Fresh Content Society

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital and social marketing at Old World Industries, a motor vehicle manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fresh Content Society?

We wanted to communicate with our audience through social channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok through organic-feeling campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fresh Content Society does social media marketing (SMM) for us. They bring ideas to us and develop a roadmap from discovery to a campaign objective. Together, we work to ensure that the product placement and messaging are right to then portray that in a video, a post, or whatever is the best way to approach potential customers. Fresh Content Society's materials also go through a postproduction process, which gets our approval to post them through our social channels or website.

The video production material they produce usually features our ambassadors and can go from 30 seconds to 6–7 minutes, depending on the message we want to get across — they get the professional equipment and take care of the shooting.

Moreover, Fresh Content Society helps us with customer support on our media channels, like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with Scott (Founder), Abigail (Director of Social Media Automotive Marketing), Matt (Associate Creative Director), and others who work behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Fresh Content Society?

They were already working with us when I took my current position.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we’ve spent $200,000–$1 million with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything they’ve put out on our social media channels has been well received and engaged with by our audience — we’ve had campaigns with around 98% positive impressions throughout our social media channels, which have also increased our followers. Moreover, we’ve had hundreds of thousands of views of the material Fresh Content Society created for us. Additionally, their team does a great job bringing all of our ambassadors together, which our audience has loved, so we’re looking forward to having these kinds of campaigns in the foreseeable future.

How did Fresh Content Society perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job laying out a plan for content development, including a list of Photoshop tasks, a schedule for video production, and a program with location and dates. In addition, throughout the different production phases, they ensure that everything is running smoothly and that we’re hitting our deadlines. Moreover, they’re responsive to the people that comment and ask questions throughout our social media channels, which we appreciate.

In terms of budget, they’re transparent with it if we need to incur additional costs, so we’re never surprised when an invoice comes through.

Regarding tools, we use Google Workspace, texts, email, and weekly phone calls to keep a communicative process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their biggest strength is their ability to understand our audience, our product, and how our brand comes across to our target audience. Fresh Content Society also has expertise on every social channel, enabling them to know how to communicate through each one.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can develop a cadence and an understanding of how and when we need to present our products to our customers according to their needs. Nonetheless, they do a great job staying ahead of the curve with technology, social platforms, and the changing audience to ensure that the content they put out is relevant and digestible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open, trust the process, and do not expect to have results overnight — Fresh Content Society needs to understand the right cadence for your project. You need to be patient with the development process to put content out and let your target digest it at their pace because it’s important to now overwhelm your audience.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the EVP of a sports and entertainment marketing company based in Chicago.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fresh Content Society?

We were running social and digital media campaigns that needed additional professional expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were running a college basketball event that was televised on ESPN and streamed live on Twitter; therefore, several media deliverables needed to be fulfilled. We generally do that internally, but since there was some nuance to the Twitter elements, they interfaced significantly with the Twitter distribution side.

Fresh Content Society primarily focused on account management for at least 4–5 sponsors, but they also made sure that all contracted deliverables were met and that all media was established. Some of the partners that they worked with are Dos Equis beer, IHOP, Rocket Mortgage, and Jimmy John's.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact was with an account manager, but the principal also engaged in a supervisory role.

How did you come to work with Fresh Content Society?

They were referred by a coworker of mine. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked through February–April 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From the client’s perspective, all deliverables were met. We currently don’t have any performance-based metrics, but the important part for us was that we were able to check the box on all the tasks given to them.  

How did Fresh Content Society perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through email, texts, and Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a great cultural fit for us, and they had a hard-working mentality and attitude. They jumped right into the project, were always available, and willing to go above and beyond. Additionally, Fresh Content Society possesses a keen understanding of Twitter’s product offerings, advertising components, and overall ecosystem — that was key for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s something they can improve on; It was a quick project with specific deliverables, but they did everything we expected them to do.

Any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to onboard and involve them in the project. After that, we developed trust and gave them the freedom to run with the project; that was really helpful.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Manny's is a 4th generation family owned and operated restaurant located in Chicago, Illinois. I have been in charge of marketing at the business for 15 years and have been running operation for 5 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fresh Content Society?

FCS was hired to managed, create, engage, and grow all of our online content and social marketing.

What were your goals for this project?

Grow our business, be able to trust the team managing it, understood how to engage and get a positive response from customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fresh Content Society?

Scott and his team offered a very hands on approach. They immersed themselves in our brand and really learned about us and our customers. After talking to multiple companies felt they would be the best for the job.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Manage Facebook, twitter, Instagram content and customer communication. Help with online reviews and communication with customers. Help with ideas and execute seasonal paid advertising online.

What was the team composition?

This varied from time to time. Scott always made sure he looked over the account. He had specialist with photography and videos work on the account when necessary. The best part was I really never know who is responding. Its very consistent.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

During the recent pandemic I told them how dire need we were for business. A twitter post was create and we had an incredible return. Our business was pack for weeks. They really know how to get the customers attenion.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are always ahead of me. Keep me on track. With me running a true small business and this is my main marketing it keeps me on my goals. We would have calls or meeting to go over future information and if I ever wanted changes they were implemented immediately.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They go way above and beyond for the customer. FCS really gets to know its customers and uses their passion and knowledge to help us grow and succeed. I don't know any other vendor that works as hard to make sure we continually improve.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly cant think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an account supervisor at a privately held sports, entertainment, and lifestyle company. We have multiple verticals, including production, content, and social and digital promotion and consultation. I work primarily in our agency services group, where we consult on behalf of our clients. My role is working on our culinary business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fresh Content Society?

We do a lot of work within the experiential realm, specifically as it relates to Fresh Content Society. We were working on a project related to the annual awards ceremony of a partner organization. It would typically be executed in a much different fashion, but, given the challenges of COVID, it had to look a bit different in 2020. In past years, it would typically be an in-person event of 1,500 of the culinary industry’s best and brightest nominees, spread across roughly 30 categories. This had to be live-streamed on Twitter for consumers, guests, and partners. The format was a bit different this year, but we still had the live stream element of it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?;

Fresh Content Society came in to consult and pull off the execution in our partnership with Twitter, as well as on behalf of our partners and their agency partners.

What is the team composition?

Scott (Founder & Social Media Advisor) was the face of everything. I’m not sure what happened on the backend.

How did you come to work with Fresh Content Society?

We’d done work with them before, and I believe they were initially recommended by one of our employees. A recruiting agency steered us in their direction as well.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t know off the top of my head. Everything was handled by the head of the group.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Fresh Content in September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're in the process of tracking down the viewership and other metrics of the live stream. From an internal standpoint, we’re tasked with delivering contractual impressions to our largest partners. That will ultimately be the telling point of whether or not we hit our goals.

Scott was just fantastic from day one. He’s a consummate professional in how he communicates, both internally and with clients. His organization was paramount here. He came late to the process to help us fill a need and he was tremendous in that role. I don’t think there could’ve been anyone better suited for it. Given the tight nature of the timelines and the heavy-lift that was asked, there was a ton of room for things to fall through the cracks, and Scott made sure he was on top of everything.

This really showed on awards night. Scott was on-site to make sure the clippings went live. He was on top of the communication between us and our partners, embodying the role of traffic conductor for around 20 stakeholders. This isn’t an easy thing to do, especially when doing it live, and Scott handled it with class and professionalism throughout.

How did Fresh Content Society perform from a project management standpoint?

Scott was fantastic from day one. He was overly communicative, asking a lot of questions to understand his role within the general construct as it related to bringing the live stream to life. Once we had that, he was good about being action-oriented and keeping the team updated, not only on what he needed but also questions coming in from partners and partner agencies. He generally updated us on how things were going, so that we could communicate them to the larger group.

All of the upfront work and the scope were set by the head of our division, and I really came in for the blocking, tacking, and support of Scott. I made sure he had what he needed and served as his go-to for whatever questions popped up. He was just really good at taking what Fresh Content Society does best and applying it to our programs’ and clients’ specific needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This was my first direct interaction, and a lot of it went through Scott. I was impressed with the wealth of experience and knowledge he brings. They understand the industry at a deep level, whereby they’re able to make the connection with blue-chip brands, rights holders, and leaders in the industry. That’s rare to find, especially in today’s landscape, and having that confidence and expertise empowered him to be successful in his role. Experience is not something one can learn by reading a book or instructions, and I feel that it is the differentiator for Scott and Fresh Content Society.

Are there any areas they could improve?

You should ask me this after the results come in.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should make sure that there are ample run-in and lead time, and they should have candid conversations and set up clear expectations. Being as quantitative as possible always helps, especially in the social realm. Once Scott knows what those goals are, he has the tools and experience to go out and realize them. He was great at offering suggestions on how we could pivot and do things a bit differently, and that helped us challenge our thinking and convention, pivot where needed, and grow this into a successful programming effort. I’m excited to have the numbers come in and quantify that further.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital marketing and a marketing tech at Old World Industries. We are essentially a holding company that’s privately owned and based outside of Chicago.

We have several consumer brands as well as B2B heavy brands for businesses and heavy-duty equipment. We are primarily in the automotive industry, so we sell consumer automotive maintenance products to consumers through the automotive retail channels.

That is our consumer side of the business, and then we have a commercial side of the company, which is mostly our B2B business. We sell some of the same types of products, but more for on-road fleets. That business is primarily handled through distributors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fresh Content Society?

I have been with Old World for a little less than ten years. Typically, from a digital marketing standpoint, we have had digital marketing agencies and ad agencies that were contributing to our social media strategy.

Our first digital marketing agency, when I first started, was an organization out of California, and they did content production and pushed out content on social, and it was a very one-way conversation. We had another agency that we brought in that was based in Chicago, and again, it was a larger ad agency, but the cool thing is that they had a community manager who was Scott (President). Situations changed, and like most ad agencies and digital marketing agencies that we had worked with, there was that constant turnover with who was running the social media and who was essentially the voice on social for our brands.

Social is so important in that it can be a very authentic voice to a brand. As marketers, we are always trying to achieve that one to one conversation with consumers, and social lends itself perfectly to that conversation.

When Scott left the ad agency we were working with, and he was our community manager, I noticed a significant drop in the amount of engagement and the types of impressions, and just the overall quality of our social media feed at that time. It turns out that they were trying to find somebody else to run our social media account. That wasn’t okay, as that was extremely important to us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the six years, we have really grown from a social media strategy that really consisted of pushing a lot of one-way conversations out there to really something that I am extremely proud of.

We have developed a community of followers within Instagram and Twitter. This past year, Scott has been really instrumental in driving the success we have had on YouTube.

My philosophy from a digital marketing perspective is that there are a few things that don’t need 100% attention every day. These are things like search engine marketing because they take a lot of time and daily effort. Social media and community management kind of couple together.

You have to have that person that essentially lives and breathes your brand on a daily basis and that is Fresh Content Society for us.

What is the team composition?

Scott is our primary contact. There are other people within the team that help produce the content, but Scott is our main contact there.

How did you come to work with Fresh Content Society?

I reached out to Scott when he first started the business.

How much have you invested with them?

We have monthly invoicing. Depending on the projects, we spend between $100,000–$150,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our six-year engagement with Fresh Content Society started in February 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the things that is special about Fresh Content Society is they really truly are partners.

Agencies aren’t usually really fully engaged in your brand. They don’t know the ins and outs of the organization like somebody that is working the company would know. They don’t take the time to really do their homework and understand who the community is and who the consumer is, and what the vernacular is within that community and really live and breathe the brand on a daily basis.

I have never seen an agency that is able to do that, but Fresh Content Society, led by Scott, really lives and breathes it every single day.

Just from a YouTube perspective, through their efforts, we have been able to secure over 5,000 new subscribers to the channel since the beginning of the year which is great. It wasn’t necessarily a marketing channel for us, and now we are at over 9,000 subscribers. Before starting this whole campaign, I think we were at a couple of thousand.

The success is really attributed to the episodic series that Scott’s team and the program that he manages. Pretty much all of our subscribers have come from this campaign. We are about to launch another one in the next couple of days.

How did Fresh Content Society perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of project management, we actually have weekly calls just to go over social media strategy and brand ambassador strategies, and different things that are on the to-do list. We also have a weekly call to run through our content strategy with a person on my team that handles a lot of the development of that.

Off of that, we have calendars for each brand and a running list of to-dos by brand, and Scott and my content person manage that list. Through that, we have a shared doc that we all manage and maintain.

From a project management point of view, I would say that is one area that he has grown quite a bit.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What makes them stand out from other agencies, is I have never really seen another agency that immerses themselves into the brand business as much as Fresh Content Society.

From a social media standpoint, when they are essentially the voice of your brand, that is exactly the number one priority that you are looking for. You are looking to have the confidence and the trust that they know enough about the product brand, company, and are able to know enough about your consumer that they can have that one to one conversation and really engage within the community outside of just pushing content out. It is more of a two-way conversation there.

We have trusted Scott to really run with it and do what he does best.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Anyone can continue to improve and hone in on their skills, but with project management skills, that is one thing that I think he has really grown tremendously in. At this point, I really don’t have anything specific. There is continuous improvement.

If you’re not constantly pushing or constantly evolving and changing as well as staying on top of what the current trend is, you’re not winning on digital. That is one thing that is ingrained over at Fresh Content Society.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To get the most out of it, it goes down to what the plan is and what you are hiring them for. if you’re hiring them for community management and social media, I would say you have to get them ingrained into your business and organization and trust that Scott is going to do what he does best. Let him and FCS do what they do best.

They are a very creative group, and with creativity, you need to let creativity breathe and develop. They are a first-class organization, and you just have to trust that they are really going to represent your brand in the right way which I think they do.

From the other aspects that they manage, they will be able to integrate into your brand very seamlessly as long as you are very transparent with the expectations and the needs, and what the brand actually stands for and how you communicate that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

True Value Company is a global hardware & home improvement store chain. I'm a Digital Ecommerce Manager, and I manage budget, strategy, and execution of Paid Search, Programmatic Display & Video, Native, and Social Media for TrueValue.com and TrueValuePaint.com.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fresh Content Society?

We hired Fresh Content Society to handle the community management and paid media management for our social channels.

True Value didn't have the resources but understood the importance of community management, so Fresh Content Society has been our solution since 2014.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals of this project were to address customer inquiries/feedback on our social pages and increase engagement with our follower community.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fresh Content Society?

I started at True Value in 2018, so I wasn't part of the decision process, but I believe Fresh Content Society was selected through an employee's existing network. Our Head of Marketing and Digital Director were involved in the process.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We engage in on-going services with FCS.

They monitor all our social pages for customer inquiries, escalate any issues to our Customer Service team, provide campaign setup, post organic/boosted/paid posts, proactively engage with commenters of paid & organic posts, monitor all post performance and technical errors, and provide monthly reporting.

My role is FCS' main client contact. We meet at least every week to discuss any upcoming initiatives, new opportunities, or past performance.

What was the team composition?

We've worked with a few people at Fresh Content Society, the owner being our main contact. The folks at FCS have primarily worked directly with myself & supervisor on the digital team and the customer service team, but also small amounts of contact with the ecommerce, marketing planning, and creative.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since working with FCS, we have seen a lift in social followers, benchmark engagement rate, response time, and overall happy customers.

Everything we wanted to achieve with this relationship has been met, and FCS continues to look for new ways our brand can do better and better.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We've have had a seamless process in place for many years, and it's based on trust, accountability, and collaboration. We do our thing, they do their thing, and we meet consistently to collaborate on the two.

Community Management has been the biggest thing we put a lot of trust in FCS to handle, and they manage it responsively, provide quality responses, and escalate as necessary.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

FCS is VERY knowledgeable. Their owner lives and breathes social, so he has a pulse on everything. I haven't worked with any other community management agency, but if I do, a high bar of excellence has been set for them to measure up to.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Honestly, no.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Digital Marketing at a food and beverage company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturer in the food and beverage space

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Fresh Content Society to accomplish?

• Grow Brand Awareness
• Grow Engagement
• Grow Traffic

SOLUTION

How did you find Fresh Content Society?

• Clutch Site
• Other

Why did you select Fresh Content Society over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Fresh Content Society were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

FCS was tasked to help us develop a social media strategy and execute it. That includes content, community, paid media, and influencer management.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

FCS helped increase our audience size by 500% and engagement and impressions over 1,000%.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Their project management style is very organized. Very focused on the deliverables and more importantly moving the ball down the field. Their communication was 10/10.

What was your primary form of communication with Fresh Content Society?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to generate virality. In addition to their commitment to our business.

Are there any areas for improvement or something  Fresh Content Society could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run the marketing department

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fresh Content Society?

Had trouble getting quality leads and sales onlione.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Scotts team set up an incredible strategy, optimized my website for facebook and google conversions and sales came in left and right.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Had a social media audit of my website. We set up conversion goals and tracking. Scott was able to optimize goals in my campaign that spent $7,000 and turned it into $130,000 in sales.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

2. Facebook marketing and google ads strategist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Spent 7,000 and turned into 130,000 in the second month.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

This was the best marketing campaign.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The level of detail and work that went into it.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Done perfectly