand was when building the site. We felt that they delivered the most competitive offer and took the most time to understand our needs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They provided a website design and layout built on Wordpress that reflected the brand of our company and allowed for multiple integrations including Marketo and Swift Page Builder along with the ability for pop-ups.

What was the team composition?

The team was two website developers an account manager and an assistant account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

With the launch of the site, we have been converting more visitors to partners, we have seen an increase in application and have more returning galleries that continue to explore our content offerings.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We met and went over the initial designs and thoughts about the site and then continued to meet to review the designs and give feedback. We were given access to a program where we could comment in real-time on the site and they could make updates as it was being built. We used Asana to maintain contact outside of the project and get updates about milestones.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were able to hit a quick timeline and updated the site after we launched based on our feedback and issues.

Are there any areas for improvement?

After the initial site launch and communication, we were passed off to a more junior project manager who is not as communicative and has issues telling us the cost or changes happening on the site. Our initial project was done with ease and had strong lines of communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior director at a PR firm based in Michigan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We needed help with strategy and content creation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve worked with Social Driver at two separate companies. At my previous company, they managed our Twitter feed and helped us come up with strategy and content creation.

In my current company, we’re partnered with them on a number of accounts. They help us while working with our clients. Right now, they’re doing community management, digital strategy, website development, and SEO.

For web development, they’ve been creating sites from scratch.  The biggest thing that they’ve done for one of our clients is revamping their site that was previously failing. Their old vendor had just installed a lot of patches but now they're executing a plan to improve the site long term.

For SEO, they’re doing Google Ads and did a full SEO audit. Then, they also put together recommendations to address SEO for our client.

What is the team composition?

I work with Anthony (Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer), Nicole (Senior Account Manager), Britney (Director of Social & Digital Marketing), Chelsea (Social Media Specialist), and Victor (Director, Social Media).

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

I’ve known Social Driver for a long time. They were already hired when I worked with them in a previous position. When I moved back to Michigan, I stayed in touch with Anthony and we discussed how our firms fit together.

What is the status of this engagement?

In my last position, we started working together in July 2014 until September 2015. In my current role, we started working together in August 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They’re our collaborative partners and we continuously work together to meet our clients’ needs. We’re both moving forward to meet the deliverables in ways that excite and engage our clients.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re amazing. The team goes above and beyond in how we manage things on the client-facing side and bringing new ideas. They’re extraordinarily efficient and work within budgets.

They’re also very clear about their capabilities, which is an undervalued skill in project management. They do a good job of making sure the client knows what’s happening and what the timeline. Project management is definitely an area where they excel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project management and ability to provide concrete service within budget and needs are great. They’re never going to mislead you and make empty promises if something’s not feasible.

Another thing that sets them apart is their creativity. They have a wonderful company culture and create a strong sense of sensibility. It fosters great ideas both in execution and creative content, which is really important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything off of the top of my head.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them as much information as you can to spark their creativity. Be open-minded about the recommendations they’ll make because they’ll come up with unique and interesting solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former director of marketing of a medical professional organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We were redoing a consumer-facing health information website in a compressed timeframe with new requirements. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a plan for what we were going to do to meet timeframes. The project involved creative work, rebranding, redeveloping the website, and moving over content and optimizing it.

Social Driver put together new brand standards, making sure there were no holes in the content and optimized it for better search. They also were involved in social media, which was a separate project. 

Partway through the project, we needed a sizzle video to show our constituents what was coming. Social Driver put something together that gave a good flavor for what was coming even though they hadn’t built the site yet.

What is the team composition?

There were at least six people we communicated with on a regular basis through our main contact.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

I think Social Driver proposed a project to us or came with someone else who proposed an unrelated project to us. When we put out an RFP for this project, we included them as someone who could be nimble and help us get to the final solution in a pretty quick manner. They offered the right technology and the right price as well as the ability to meet deadlines. They were always responsive and helped us launch this project on time and on schedule. 

How much have you invested with them?

It was around $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together 3–4 years ago. They’ve continued with the organization since I left, recommending ways to improve the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It wasn’t a site we got a lot of feedback on, but we did some user intercept testing and always got good feedback. The site was complimented on its good content and ease to navigate. Social Driver also helped us increase SEO to get more traffic to the site as well, which was important to what we were trying to do.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive. We had a good contact that was able to troubleshoot or address problems in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Driver was willing to dig into any problem and find a solution in a pretty quick manner. They were very responsive to our needs and changes that we had to make. They were happy to do whatever was needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that could’ve been done differently.

Any advice for potential customers?

Before the project starts, plan out the deliverables, timeframes, budgets, and everything else. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an international organization that represents ear, nose, and throat physicians all around the world. I’m the director of creative services and digital communications, handling website content, branding, graphic design, videos, and any other assets that allow us to communicate with our members.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We hired them to handle a full website redesign.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our team had a site composed of 3,000–4,000 pages that all needed to be redesigned. We had the opportunity to meet with them in person to discuss what our team wanted in a website and how our users should be interacting with its features in the future. I found it unique that they were able to speak to our physicians on these topics directly at one of our annual meetings in Vancouver.

From there, we broke into our individual departments and teams with them to discuss their needs from the site as well. That allowed them a holistic view of how our sites serve stakeholders. Our site needed to be able to interact with supporting platforms.

Those exercises helped them create wireframes that included a color palette, fonts, and other branding aspects. Starting directly after that meeting, they organized agile sprints. We did the entire build in nine months, in time for our next member registration period. 

What is the team composition?

There were developers, visual designers, project managers, and marketers. In total, we worked with about 12 people. 

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

Our choice to work with them was a unanimous decision by our team. They’re a smart team that’s easy to work with. We were able to easily trust them to give us an honest assessment of our site and recommendations on how to improve.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2013–May 2014. To this day, they provide ongoing support for the site and plan to redesign the site again soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We started with a basic site and ended up with a very mobile-responsive platform. At the time, we were some of the first associations to cater to mobile in that way. The analytics and engagement metrics reflected their success. Visitor numbers and average time on a page increased. We also received strong feedback from members. 

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings with our project manager and point people from each team. Our teams were communicating through Basecamp and another platform that allowed us to comment on the visuals they created. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They achieved a visually-pleasing and fully-functioning platform for us. Whenever there was an issue, they were willing to jump in and help. They’ve been easy to collaborate with as well, very friendly and communicative throughout the work. We feel that they’re open, honest, and care about us on a personal level. It’s been a comfortable partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re sharp with current technology trends. If there was something that they needed to improve upon, we’d tell them and they would correct it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them. This was a radical project for us, and they were able to provide helpful input to simply our site for members.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a communications consultant for them for a national educators’ association.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

2020 marks our organization’s centennial anniversary, and we wanted to have a social media campaign around raising visibility for teachers, especially math teachers that have had an influence on the general public’s lives.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Driver identified the team within their organization that would work with us. We had a kickoff call where we shared our expectations for the campaign and they came back to us with some recommendations about how to go about accomplishing them. It was a very collaborative process; we provided feedback and they took it and made changes and edits and revisions. There were also several meetings throughout that time.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five people.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

I work with a communication firm that is headquartered in the same office as Social Driver. I was connected to Anthony through a colleague at that firm. I respect what Anthony (Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder) and Thomas (CEO & Co-Founder) are doing with Social Drivers; they’re super smart and come at problems at a different angle than I’ve seen at other organizations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from October 2019 until May 2020. There were several delays outside their control, including COVID-19 and a failure to get video and photo content from our community.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I was hopeful that we would get more buzz going, and, again, this has nothing to do with Social Driver. We’d asked our board members to record and post videos and photos — and some did — but we were hoping to build more organic buzz, which didn’t happen. I think we put too much stock in the ability of our board members to garner attention on their social media platforms.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was extremely responsive, communicative, and detail-oriented.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think they’re really innovative in their approach. They work a lot of with nonprofits, helping them think through what the best approach will be. Digital media is their business; they know a lot about it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Harness their creativity; there’s a lot of it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of public affairs at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. We’re based in Washington, D.C., and our staff of around 20 represents private nonprofit colleges around the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We’ve hired them a number of times for different things. We first engaged them when we had to promote the Student Aid Alliance, which is co-run by ourselves and the American Council on Education.

While we’re used to engaging with the college and university presidents, our audiences have not traditionally been students. Social Driver helped us develop and implement a public policy advocacy strategy that targeted this group.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We got together with their team to hold brainstorming meetings. They worked to understand exactly what we were asking for, and helped define it along the way. They synthesized and restructured our ambitions into a coherent strategy.

They then laid out a timeline and a budget, and after we convened to discuss our constraints, they worked to help us stretch our dollars. They advised us on what initiatives would be most cost-effective and prioritized our projects accordingly.

Their scope of work centered on social media engagement, which again, was an area neither organization was familiar with. They held our hand through the process; we’ve relied on them for the actual implementation of the outreach methodologies they’ve recommended for us.

What is the team composition?

The team size fluctuates, but we’ve worked with maybe 3–4 project managers throughout the course of our relationship. There have been 4­–5 Social Driver staff who have remained constant members of the team we collaborate with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in June 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They’ve come and presented their work on our behalf to our overseeing associations and even at our annual meeting. It’s always very well-received. The attendees — presidents and alliance members — always come up to them afterward to ask questions about how they might be able to help their own institutions.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

They give us updates by email, and we’ve simplified our communication process to preserve our funds. I can reach out to them by email or call them whenever I need to talk to someone. We don’t have as many regular check-ins, but that’s only because we’re saving our dollars for their actual strategic implementation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their foresight allows us to be proactive instead of reactive. They have the ability to see what’s ahead of them and then recommend strategies, based on what they anticipate that environment to look like. They’re able to foresee challenges and what we’ll need to prioritize.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there isn’t anything. While we’re probably one of their smaller clients, they’ve served us very well. We haven’t had any issues or complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as open and honest as you can. Communicate both your budget expectations and realities. They’re excellent at pivoting with the project scope to optimize your funds for what’s really important. Just have those conversations upfront so that you don’t end up wasting money.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at a nonprofit and political communications and strategy consultancy based in Washington DC. I’m the senior vice president of digital strategy for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We have almost 200 employees, which fall heavily on the account and communications strategy end. Our organization has a number of print and brand designers, as well as copywriters, a paid media team, a video team, and my digital strategy team. What we don’t have, however, is a number of pure digital and web development design experts, specifically.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our process with them is actually very simple. They offer both the design and development services as well as more of the strategy that we cover, but with us, they handle just the actual site creation process independently, and we handle the rest.

Any time we start a project, we have an initial meeting with them where we lay out the requirements and what we would like to see from the design in a relatively minimal way, and then they produce the site for us on their own.

What was the team composition?

We have two or three points of contact, including one main liaison for all of the project management as well as a couple leads on the design and development side. They have a couple of teammates supporting them as well, so in total, they have about 6–8 people on our account.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

They initially pitched us some projects they had worked on in WordPress and Drupal to show us what they were capable of, and we were really impressed by their work and their reputation in the area. One of our partners had spoken with them at a conference as well and really liked the way they approached their projects and how they managed their staff, so we decided to move forward with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost with them has been around $45,000 so far, but with our planned work for the future, I could see that increasing to closer to $80,000 this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project started in July 2019, and we are continuing to work together on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The first development project we had with them had a pretty aggressive schedule and still launched on time and under budget, which was incredible. Since then we have continued to have success with them, receiving extremely clean code on the first draft of their deliveries and never running into any issues that cause delays in the project in any way. While the customers can’t speak to the involvement of Social Driver specifically, they have been immensely pleased with the overall products that we have been able to provide to them thanks to their work.

We are currently in phase one of a project with a medical and scientific research organization that requires a pretty unique website design. Phase two will be a much more difficult step in terms of the implementation, but we have confidence that they’ll be able to follow through on the plans we have in place now because of the success we’ve had with them in the past.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Because we are an agency working with an agency, they understand all of our pain points and we understand theirs, so it’s a very easy rapport between us in terms of the scope of work, scaling everything, and making sure that the timeline and budget work for both parties. We use Asana for project management, and we haven’t had any issues whatsoever. Whenever something comes up, they’re always very responsive in getting back to us with solutions right away, and they are always willing to answer questions that we have as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The one thing I appreciate most is that their work is always incredibly strategic. There are a lot of design and development firms in DC and beyond who have one or two things that they do really well but otherwise just execute whatever you tell them to provide and don’t put any thought into the usability or the strategy of the implementation in order to help you be more successful from a more holistic perspective.

Social Driver consistently asks all the right questions, and never wants to start a project without understanding the strategy, including who our target audience is and what they are trying to accomplish with the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really can’t pinpoint anything that they need to do better or differently. The only thing I wish they could do is respond to us outside of working hours, but as a manager trying to keep a consistent schedule for his team as well that’s not something I can fault them for.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what your goals are and who your audience is, because the better you can clarify those to their team, the more they can work with you at a creative level to really home in on achieving those goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of existing business for a global health services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

If I am managing a dental product for a client or am trying to encourage the use of preventative care around some other product, it is often difficult to find new collateral and relevant touchpoints to use to connect with people over those services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with them several times to help us design a social media campaign around wellness. Sometimes the produce videos for us to post, and sometimes they run the actual campaigns, but the different services that they provide vary depending on the client.

I can tell them what my client is looking for and give them a few basic parameters, and then they will go away and design something for us. From there, we sit down with them and the client to go through their presentation on the program, pricing, timing, and everything, and the client decides what they want to move forward with based on the budget and what they like. Social Driver executes on everything themselves after that.

What was the team composition?

At any given time, I’m working with 2–3 members of their team, and then there could be two people working behind them, so around five in total.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

We often have government contracts that require us to use minority business enterprises. We have a minority business department, and one of our members there met their owner at a conference and was very impressed by their cutting-edge capabilities, so we decided to give them a try.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work has been around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked with them since around January 2017 and are continuing to do so.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Everyone on our team and the clients who’ve worked with them have been very impressed with the quality of their work. Often, they’ll meet needs that our clients have without even being told, which blows our customers away.

In one particular instance, we were working with a dental group with a very diverse clientele, and they designed an animated video that featured a blue mouth talking, which took all of the identity concerns out of play in the advertisement. Everyone has teeth, so everyone could see themselves represented in the ad, which was awesome. We couldn’t have been more pleased with the result.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an initial meeting to iron out all the details, and then just check in at a few points along the way. For the most part, they work independently, which we appreciate. I believe they have internal software that they use as well, but we don’t work through that on our end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand how to provide customer service. They listen, they get it right the first time, they’re responsive, and they’re flexible to changes. Nothing is ever too much trouble with their team. They really make the engagement as easy to manage as possible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t have anything I wish they did differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just give Anthony (Chief Strategy Officer) a call. He will be able to point you in the right direction, get you set up with the right people, no matter what you need. You can take them any problem, and they will fix it for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing partner and founder of Reset Public Affairs. We’re a Washington-based public affairs firm that works with large corporate, Fortune 500 clients. We provide them with public affairs messaging, communications, as well as media counseling and execution across a wide range of their issues and concerns involving government, regulatory, investigative, and other issues.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

Social Driver handles a lot of efforts for us. Most recently and primarily, they create online advertising related to our clients’ needs. These needs are specific to trying to educate policymakers on complex policy issues related to intellectual property.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They create content, videos, and do strategy on how to best place as well as handle execution and media buying. We’ve done a total of six projects across three clients on 2–3 different issues.

Our process is fairly traditional. First, we have a client meeting with a data dump in order to articulate what they need. In this case, this is a very niche, complicated issue that only has meaning to a small universe of people because it pertains to intellectual property policy in Washington, D.C. I basically talk a language that might as well be Greek, but Social Driver has had to learn it in order to fulfill their role.

Social Driver then asks a ton of questions so they can get their arms around the complex subject matter as they try to make it very simple in the form of short animated advertising. We went with animation because it works best for explanatory purposes. In the next step, Social Driver goes back, cogitates for a while, and then comes to me with storyboards.

We go back-and-forth in a review process which leads to revised storyboards, then the script, and eventually a final video product with a voiceover put over it.

What is the team composition?

There are typically as many as six individuals on the team or as few as three or four. Obviously, some individuals float in and out depending on the project stage. For example, I’ve had the same video lead but he floats in during the beginning of the process where his talents are needed. Then once the content is finished, he floats out, and I don’t see him anymore, nor should I. The team size fluctuates.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

Their office is literally right across the hall from mine. I use four different agencies to do the kind of work they do so they’re not my exclusive agency by any means. However, their office being directly across the hall wasn’t an advantage to them, though it seems like it might be. They’re one of a great many agencies in Washington that do policy and public affairs style advertising work.

Nonetheless, I’m glad I chose them. After walking past their door 500 times, I’m glad I made the decision to work with them on that 501st time.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $300,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement started in March 2016, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I measure results with analytics. These ads are designed to push a very niche set of people to some incredibly boring websites; boring because they’re about a complicated topic only a small number of individuals care about. The numbers are too good, and I have to reduce spending and focus the targeting more tightly. Our problem is having too much traffic — a problem most people would kill for.

Social Driver is very effective. They’ve had to learn our complex industry language and have done a great job at translating it to layman’s terms for our audience. The whole process is done very well, fast, and painlessly. It’s been a good experience, and I’ve been pleased with every project.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

We correspond through email on an as-needed basis. There was one project where we had weekly standups because the project required it. However, I’m more of an as-needed client. They may not hear from me for weeks on end, but they’ll often check-in.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity is the most impressive trait of their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Social Driver has the same issues that every firm in their space does — their team members are young and the young today are restless. They have a good amount of turnover so I see a lot of new faces. This hasn’t led to any substantive problem so bringing it up may be silly, but as an older individual, I feel better with continuity.  

It isn’t a huge problem, but when I go into a meeting and half the faces are new every time, it’s a little disconcerting. They have the same turnover problem that all agencies in the space odes. If I had to be nit-picky about something that bugs me, it’s this.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The most important thing is the first meeting. Make sure you tell them as much as humanly possible about your wants and needs. Discuss your issue or challenge in as much depth as you can; even if it seems like it’s more than they need.

Social Driver is good about being willing to learn; and not all agencies are. Most agencies want to do the surface-level stuff so they can do what little they need to do to provide minimum requirements. However, Social Driver’s team members are willing to listen longer and learn better. Make sure you listen to every question they have; you’ll end up having a better product.