Social Driver

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of communications for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Our goal is to end blood cancer and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. I work in the advocacy division, and we’re focused on advancing policies that make health care more accessible and affordable.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We hired Social Driver to create an animated explainer that could educate the public about the problems with junk insurance. Junk insurance is a type of health coverage that basically uses loopholes and leaves patients vulnerable to high medical bills.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Driver previously created an explainer video for us, but we needed a new one for a different topic and a different campaign. We intended for the video to be posted on our website and various social media platforms and to be used for a broader paid campaign. We also wanted to use it for internal communications to educate people within the organization and volunteer advocates on the issue. 

We had done a ton of research and advocacy on the topic prior to approaching Social Driver. We provided them with our reports, findings, and some press releases about our position on the issue. We also gave them news coverage of patients who have been negatively impacted by junk insurance. 

From there, they went into distilling all of the information into a creative medium. Their team made it informative and moving while keeping it simple and concise. They also helped us find and evaluate the right voiceover artists for the job.

What is the team composition?

We worked Emily (Project Manager), Gayle (Social & Digital Media Specialist), Cory (Senior Motion Graphic Designer), and Abbagail (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

We had already engaged Social Driver for a previous animated video project, but we decided to continue to work with them because we had such a good experience. It was a no-brainer to come back to them again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in July–August 2021 and wrapped it up in early November 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Social Driver really came up with an amazing video that captured a wonky topic, especially one that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to a visual medium. They provided a tremendous amount of value and vision. As lobbyists, researchers, and communications people, we mostly operate on the written word, but they were able to work with the material we gave them and creatively visualize it. 

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was really good from a project management standpoint. They met all of the deadlines and at some points even nudges us on our deadlines. It helped keep things moving along. We don’t use Asana regularly in our organization, but they were able to plug us into their platform, which worked great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What we really liked about working with Social Driver is that we didn’t need to go into too much detail about what kind of visuals we wanted. We simply gave them as much information as they would need and they took over the creative side of the work on their own. They were just very easy to work with. We didn’t even have to go back to the drawing board a lot because they made sure to capture all of our requirements. It was a professional and very well-organized partnership. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They always ask me that, too, but there wasn’t anything they could’ve done differently. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Part of the reason we were so successful is because we provided Social Driver with so much material. I think it would do you good to provide them with a lot to work with because that helps them understand complicated topics and, in turn, create the right visuals for it. 

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on March 12, 2021

Ryan Holeywell

Senior Director of Comms., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Nonprofit

1,001-5,000 Employees

Washington, DC

Confidential

Jan 2021 - Feb 2021

Project summary

A nonprofit engaged Social Driver for full-scale video production services to explain a public policy issue. After ideating, storyboarding, and scripting, the team produced a 90-second long animated video.

Feedback summary

Social Driver delivered an animated video that received compliments for its concise communication of a complex policy issue and its characters. By effectively managing the project, the team mitigated unnecessary oversight. They provided expertise and valuable guidance for the video’s production.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of communications for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Our goal is to end blood cancer and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. I work in the advocacy division, and we’re focused on advancing policies that make health care more accessible and affordable.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We had them create our first animated explainer video. The video needed to concisely explain a complex policy issue and convey how the issue affects real people.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Driver helped us make the video, soup to nuts. Their team talked about the issues with us and then developed a storyboard and script. They also helped us identify the video's music and voice-overs. It’s a 90-second video that’s only on our YouTube channel at the moment. However, we’ll use it as part of our advocacy campaign later this spring.

What is the team composition?

I worked most closely with Cory (Motion Graphics Producer) and Jonathan (Director of Project Management).

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

I found them because their founder hosted webinars with a group that I'm a member of, Public Relations Society of America. I kept the conversation going and asked to see their work. They sent samples of their previous work with nonprofits, which had a mix of styles and tones. We found a few projects that aligned with our vision.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project between January–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone internally loves it. We keep receiving feedback on how the video concisely and effectively makes its point. That’s hard to do. People also said the character that Social Driver created was compelling. One person said they liked how it reminded them of Schoolhouse Rock! The video has had great feedback all around.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Our meetings were brief, so we never had a meeting with them that was longer than 20 minutes. Their team was organized, using Asana to keep the project on track. They always held up their end of the deal on deadlines. Their team was always early on deadlines. They communicated what they needed and when they needed it from us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Driver didn’t require tons of feedback because they got it right the first time. They had amazing follow-through. When working with a contractor, it’s often necessary to stay on top of them to ensure they hit their marks. We didn’t have to do any of that with Social Driver. We set them loose. By staying on top of the project, Social Driver made our lives easy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is literally nothing they could do to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I deferred to them as the experts throughout the project. I’m happy that I trusted them and didn’t micro-manage the project. Social Driver did a better job than if I told them exactly what to do.  

STAR RATINGS

Overall rating: 5

Quality: 5

Cost: 5

Schedule: 5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the former VP of marketing, communications, and member services for Children’s Hospital Association. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We were in the middle of a merger with another group. That group focused on advocacy while we focused on data and revenue, though we both served under Children’s Hospitals. In other words, we were two different communications, PR, and marketing teams within the same organization, so we had differing needs for social strategy. 

Moreover, our groups were responsible for corporate and member relations, raising brand awareness for the association. Within that, we also needed advocacy and grassroots efforts. Simply put, we were blending two teams, and we needed an overarching strategy. Our teams also needed to define key roles and responsibilities while figuring out a good process for us to work together — that was when we met Social Driver.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started working together by doing an audit of our organizations’ social properties. Social Driver dove deep into interviewing key players in our groups to understand our needs. Then, they facilitated several days' worth of work sessions to brainstorm around our overall strategy, approach, and tactics. Within that, they helped us define everyone’s roles, responsibilities, and measures of success. On top of that, they frequently met with us to measure success both qualitatively and quantitatively. The team also outlined project threats and developed influencer campaigns. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Anthony (Chief Strategy Officer & Founder) for setting our strategy and leading the process. A couple of people from his team also worked with us, including a project manager and social strategy manager. 

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

We knew Social Driver through the group we were merging with, who knew the team in the grassroots advocacy arena. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$75,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from September 2015–September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were successful in this project; our groups came together and defined everyone’s roles — everybody understood how we could work together in the process. We also saw high employee engagement and satisfaction around the merger. That was possible because we had the right success benchmarks. 

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Social Driver’s project management was great. Any missed deadline was caused by scheduling problems on our end. Meanwhile, we communicated using traditional tools, such as shared documents. Social Driver may have also used a scheduling tool. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Driver was truly insightful in terms of understanding influencers and how social media and advocacies worked. They were great at focusing on the task at hand. Moreover, during the process, many people were worried about their jobs, so a lot of emotions were expressed. Fortunately, Social Driver was able to lift us above all that and stayed focused on the goals of the engagement. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. In fact, I wished we had the budget to keep on working with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let Social Driver be the experts at what they do best. That way, they can figure out how organizations can execute their projects in a way that delivers results. In short, trust their expertise. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of revenue innovation for Share Our Strength, the nonprofit behind the No Kid Hungry Campaign. Our mission is to end childhood hunger in America. We try to break down barriers that make it difficult for kids in the US to have access to food. On top of that, we also offer grants to people who need our support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We launched an initiative called Friendsgiving for No Kid Hungry, where we search for people hosting Friendsgiving celebrations with friends and families. We try to turn those events into fundraising moments for the kids we served. We already had at least one year under our belt piloting this program when we realized we needed to learn more about our audience. Our team wanted to ensure we could reach more people to scale the initiative, so we needed a partner to help us research and inform our strategy. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our engagement with Social Driver started with a thoughtful conversation around sharing what we already knew and did. That way, they wouldn’t come up with solutions that we already thought about. Talking about the history of the campaign, we identified that the key challenge for us was scalability. In that regard, the challenge also centered around using promotional content and social media to reach more people in our space. 

Based on our discussions, Social Driver came up with a five-phased social media approach. They reviewed our target audience and identified growth opportunities. After that, they figured out which channels were most relevant to our campaigns and where the conversations were taking place. The team then came up with hashtags and keywords that we could bring into relevant conversations. From there, they analyzed our competitors’ social media practices. They also scrutinized trends and topics to determine the type of content that would perform best with our target audience. 

After those analyses, Social Driver shared insights into different social media platforms, determining how we should talk to our audience on Facebook versus Twitter or Instagram. Moreover, we analyzed our audience’s online behavior. Our team already came up with two user personas, and the Social Driver team took them a step further. They dug deep into the personas’ behaviors and interests, making sure that we created engaging and relevant content. In the end, Social Driver delivered an intelligence research report. They also provided other strategic recommendations around how our campaign could move forward. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people in most of our sessions. Our team had one main point of contact, but we had access to the whole team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work lasted from April–November 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Social Driver helped us hone in on our target audience. They helped us better understand where we wanted to find people, how we wanted to talk to them, and what were the best channels to reach out to them. These insights were incredibly helpful to us. 

I also appreciated that their leadership was a constant voice in our conversations, and they didn’t simply tell us to do things. I’ve had experience with other vendors where their founders and leaders would be present in the initial conversations, but we wouldn’t hear from them again after that. By contrast, Social Driver’s leaders were a continuous voice in our engagement. Their dynamic team provided a strategic vision to our project through their leadership — this was great. 

Overall, our company felt that we gained value from the engagement. In terms of ROI, the insights they shared with our organization allowed us to raise more funds, making the consultation worth our investment. 

How did  Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Social Driver’s project management was all positive. The team was highly professional, and it was great to work with them. We knew who played what role, so we also knew who to talk to about the project’s aspects. Moreover, we received various insights and feedback from people with different expertise, and we loved them. The communication was clear, and the person in charge kept the project moving. Overall, our experience was great and awesome. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

While the entire team brought great value to the project, we were continuously grateful to have Anthony (Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder) provide his insights and feedback. He has a good understanding of trends, and he is always up to date with them. On top of that, we knew we had complete access to him and the rest of his team. In other words, we didn’t only have access to the team’s expertise; we also worked with someone with a wealth of knowledge.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. Social Driver provided everything that we expected from them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions to get some clarity. The team is committed to make sure they understand what challenges you may be facing and are thoughtful in articulating a scope of work that may help solve the challenge; the leadership is there, so ask a lot of questions if you want to make sure you’re investing in things the right way. Overall, taking the time to ensure you’re on the same page is crucial.

For context, I’ve had other consulting relationships where the results weren’t what I hoped for; I thought we were on the same page, but we weren’t. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of a PR firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We needed help in social media strategy, content creation, and advertising. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Driver supported us for tasks that we couldn’t do internally — we needed extra arms and legs and some expertise as well. They provided content for our clients’ Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages. Although they didn’t manage the accounts, they were very involved in the direction of our clients’ social media presence. 

One project we had was for a federal government agency’s virtual conference. Our team created the content, while Social Driver edited and supervised the content. They also built and helped drive a social media strategy.

We also worked with them for a foundation’s international conference that had a high-profile audience. Social Driver ran the social media strategy and advertising for his conference. Once again, our team created the content, and they provided guidance. In addition, they also prepared metrics report for our efforts.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people. 

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

Social Driver was recommended to me by a mutual friend. I had known them for years, and we had tried to team up on other projects before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from January–June 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Social Driver’s social media campaign resulted in 3.5 million viewers for the conference. 

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great at project management. We communicated via Zoom, Slack, email, and phone. 

Social Driver provided a speedy turnaround despite the high-pressure situation. They were flexible and ready to jump on everything quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Driver knew social media strategy, and they could explain ideas very well to an unfamiliar client through excellent examples. They were familiar with social media trends and understood how metrics and algorithms were changing daily. In addition, they understood our client and their mission.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know who’ll be working on your team, and make sure that you’ll like that person. We were very fortunate to have Social Driver’s principal on our team, and my team loved working with them. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the EVP and co-founder of Connect360 MultiMedia. We’re a marketing and PR firm handling nonprofit public service campaigns and media placements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We needed their team’s expertise in video production.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of our clients from the healthcare industry needed an explainer video to spread awareness on a particular lung disease variation. We relayed these requirements to Social Driver’s team, and they produced an animated video that touched on the characteristics and demographics of patients that usually suffered from that disease. Once Social Driver completed the video, our client posted this across their social media channels.

What is the team composition?

We worked with at least three resources from their team, including Anthony (Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

We knew Anthony professionally and had worked with Social Driver on previous projects. Once our client communicated their project needs to us, we thought of engaging their team again since it was part of their wheelhouse.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from June 2019–July 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This was a client project, so I don’t have quantitative metrics to share. However, our client happily reported that their site traffic evidently increased upon posting the video. Social Driver managed to produce a creative video that garnered client affirmations despite the timeline challenges they had to deal with during the production stage.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Social Driver was an extremely professional and responsive team — they were a feedback-oriented partner that addressed our client’s needs with preciseness and attentiveness. We definitely made the right choice by having their services represent our company.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stood out the most about Social Driver was their professionalism — they handled every setback with ease and understood the importance of our clients to our business. Additionally, they were keen on adapting to our processes and comprehending each part of the scope. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t encounter any areas that needed refinement. Social Driver was just the perfect partner for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in outlining your goals and requirements — Social Driver will take it from there and deliver your exact needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the senior VP of the marketing solutions team at an association consulting firm that provides tailored research, marketing, and strategy services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We wanted to have a website that our staff could easily update. Our previous website required a ticketing process with the firm that had created it to make changes, so we couldn’t easily make updates. Additionally, its backend needed to be set up in a more organized fashion.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Driver created a new WordPress website for us. They did all of the design work, including the fonts, colors, and icons. Their designs were based on both research and information that we provided to them.

It was a pretty standard site, and it had a blog page that we ensured was featured more prominently. They also made the blogs easily searchable, improving the functionality of that component of the site. Additionally, they provided us with guidance around how much text to include in that content, which was helpful.

Now, the company has an ongoing maintenance contract with Social Driver, where they check for updates quarterly and update any widgets for the other add-ons that they have on the site’s backend.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 4–5 people from Social Driver, including a project manager, someone from the senior leadership team, a designer, and a team of people that worked on the backend. Additionally, I had several conversations with Anthony (CSO & Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

One of my colleagues had gone to business school with Anthony. He was so dynamic and charismatic that I wanted to work with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We had spent around $15,000 before I left.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around May 2018, and their engagement is ongoing. However, I’m no longer working for the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new website was easier to navigate, and it was cleaner and better organized. It loaded faster too, and we had more traffic incoming, which increased our presence.

Our old website was very slow to load. As ours was primarily a word-of-mouth business, it was important for us to have a strong web presence to expand beyond it. The new website helped improve that aspect of our business.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

The project flowed pretty well. Social Driver used Basecamp to project manage the deliverables, and we communicated through phone calls, emails, and meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Driver created a modern design, which was impressive. That WordPress site was what we needed back then.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some challenges around project management, but they were responsive when we flagged those challenges and ironed them out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have clear the design that you’re looking for because Social Driver is there to meet your needs. As long as your needs are clear, they’ll do a great job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of communications at a trade association that does advocacy work in Washington, DC, on behalf of our industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We needed help to build a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Driver built a website for us out of which we issued an advocacy campaign. We initially gave them some information about what type of campaign we wanted to run, who was our target audience, and what we were hoping to communicate to policymakers.

They produced a very nice-looking and action-oriented website. In it, people can share information about the issues that are important to them, and they can find tools for contacting policymakers and expressing their thoughts over social media.

What is the team composition?

We worked with designers, who created both the website’s look and feel and some social media graphics. Additionally, we worked with a project manager.

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

We had worked with them in the past, and we also knew some of the work that they had done for other people, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere between $40,000–$75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and they completed the site in July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although it is too soon to measure results, the early ones are looking great. The site is getting good usage; people use it to contact policymakers and express themselves on social media, and they seem to be very happy with the site.

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Social Driver was great at project management. They stayed on top of things and were very good communicators. They used Basecamp to manage the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Driver worked quickly and effectively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be specific about what you’re hoping to achieve and the elements that your website needs to have.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We work with children's hospitals and pediatric wards in regular hospitals in the United States. Our program is a public-facing social media program to help educate the public on issues facing children with medical complexities and to give them and their parents a voice. I was a manager of the program and focused on our social media presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When I came on board, the organization was going through a complete re-branding. Social Driver was brought on to help us figure out how to promote our brand, as well as breakthrough all the social media noise for our brands.

SOLUTION

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

Honestly, I was not on the team that decided to hire Social Driver, but I'm assuming it was their accessibility and ideas that caught their attention.

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

The kick-off meeting actually happened in Kansas City with our Comms Department counterparts and was held over 2 days. We focused on our key goals: who we wanted to reach, how to figure out where they are on the internet, and how to interact with social media handles who also focus on children's health in order to attract more followers.

From there, they provided us with detailed reports on both our current followers and potential key influencers to reach out to on social media. Once that was done, Social Driver continue to meet with me team to talk about outcomes and rework how and when we post on our social media channels and also send out emails to our followers.

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

We worked with 3 key people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The rebrand of the site and social media handles was pretty successful. We tripled our followers and also saw an uptick on the emails sent to members of Congress when we shared Action Alerts.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. When I emailed or called someone, I always had an answer within hours (if not immediately)

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

I still use their tips/tricks when talking to my colleagues, even after all of these years.

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

I really liked how they worked with us. So, I have no recommendations in regards to improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was President of OmniStudio, a Washington DC graphic design firm specializing in communications products for organizations and government agencies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Omni hired Social Driver's team to consult on a project to redesign the UX/IA for a scientific organization's extensive research resource that was moving from print to online.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met Social Driver's founders through mutual membership in industry associations and business management groups. I became interested in their work and we collaborated on several projects.

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

This online project was under construction by another firm but our client was not happy with the user interface or design. There was a tight deadline to conceptualize a new user experience and create a framework that our client could review iteratively. Steps involved client meetings, setting up a demo site, providing graphic design for the resource brand and creating an interactive framework for the future site.

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

Social Driver's team was directed by Thomas Sanchez and included their web development director, graphic design director, a graphic designer, a web developer and account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was very pleased with the results of the new interactive framework and design. This design was used for the build of the web site which began immediately upon completion.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Social Driver encourages feedback and kept us informed at every steop. The workflow was very smooth as Social Driver used an online project management tool that kept track of communications and iterations. Our team was able to reach Social Driver's team members whenever there were questions and to discuss design options. Because the project was on a tight deadline we were assured that our project received high priority and responsive communications.

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

The multi-talented team members of Social Driver closely worked together. I was also very impressed by their ability to convey innovative and complex solutions to our client. Also, each team member had a positive attitude and commitment to creating an excellent product.

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

I think they rose to meet the challenge of the project in every way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

During this project, I was working with the leading trade association for the convenience industry. I left the organization three years ago. 

In that association, we had two categories of members: retailers and suppliers. I started out as the vice president of marketing in the organization and was promoted to CMO and VP of training and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Driver?

We organized a yearly event, which was a really big part of what the association did. The industry would really come together during it, and people came to see the industry at its best. There, they could see the latest products and services, learn about the industry through education sessions, and make connections with colleagues and peers.

Like a lot of associations, we were always looking for ways to increase attendance and engagement. A lot of that was driven by the fact that one of our key metrics was the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which we determined using the questions on our surveys.

As marketers, we knew that if people have a great experience and are fully engaged, the likelihood of them attending the event the following year will be greatly enhanced. Whereas, if they come expecting one thing and get another, or if they’re expecting it to be fantastic but are disappointed, the likelihood they’ll come back is reduced.

With Social Driver, our focus was driving attendance and engagement within the event that took place in 2015. We wanted to use that to leverage marketing and engagement efforts in the years that would follow.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In terms of goals, we wanted to generate new leads for retail buyers, specifically small retail operations or convenience stores. We also wanted to make conversions as seamless as possible by easing and accelerating the signup process.

We wanted to get messages out and see how people engaged with those messages, and to use what we learned within the exercise to create a kind of social media playbook for future events. In the same way that we were looking to increase attendance and engagement within the 2015 show, we were also looking for a lasting effect, which is to get them to come back the following year.

Social Driver did a bunch of social media work for us. A lot of people come to the show to see the expo floor, to learn, or to network, so one of that effort was to show them that there are other things they can take advantage of. The team ran Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn campaigns, all within the context of getting people to register. 

They also sent a group of people to the show, to help us with engagement during the event. They put social media posts out during the event to increase the public’s awareness of what was going on.

What is the team composition?

It’s been six years since then,  so I can’t remember exactly whom we worked with. Anthony (Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer) was there at the outset and was the tip of the spear. There were also other folks we worked with downstream, particularly the ones that executed the social media campaigns prior to the event, and the group that worked on-site.  

How did you come to work with Social Driver?

Anthony and I met when I was president of a marketing association. He was a speaker at a few of our events. Like any marketer, I’m always looking to learn something new and identify people that have certain types of expertise, so I ended up going to a few of his sessions. I thought he was really good at this, and I asked him to speak at the trade association.

He spoke at our event and got a great response, which gave me a chance to speak to our CEO about him.

We considered different vendors, looking at costs and company cultures. What pulled Social Driver in was Anthony’s willingness to not only do the work we needed, but also to participate in the organization’s learning curve. He didn’t operate as though he was the mighty Oz behind the curtain. He really took the time to explain what we were doing and why. He knew the results we were expecting to get, and showed us the results we were actually getting during the process.

Later on, it was confirmed that we would work together on this and other projects.

How much have you invested with them?

Our total spend for the social media piece was $12,000. That doesn’t include them being on-site. It wasn’t cost-prohibitive, and there was never a sense of not getting what we paid for. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’d talked to Anthony in 2014 about our desire to work together, and we kicked off officially in 2015. The social campaign launched in August 2015, and the collaboration ended when the show concluded in October 2015.

Anthony did a debrief for us the following month, where we went through a sense-making exercise to see how we did by channel, in terms of driving attendance and engagement, what we learned, and what we could leverage for the following year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measured the number of impressions, clicks, and registrations for the show. We ended up with over 24,000 total registrations that year. We got nearly two million impressions on social media, and over 40,000 website clicks. We were trying to drive people to the website to register, and it worked out.

Working with Social Driver eliminated any problems in getting an agency to help us do work in the following years. Our internal people were able to acquire some expertise to execute some of the effort at reduced costs. 

How did Social Driver perform from a project management standpoint?

Social Driver was very proactive. They were solid in the beginning, laying out how they wanted to communicate with us and asking what our preferences were. We set up weekly progress meetings and got weekly updates with metrics once we rolled out the campaigns. It was exactly what we wanted: timely, relevant, and applicable to what we were trying to do.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We clearly hired them for expertise, but Social Driver never came in with an attitude of having all the answers even though they've done a ton of work and have an impressive client list. They approached the work without imposing their playbook. They simply told us what they believed we should do, and they showed us the benefits of doing things a certain way.

Even when we apply best practices in marketing, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll get amazing results. At its core, marketing is a test-and-learn exercise. One of the big things about Social Driver is that they have those best practices and that experience. When they run programs and campaigns, they set expectations around those, and they’re willing to learn and adjust in real-time. They’re also excited about getting to the end and seeing what will actually take place.

They worked some super long days when they got on site. They were up till 5–6 in the morning, burning it at parties until midnight. They were out there engaging and had tons of energy all week. It wasn’t just executing the work; it was the culture and enthusiasm that Social Driver brought that was really great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. Social Driver helped us with a great degree of professionalism and a clear understanding of what objectives we should be focusing on. We were at a point where we’d done what we could do internally and needed help. Thinking about how they approached the work and engaged with us, and how they unpacked everything at the end, it was exactly what we needed at that time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The value for us was that we were able to go beyond what we could do at that time. We made an honest assessment of what our current capabilities were, and what our expectations of Social Driver were. We thought really hard about how far we wanted to go with this effort, and we were honest with ourselves.

Being results-oriented is also recommended. Particularly in 2015, there were a number of organizations doing social media stuff because it was a rising trend. Because my association was and is the leader in the convenience industry, the voice and brand we went to market with was in the trusted-advisor category. We were always conscious of this, and it’s something that Social Driver embraced instead of just adapting what was considered cool at the time.

Social media is fun to do on our own time, but, when we’re doing it on behalf of an organization, we really have to think about what kinds of messages are going out, and whether or not they’re aligned with our brand. We have to be really intentional with the agency we’re working with.

We weren’t out there on social media or magazines in order to be cheeky or controversial. We wanted people to have fun, but being funny wasn’t our primary focus. We thought about what kinds of outward-facing messages we wanted, in terms of tone and vibe. 

One of the things that Social Driver did was run those messages by us, to confirm that they were within the confines of our brand identity. They really understood us, and there was nothing they proposed that wasn’t strongly aligned with who we were and what we were trying to do.