Experience digital with us.
Social Driver is a leading digital agency with in-house expertise for using social media, digital strategy, content and video, websites, and brand design to have an impact for a brighter future. Headquartered in Washington DC, with teams in Kansas City, Chicago, Detroit, and Bellingham, WA, our culture is focused on partnership, creativity, stewardship, collaboration, and service. That’s why clients choose to experience digital with us.
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Portfolio
Social Driver's client base ranges from purpose-driven corporations and foundations, to leading nonprofits and associations. Notable clients include: American Academy of Family Physicians, American Nurses Association, The Education Trust, Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Goodwill Industries International, Honda North America, Modern Military Association of America, Target Corporation, as well as leaders in the healthcare and education industries.
Redesigning Public Welfare Foundation’s Website to Amplify Its Fight Against Racial Injustice
Public Welfare Foundation is focusing on catalyzing a transformative approach to justice that is community-led, restorative, and racially just. While its work has never been more important, the foundation didn’t have a website that reflected its marketing strategy or vision for its brand.
By completely reorganizing its website around key message areas and calls to action, Social Driver enabled users to engage with grantee stories, book event space, apply for grants, and other important actions. Social Driver curated a visual brand to convey the vivid, gritty, and hopeful landscape of their work to address racial inequality and economic injustice.
Since the launch of the redesigned website, the pages viewed per session increased by 14%, average session duration increased by 13%, and overall bounce rate decreased by 4%. Through elevating Public Welfare Foundation’s brand and redesigning its website, users have become more engaged with its mission and work.
Connecting people to health information they can trust at familydoctor.org
We worked with the American Academy of Family Physicians’ consumer-facing brand familydoctor.org designed to target users in their search journey as it relates to common ailments and symptoms. We ran Google Ads campaign focused on common symptoms of illnesses that were geared toward providing helpful information for users about possible causes.
The campaign achieved a 24% click-through-rate, which is 12 times the industry average, generating more conversions than any of familydoctor.org’s other previous efforts on Google Ads.
Increasing Diversity in Hiring for FSG Opportunity Navigator
Grads of Life and Talent Rewire approached Social Driver wanting to increase diversity and inclusion in hiring by helping busy employers find resources that work for their companies. We built the Opportunity Navigator to help businesses understand how to incorporate Opportunity Employment practices and find resources.
The Opportunity Navigator walks employers through an interactive survey that tailors information to the user and allows them to take their results to upper management for implementation. The Opportunity Navigator has been embraced by employers. During its rollout, about 70% of the initial employers included in the launch started the survey.
Showing the Economic Impact of the Senior Living Industry for Argentum
Argentum, the national association serving companies that own, operate, and support senior living communities in the US, set out to determine the economic impact of senior living communities across the nation.
We created a microsite, seniorlivingimpact.org, that includes data visualizations and an interactive map to showcase its impact. Users can sort by location, compare data among states, and filter data by economic impact, government revenue, jobs supported, and social responsibility. We also future-proofed the map so that staff can easily update the national and state-level data.
ACE's Remember the Dreamers Campaign
The Protect Dreamers Higher Education Coalition, led by the American Council on Education (ACE), sought to end the political and legal limbo for America’s Dreamers. With a Supreme Court decision expected in weeks, the coalition needed to galvanize its members and networks in opposition to the Trump Administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Social Driver launched a digital hub for the Remember the Dreamers campaign in a matter of weeks. We developed a compelling visual identity that helped to make a complex policy issue more accessible. An easy-to-navigate microsite, which integrated with VoterVoice and integrated social media sharing features, made it simple for users to contact Congress and post to social media.
An animated explainer video demystified DACA while highlighting Dreamers’ contributions to society and why they deserve to remain in the U.S. These digital assets were designed to educate the coalitions’ members and supporters and empower them to serve as advocates leading up to the Supreme Court ruling.
Victory Fund Website Redesign to Elevate LGBTQ Candidates
Branding a Merger: Modern Military Association of America
In 2019, OutServe-SLDN and the American Military Partner Association (AMPA) were merging and sought Social Driver’s help to name and brand the new organization. The merger formed the nation’s largest non-profit organization dedicated to education, advocacy and support for LGBTQ service members, military spouses, veterans, family members and allies.
Our team created a new name for the organization that service members could use on merchandise in any environment and feel safe, with a tagline that made their mission clearer and claimed the LGBTQ space. The new brand is patriotic and clean, with a secondary energetic color palette that represents the LGBTQ aspect of the brand.
Unifying the Social Brand of Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johns Hopkins Medicine sought Social Driver’s help to align two of its subsidiary hospitals (Sibley Memorial and Suburban) under one brand on social media to better reach their target audiences across organizations.
Social Driver developed strategic recommendations and two micro-campaigns, inclusive of content and creative assets to better reach women and minorities.
The first micro-campaign, “Women, Let’s Be Real,” spoke to the different stages that women face when accessing healthcare — from discovering resources, to seeking preventative care, to receiving treatment. Social Driver developed written content with tone and voice and key messages that served the overall strategy for each channel. Content included still graphics, infographics, GIFs, and explainer videos to visually tell the story.
The second micro-campaign focused on Minority Health Month. Social Driver developed written content in line with the proposed channels strategy and included still graphics, Instagram story cards, infographics, and GIFs to tell the story in engaging ways.
Implementing Social Driver’s strategic recommendations and micro-campaigns created more consistency in brand voice and tone. Average engagements increased by 56% and new page likes increased by 54% on Sibley Memorial and Suburban hospitals’ social media channels in just a few months.
Raising Awareness for the COPD Foundation With an Animated Explainer Video
Many people don’t realize that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease, can be related to a rare genetic condition referred to as alpha-1. The good news is that a test is available that determines whether a patient is at risk for genetic COPD, which allows doctors to get ahead in the treatment of the disease. The bad news is that most people are not aware of the test or that COPD can have a genetic cause.
Social Driver created an animated explainer video to educate people at risk for genetic COPD and their caregivers about the importance of testing. The video effectively translated this complex information into an easily digestible format, which could be used in meetings and across digital platforms.
Driving Latino Voter Registration for UnidosUS
Reimagining the City Parks Alliance Website
City Parks Alliance, the only independent, nationwide membership organization solely dedicated to urban parks, wasn’t getting what they needed from their website. Members couldn’t find resources, their brand image felt dated and their ad hoc AMS was costing hundreds of hours of work a year.
Social Driver partnered with City Parks Alliance to take a wholesale look at their web presence. Starting at the very highest levels we reworked the site architecture, user experience, content strategy and integrated the site with their tech stack. The site was built with accessibility and mobile users in mind. This was done in parallel with a brand refresh, ensuring a clean, modern and usable site.
The redesigned website has attracted more unique visitors and increased the time they spend on the site.
Improving The NEA Foundation’s SEO
The NEA Foundation, a public charity founded by educators to improve public education for all students, partnered with Social Driver to increase organic traffic to its website. The foundation faced some challenges, as it did not appear for related keywords and phrases, its social media channels were not optimized, and referral traffic was low.
Within one year of working with Social Driver, The NEA Foundation now appears in top positions on the first page of Google search results because their keyword clicks and impressions both rose by well over 100%. Additionally, the bounce rate decreased by 21%.
Redesigning Fike’s Website to Improve Its Bottom Line
Fike, which works to eliminate catastrophic loss of life and assets for companies around the world, reached out to Social Driver to streamline its website experience. Fike wanted to make it easier to find products on its site and for its internal team to update.
We overhauled the site through an extensive UX process and introduced a site search/filter functionality to get users where they need to go faster.
Alongside a new sitemap, the site received a much needed facelift. Through clean type, large imagery and a bold use of color, we arrived at a new visual language that emphasizes quality, confidence and leadership.
Since Social Driver launched the new Fike.com in May 2019, there has been a significant increase in site web traffic and site performance including a spike in unique visitors and average session duration.
GED Grad Day Campaign
Social Driver, in partnership with the GED Testing Service, launched the #GEDGradDay campaign to empower GED graduates to celebrate the accomplishment of earning their high school equivalency while also encouraging the next generation of students to open the door to their futures with the GED.
As part of this campaign, we collected pictures, videos, testimonials, and posts from real people whose lives had been changed by the GED. We then promoted these stories in branded videos and social media posts from official GED accounts.
Whereas the GED Testing Service once struggled to engage its dispersed graduate community, our inaugural GED Grad Day was a success and has become an annual virtual event.
The Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s Hidden Heroes Website and Caregiver Community
The Elizabeth Dole Foundation reached out to us for help in creating a national movement to raise awareness and seek solutions for our nation’s more than 5.5 million military caregivers--our nation’s Hidden Heroes.
We built a website and an interactive map designed to reach post-September 11th military caregivers. We also created an online community and established a national registry for military caregivers so they could receive the camaraderie and support they need.
Hidden Heroes has grown to be the largest military caregiver community in the country and has inspired many supporters, including Campaign Chair Tom Hanks.
American Academy of Family Physicians’ Breast Cancer Awareness Video
The American Academy of Family Physicians, which represents 129,000 physicians and medical students nationwide, partnered with Social Driver to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Social Driver created an animated video that explains how to minimize the risk factors associated with breast cancer. The video increased engagement and interaction on AAFP’s familydoctor.org, while giving life-saving information to their followers.
Reviews
the project
Twitter Social Presence & Web Content Dev for Honda
"They excelled at communication and deadlines."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I was a senior public affairs specialist at the American Honda Motor Company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
At the time, we had no social media presence for public policy issues nor for engaging with legislators or regulators. I connected with Social Driver to work on our strategy and launch our social presence.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They handled our social media, targeting primarily Twitter at that point. We also didn’t have much of a digital footprint generally in 2011, so we worked with them for content on a public policy website I also worked on that year. The site was built on WordPress.
What is the team composition?
I worked closely with Anthony and Thomas (Founders). I also had an account manager and two people who worked on producing animated video and infographics for us — they were great.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
We met at the National Press Club at a seminar they spoke at. We started talking and I trusted Anthony and Thomas as they were smart, educated, and engaging.
How much have you invested with them?
I think it was $9,000 annually.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project started in January 2011. Although I left, I believe the relationship is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
From a social perspective, we were starting at zero. We gained qualified followers, our main metric there. For the web, we were also looking at video views and completion rates on the videos they produced for us. They were very solid.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
They excelled at communication and deadlines. We were on tight deadlines, and they kept my team at task and made sure we were getting the right number of reviews out. Similarly, they kept the social calendar running actively and reacting in real-time.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They do a tremendous amount of work and a great job at ensuring that the right stakeholders in the market understand information. They’re constantly challenging and evolving their offerings, which sets them apart.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They do excellent advocacy and association work, and I wish they’d expand to the corporate sphere.
the project
Marketing for Medicine Manufacturing Association
"They add value by offering new and unique ideas."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the senior director of marketing at an association that represents the manufacturers of generic and biosimilar medicine. We advocate for affordable, accessible medicines for patients.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
During the pandemic, our face-to-face advocacy is limited. We were looking for ways to interact with lawmakers about our mission in more creative ways. This year was the 10th anniversary of legislation that set the framework for biosimilar medicines in the US today. We pulled them in for help creating a virtual anniversary card.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Their team recommended an augmented reality (AR) lens greeting card to mark the 10th anniversary of the government creating the regulatory pathway for biosimilar medicines. They helped us every step of the way, figuring out what the creative should look like and executing the strategy.
They also worked with our digital partners to advertise the creative. Social Driver even developed a promotional video that we could use to promote the event on social media.
What is the team composition?
I reconnected with one of the partners, who later put me in touch with an account manager. In the end, I worked with about three people on the project: a developer, an account manager, and a marketing creative.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
We worked with them on an advocacy campaign in the past, so I already had a relationship with them. Our team was referred to them by one of our consultants. They created a landing pages and many motion graphics videos. That campaign did very well on social media.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent about $10,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We collaborated on the campaign from February–March 2020. The campaign will run through the end of the year. We’re planning on pulling them in for another campaign that we’re launching next year.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They exceeded our expectations on the first day of launch for metrics like views, shares, and screen captures on social media. We were blown away.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
They were excellent at meeting communication expectations. For instance, when we had questions that would technically fall outside the scope of the project, they would jump in right away to fix the problem free of charge. Their customer service was amazing.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They think creatively and outside the box. Additionally, they have a solid understanding of advocacy through social media and digital channels. They add value by offering new and unique ideas.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I’d love for them to provide more information about all they can do. It would be great to see them offer up their services to help in other areas.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Come to the project with an open mind and be flexible. Let them use their expertise to come to you with solutions— they have the creativity to be successful.
the project
WordPress Web Design for Disability Rights Nonprofit
"They were a wonder; I really enjoyed working with Social Driver."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a communication and digital specialist at the National Disability Rights Network. We are the largest provider for disability rights and legal services.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
We had an older platform that we were using for our website, which was getting difficult to use. We engaged Social Driver to help improve the usability of our website.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Social Driver brought us from the original platform to WordPress. They took everything we had in terms of our website and helped us reorganize it, adding features and functionalities like a navigation bar. The team fashioned our existing content onto different issue pages and other places on our external facing website. They designed a beautiful home page and helped us come up with some copy for it as well as our other pages.
What is the team composition?
We worked with about 10 people. We were in frequent contact with Emily (Project Manager), Paige (Director of Website Strategy), Alexander (Project Management), Dylan (Director of Web Development), and several others.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
My supervisor posted in a networking group for press and communications people in DC. Social Driver was recommended to us from that group.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent a little under $40,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from October 2018–April 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It’s hard to give a concrete number because we don’t have a lot of data from the old site to compare with the new one. But anecdotally, visitors to our site can actually understand what it is we do as an organization. Before Social Driver’s work, it wasn’t clear.
With the way they guided us in terms of our header and how we explain ourselves, people are now able to get to our membership agencies, which is our primary function.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
They were a wonder; I really enjoyed working with Social Driver. Emily was always very quick to respond, which was really important to us. The team was really organized, providing Google Sheets and Google Docs and always letting us know what they needed from our side.
We serve people with disabilities, so we have a lot of accessibility needs on our site. Social Driver met those needs very professionally and respectfully. To have a team of people who were approachable, receptive, and willing to make modifications was outstanding.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their organization, communication, and adaptability to our needs were all exceptional.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There’s nothing I can really think of. They’re putting a lot of resources into expanding their diversity and inclusion efforts and learning. Social Driver really walks the walk — it’s a cool part of their work.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Leverage Asana to communicate really well with them.
the project
Web Development for Education Policy Organization
"We’ve found an equivalent commitment to quality in our work with them."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the associate director of digital communications at an education policy and advocacy organization. Our national headquarters are in DC, but we have regional locations in California, Michigan, New York, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Massachusetts.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
We’ve been partnering with Social Driver for more than six years for web development projects.
What was the scope of their involvement?
When I joined the company in 2014, it had been more than a decade since we’d redone our site. We brought them onto the team to migrate from Drupal to WordPress, which is much more user-friendly for our in-house content management team. That process took about a year. During that time, they updated the platform using mobile responsiveness and SEO best practices.
After that process was complete, we kept them on a monthly retainer to continue to maintain software and updates. We’ve also called upon them to build new functionalities into the site as we’ve needed them. They’ve worked with web tools and data visualization.
What is the team composition?
There have been about 15 people that we’ve been in touch with over the years. We work primarily with their lead developer and director of strategy. They have the institutional knowledge within their company and with ours because they’ve been working with us since the start of our engagement. Over the years, we’ve worked with multiple account managers, the UX team, and the design team.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
The organization signed a contract with them just before I started. I wasn’t part of the RFP process. However, my colleagues were considering three different firms. Social Driver’s energy and technical knowledge made us feel confident that they were the right fit for the project.
How much have you invested with them?
Over the years, we’ve spent between $250,000–$500,000 on their work.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working with them since April 2014.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Even though they completed the redesign six years ago, we still get compliments on the visual quality of the site. Users always enjoy the web tools that they’ve created. If I was moving to another organization, they’d definitely be a team that I’d reach out to for similar projects.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
We have a monthly meeting to review the maintenance items my team is requesting. There, I like to get details on bug fixes and overall progress against tasks. In addition to that check-in, we coordinate projects through Asana. Most of our communication occurs in threaded conversations within Asana. They were great about responding to ad hoc requests as well.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re great about talking through the UX and translating that to code. Their technical expertise is impressive. I’m confident in their ability to keep up with the latest trends, and their work is high-quality. If there’s something wrong with a tool, they’re always willing to address it. We’ve found an equivalent commitment to quality in our work with them.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They’ve improved on their project management skills over the years, in their switch from Basecamp to Asana. When they were scaling, their project management skills dropped off a bit. After communicating with them about it, I’ve seen them make significant efforts to improve their customer service skills. I think they’re doing a great job.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
They’re great about committing to best practices, which aren’t always attainable on a nonprofit budget. They are willing to work with me to find options that fit our budget and reach as close to industry best practices as possible. They’ve been responsive in making these conversations a general practice.
the project
Web Design & SEO for Landscaping Company
"I was wowed by Social Driver."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the founder and president of Max Insulation.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
I was looking for an agency to handle my website and outbound marketing presence. I didn’t know anything about social media, so I needed an outside resource.
What was the scope of their involvement?
I initially filled out a questionnaire that was kind of a strategy doc with goals, targets, markets, price points, and other things. Then I came in for a team meeting in Social Driver’s office, where I thought I would have to explain a lot to them, but they were always one step ahead of me which is pretty cool.
From there, the team got to work building and designing the website, adding content and copy along the way. I was also assigned a social media contact, who worked to boost my search engine listings, focusing on Yelp.
What is the team composition?
I worked directly with Anthony (Co-Founder) and Thomas (Co-Founder). There must have been five people on my team even though I was a startup company..
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
I was connected to Social Driver through a networking group I’m part of. I chose them because they had a team that was willing to commit to the project rather than just giving me one person. I was really impressed with that. The level of energy and enthusiasm was really high.
How much have you invested in them?
It is probably between $3,000–$7,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
I founded the company in April 2014, and I immediately brought in Social Driver in May or June 2014. Our partnership lasted for a year, after which I felt our rankings were high enough that I didn’t need their services anymore.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
In four years, I think we did one tweak on the website, which was hugely successful. The design was great, and the speed at which they were getting the work done was remarkable. There were no loose ends, which we appreciated.
We received great feedback from users on the website, and also saw our conversion rate increase to 80%. Also, along the way, Social Driver came up with new ideas and suggestions that weren’t part of the original scope. To watch them add to the project was really cool. They never disappointed.
In terms of the social media work, we generated over 100 five-star reviews on Yelp, and we were getting three, four, or five leads a day. I had more business than I could handle, and we ended up getting bought out by a bigger company in 2018.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
They performed really well. They were always available. Social Driver always had an agenda prepared for our meetings, and someone would always send me an email letting me know what they were working on, what they were testing, what was being built, and what was completed.
Their customer service was excellent. I could always get someone on the phone, and if I emailed, I would get a response back within the day. I also appreciated they had designated project leadership, but I knew everyone on my team and I could reach out to whoever I needed.
What did you find most impressive about them?
It felt like there was really well-coordinated talent from Social Driver.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I have zero complaints and I was never left to feel or wonder if they were working on the project or if it was moving forward. I don’t have any comments to share on what they could have done to improve. The entire project was very professional. I was wowed by Social Driver.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I think it is all about knowing what your goals are and where you want to go, and Social Driver will figure out the rest. They will narrow it down to the market, niches, the go-to strategies, and digital assets.
the project
Wordpress Web Dev & Design for Legal Advocacy Nonprofit
"Across the board, Social Driver’s work was a huge success."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of communications for National Health Law Program. We’re a nonprofit that litigates, advocates, and educates on behalf of low income people and their right to healthcare.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
We’ve worked with Social Driver on a number of projects.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Originally, we contracted Social Driver to build a new website to replace our old one. Along the way, they added several features and functionalities, including an updated and strong search feature. The site is built on WordPress.
Later on, we were awarded a large grant for an administrative advocacy project to engage regular people in administrative commentary. Together with Social Driver, we worked on our messaging as well as building out a microsite campaign. We’re currently in phase two of that project, wherein they’re helping us with digital community building.
What is the team composition?
At this point, we’ve worked with several of their team members. We’ve had a handful of wonderful product directors.
One of the great things about Social Driver is that they introduced us to each member of their team who was going to impact our project. We had experts we could reach out to during each part of each project rather than just one singular touchpoint.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
I worked with Social Driver at a previous company and got to know the organization well. When I moved over to this company and we were putting out our RFP, I threw Social Driver’s name in the ring because I’d had such a good experience working with them in the past.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $100,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The website build started in January 2018 and went live in October of that year. We’re currently working on the microsite campaign.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve seen a 100% year-over-year increase in web traffic, and their work has made the job of my communications team so much easier. The website’s search functionality is better for our advocates who rely on it, and the user experience is lightyears ahead of where the old website was. Across the board, Social Driver’s work was a huge success.
Beyond comparisons to the other site, though, Social Driver did a really great job of interviewing stakeholders to find out who our audience was and what they needed. They did a phenomenal job helping us source that powerful search functionality and incorporate that into our website, and it works really well.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management is probably their single strongest asset. They do a great job. They run everything through Asana, and they even did Asana training for us. The team is phenomenal at scheduling meetings: during the high point of a project, we have weekly check-ins.
There are unique challenges for nonprofits, but Social Driver worked with us really well. They kept us on track without making us feel like they were pulling teeth.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Working with Social Driver, we could trust there wouldn’t be any issues around diversity and representation. We do a lot of work centered on equity, inclusion, and diversity. The fact that they’re a certified LGBTQ-owned business is really reflected in their staff, and they were able to create a site that really spoke to our work in a respectful way.
Outside of that, we also got a fantastic product at the end.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The only minor issue we’ve ever come across is the final price sometimes being more than expected. We’ve had a couple experiences where things change late in the project, but other than that, it’s only been positive.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
As you’re building up your internal team that’s going to work with Social Driver, make sure you have both people who can speak to the policy work you do as well as creative people who can push for new ideas.
the project
Social Media Marketing for Liberal Arts College
"Social Driver's staff was very easy to communicate with both in the workshop and follow-up conversations."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
At the time we did this project with Social Driver, I was president of William Jewell College. Jewell is a small liberal arts college in Liberty, Missouri.
For what projects/services did your company hire Social Driver?
We engaged Social Driver to provide social media marketing workshops and advice for the departments on campus which were involved in social media marketing, such as alumni, athletics, and advancement.
What were your goals for this project?
Our goal was to raise the level of knowledge and have all departmental social media staff use a common language at a common level of knowledge.
How did you select Social Driver?
We knew one of the founders very well because he is a graduate of Jewell. We had maintained contact with him over the years since he graduated so we were familiar with their services.
Describe the scope of their work in detail.
Social Driver provided 8-10 hours of workshop for all appropriate staff and follow-up conversations to support their work.
What was the team composition?
Social Driver's team consisted of two members, one was a principal in the firm and one was the senior social media marketing leader.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Our social media work improved significantly and the level of sophistication among the team increased greatly.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
Social Driver's staff was very easy to communicate with both in the workshop and follow-up conversations.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
Social Driver has very strong technical skills. They also demonstrate a very high level of insight for applications of social media that go far beyond technical insights into human insights. This part of their work is extremely valuable.
Are there any areas for improvement?
None.
the project
Event Marketing & Training for National PR Org Chapter
"Social Driver is very responsive."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the VP and chair of programming at a national chapter of a PR society.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
We needed help with our events.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Social Driver helps to market our events through email, social media, and word of mouth. We also rely on Anthony (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer) to provide some of the programs for our events. They have led workshops on writing, social media strategy, and digital marketing among other topics.
What is the team composition?
Anthony is my main point of contact, and then we’ve typically worked with three people per event.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
Anthony did a few events before I came on as the chair of programming, and I noticed that the crowd responded well to him. He was always a fan favorite. My predecessor highly recommended working with him and his team.
How much have you invested with them?
Apart from the pro bono work, a typical event costs about $6,000–$7,000 for a week of events. We do about 4–5 events with them per year.
What is the status of this engagement?
I began working with them in 2014. We’re planning to do more workshops in 2021. We don’t have them on retainer, but we reach out to them whenever we have events.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Social Driver’s marketing, complemented with our own marketing, maximized how many people we got to attend our evens. The events were ticketed, sometimes priced at $200–$300, so it was a big revenue generator for the organization.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
We communicate via phone, but I also usually send Anthony an email when we have project work.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Social Driver is very responsive. I’ve worked with a lot of agencies that get back to you the next day, but this team treats us like we’re their only customer. I appreciate their immediate, quick responses and their punctuality.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, not that I can think of.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be upfront with them about your goals. Their work is only as good as the information you give them. You don’t need to know your exact campaign because they will do that for you, but if you give them a goal, Social Driver will find the most creative and innovative way to achieve it.
the project
Video Production for Entrepreneurship Training Organization
“They were able to provide completely to make sure that we had what we needed to be sustainable.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for an organization called LearnServe International. We train high school students in the Washington, DC area in entrepreneurial and change-making skills.
Young people are often told that they have to wait to be the leaders of tomorrow, or even that they’re part of the problem, and we try to tear down both of those ideas by bringing together individuals from a very diverse range of backgrounds to give them the skills to be leaders today.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
They created a video for us to help us feature our students and their stories to get more people involved with our work.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They handled the creative process of the video from scratch, working with us to plan, and script the project and then providing both shoot management and post-production editing services. From there, we posted the final product to our YouTube and our social media channels, as well as using it in outreach to partner organizations and schools who might be interested in the program.
What is the team composition?
Our main point of contact for the work was Victor (Creative Director), and he helped with the interviewing and editing himself as well as with a small team for the editing process.
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
We have a very longstanding partnership with Social Driver. They are one of our corporate donors, their employees serve as mentors to our students, and they help us to pilot programs such as our Boardroom Champions project that brings students to pitch to company boardrooms across Washington. This project was pro bono to help us get more people inspired to help out in our organization.
What is the status of this engagement?
The first event that they filmed was in February, and our events since then have been canceled due to the pandemic but we continued to work with them through June 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The video tool that they created for us has been incredibly useful in connecting with people, especially small grassroots nonprofit organizations. Having a very professional face to your organization that you can send out into the world in a way that raises your profile and grabs your audience has been incredibly important to us. I really think we will continue to see greater and greater tangible effects of that product down the line.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
They were very communicative with u throughout all of the work, primarily over email and phone. They even invited us to a couple of workshops geared towards helping mission-driven folks and organizations understand how to use the virtual/digital space to their advantage. That was incredibly helpful for our own professional development and really spoke to their willingness to meet us where we were at and deliver whatever we needed to do our best work.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I think their responsiveness was the biggest asset to our collaboration. Every person I’ve worked with at Social Driver actually looks at what we’re doing and provides relevant input and support based on what they see, and that’s really important in a vendor for a small nonprofit. We needed a partner who was flexible and responsive to the challenges we were facing, and they were able to provide completely to make sure that we had what we needed to be sustainable.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The only regret we have is that we haven’t been able to grow the scope of our work with them yet, but we fully plan to in the future and are excited about that prospect.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Just be totally upfront about what you need. Don’t worry if it seems like too much, or if it’s the right way to look at things. They will be able to tell you in an honest conversation what you can and can’t accomplish, but you shouldn’t limit what you might be able to accomplish.
the project
Digital Strategy for Business Journal
"They understood changes in the social media sector and knew how it would impact us."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the market president and publisher of the Washington Business Journal.
What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?
At the time when we hired Social Driver, we were hosting our largest event of the year. It was very early in the era of social media and we wanted to show our leadership in that area. We partnered with them to introduce the idea of Twitter to the larger Washington business community.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Most recently, I engaged them to help us with our Twitter strategy to see how we were implementing it across our whole platform of 44 business journals. We wanted them to help us develop some best practices across our entire company. For part of the engagement, they actually implemented some of the best practices and did some of the work with us, as well.
What is the team composition?
Across the projects, we’ve consistently worked with Anthony (Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder) and Thomas (CEO & Co-Founder).
How did you come to work with Social Driver?
We met them through common relationships within the community. I was introduced to them by someone on my staff who intersected with them at the local LBGT Chamber of Commerce.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent between $25,000–$50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve worked together since December 2011 and our last engagement wrapped up in August 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Their work was first class. In the most recent project, they were able to provide actionable results to maximize our social media efforts, which I really liked.
How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?
We typically communicated via text, call, or email.
What did you find most impressive about them?
As an organization, they were leading edge. They understood changes in the social media sector and knew how it would impact us. They were able to bring that level of thinking to our business. Comparing our first engagement 10 years ago to our most recent one, it’s clear they evolved with the industry and with our business as we evolved.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there’s not much. If anything, they could help us think bigger.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice would be to just use them and trust their experience. The people I’ve referred to them have been those who are skeptical about the impact of social media on their business and Anthony and Thomas do a really great job explaining why it’s important.