The Social Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in marketing & advertising for Toyota of Hollywood.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Social Group?

We needed some lead generation support because we lost a lot of customers due to COVID-19.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team has done social media marketing services for us, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They’re doing SEO work for us. We’re planning to have them do some work on our website, too. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Kyle (Founder) and his assistant. 

How did you come to work with The Social Group?

I found them online. I liked their work and the positive reviews. They were exactly what we wanted in a partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $8,000 to date, but we’ve increased the budget and will spend more than $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2020 and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very on point and are meeting our expectations. In the first month, we generated more than 320 leads. They also helped with sales in our dealership, so far. I have no complaints about their work.

How did The Social Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Our engagement has been very smooth. We have weekly meetings and communication has been great. We use Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver under budget. Their communication skills and timely execution have been awesome. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for SEO or lead generation support, work with this company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and president of a coaching company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Social Group?

My company hired The Social Group to help with Facebook advertising, Google Ads, and SEO.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the first two weeks of our engagement, the Social Group worked on our Facebook Ads Manager account, and they were confident that their approach was going to work better than what we’d been doing. They began working on our target audience. The team also selected PPC keywords. They talked about doing SEO, but they didn’t implement anything.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Kyle (Founder, The Social Group) and Jenna (Partner and President, The Social Group).

How did you come to work with The Social Group?

I found The Social Group on Google, and they’re a local company. Before I hired them, we had two in-person meetings, and they seemed confident that they could provide the services that I needed.  

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $4,000 on one month of The Social Group’s services, plus $3,000 on Facebooks advertising and Google Ads.

What is the status of this engagement?

In the third week of our engagement, I discovered that there were issues with my Facebook advertising account and PPC keywords. I terminated the contract after one month of working together. The Social Group said I broke the contract and tried to charge me for a second month of services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

I had other experts try and determine what happened. The keywords that The Social Group implemented had nothing to do with my business. I’d told them that certain words don’t attract the right audience in our particular industry, but they still used those keywords.

The Facebooks ads that The Social Group launched cost $400 a day and targeted the wrong audience. The Ads also had an incorrect conversion set up, so while Facebook was recording conversions, we weren’t getting anybody through our marketing funnel.  

I spent $3,000 on Facebooks advertising and Google Ads, but I didn’t see any results.

How was project management handled?

Initially, we didn’t have any issues with communication. We met in-person twice before I hired them, and then once in the month that we worked together. We also spoke over email. I was unimpressed when nothing was set up correctly in the third week of our work together, right before everything was supposed to launch. I felt like they were delaying so that I’d have to pay them for a second month of work.

When I requested changes, they were receptive, but they just continued to delay everything, and I ended up having to help them come up with the right keywords. I also discovered that the pictures they used for the ads on Facebook were ones that other companies had previously implemented for me; The Social Group just made a few little tweaks.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

They were nice people, but they didn’t give me the results that I paid them for.

In what specific areas can they improve?

The biggest area for improvement would be listening to the client. The idea of hiring a marketing firm is that they’re going to come up with new, fresh ideas and make them happen, but The Social Group didn’t do that.