Social Media 55

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the founding members and operating directors of La Maison Dupret, a private lending firm that specializes in short-term collateralized lending.

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Media 55?

We needed a company that could handle our branding efforts and help us generate more leads.

What was the scope of their involvement?
We hired Social Media 55 to take care of our branding, name, and website. Their main responsibilities include generating leads and creating content for our website and social media channels.

What is the team composition?
My main point of contact is their account manager.

How did you come to work with Social Media 55?
I came across Social Media 55 through a word-of-mouth recommendation. They were recommended to us by another company that they had worked with before.

How much have you invested with them?
We spend around $25,000 CAD (Approximately $19,400 USD) per year, so I’d say we’ve spent somewhere around $125,000 CAD (Approximately $97,000 USD) in total so far.

What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in January 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Social Media 55 has been able to send a lot of traffic to my website and Instagram page. I’m still in business today because of all of the leads that they’ve generated for me throughout our entire partnership.

How did Social Media 55 perform from a project management standpoint?

Social Media 55 has performed very well in terms of project management. They communicate effectively and consistently deliver everything on time.

We primarily communicate through email, phone calls, and text messages.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Social Media 55 is honest, and they have led us in the right direction. They’ve never promised anything that they could not deliver.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to listen to what they have to say and follow their lead.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Sean Larry and my company is Sean Larry Real Estate where I am a residential real estate broker. I am the director to my team.

For what projects/services did your company hire Social Media 55, and what were your goals?

I hired on Social Media 55 to handle my digital marketing strategy and get me positioned in Google and other place online I hired them for social media marketing, SEO, and digital marketing and design. My goals are to be positioned as a leading broker and provide easy access for people to view my offers and get my contact information.

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

Early on in my search for a quality agency I started working on my strategy with Social Media 55. I have no experience with marketing and social media so I turned to an agency. With about a decade of experience and having served roughly 1000 clients I knew I’d be in good hands.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

We worked closely together to develop my branding, naming and messaging. Once the foundation for my profile was set, Social Media 55 quickly established my footing on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google My Business for my office address listing. We are developing content for each social channel and Social Media 55 is using a software that allows me to view and approve all my content before they go out the their channels. I’m able to edit and make or request changes if their are any but so far I’m really happy with the calendar.

I’ve also hired the team on SEO, this way I can rank in the search engines and pick up organic traffic. It’s early on but I didn’t exist at all digitally a few months ago and now if you google me I come up on the first page of results on several different results. I see it getting stronger week after week with more backlinks and directory submissions.

The goal is to make it easy for clients and potential clients to find me and it’s working. The lend a tremendous amount of value to my brand and growth. They are currently developing my digital ads for 2022 and making sure I’m well equipped all next year with high quality content.

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

I worked with a few of the members if their team and I am enjoying working with Benjamin, Bret, Joseph and the designers. They are a talented bunch who seems to really get what we need to do.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

I have found that immediately after starting working with Social Media 55 I began getting traction and people started reaching out and engaging with me regarding real estate. I have been able to develop leads out of this which lead to great profits. The team at Social Media 55 is passionate and quite experienced, thank you to Joseph, Bret, Fred for making this journey happen.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Thus far, my experience has been perfect. The team is incredibly organized and has everything clearly set out for us. The communication is quick and interactive. I'm never left hanging, in fact, the team seems to always be ahead of the curb. It's a great addition to my fast moving business.

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

What was most helpful is that they are able to handle design, advertising, content creation, SEO and so much more under one roof.

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

I still have room to better my profile and we are working and chipping at it everyday. I'm very pleased with the pace and results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Studio Cody Caissie is one of Montreal's top-rated eCommerce Product Photography & video production studios celebrating 11+ years in business, with 260+ Five-Star reviews online across three platforms. Cody Caissie, the Founder & Director of Production at Studio Cody Caissie.

For what projects/services did your company hire Social Media 55?

I hired Social Media 55 to handle our social media management and strategy. Now we have more time to dedicate to our core services of photography, videography and post-production editing for small, medium and large companies across Canada. We also have Benjamin at Social Media 55 overseeing our ongoing website maintenance and development. We have Social Media 55 handling our website updates, website security, website hosting, so we ensure reliability and speed.

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

I found Social Media 55 through Google search and selected them based on their authority, the creative projects they worked on, their clients and most importantly their customer relation intrigued was the best I had received. They made me feel like a part of their team vs a client.

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

Initially, we had Social Media 55 come up with a social media strategy for our FB and IG and that quickly also became LinkedIn. Social Media 55 has helped us automate our content and get some of our incredible pieces out on social. We have also had Social Media 55 help us set up and operate our funnels. We are testing some new looks right now for Instagram and we are constantly keeping our content fresh and they help us set all of this up.

In addition to social media our website which is our most important tool for our business is developed and maintained by Social Media 55. They do all the updates on WordPress, help us with our security and provide reports to us. They also recently switched our host/server to a more reliable and faster service provider, which saved us a whopping $3500 a year. We are getting a faster more reliable server at a fraction of the price. We also often need to develop new landing pages or configure a plug-in for the member's side of our site. They do it all and they do it well.

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

My first point of contact is Benjamin Ohayon who is the Project Manager and Joseph Rothstein, President. My 2nd point of contact is Bret Johnson, Head of Web.

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

The business has improved by over 50% year after year all while using the services from Social Media 55. They have been a great support and they have helped me scale my business. Our website and traffic have been high and yielding a great return.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow with the team is perfect, as requests are always answered quickly and they are completed with success. I can always count on them to get the one done right the first time.

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

What I find most impressive is their team has professionals in every area of digital marketing and web development and design. They quickly get the job done with a successful outcome and time after time. Over 4 years of perfect service, what else can I ask for?

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

I would have hired them for security, hosting, and web development on day one when I initially brought them in for social media.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a small local barbershop which has been around for over 40 years.

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Media 55?

Though we have a good location and existing clientele, it's difficult in our industry to get new clients to walk through the door. Our main concern was how to get more local people to book appointments and come to the shop. I already had a freelancer taking care of my basic marketing needs, but I decided to bring in Social Media 55 to take things to the next level.

What was the scope of their involvement?

My business is not active on social media, so the main goal is to create local awareness. Social Media 55 has proposed that I utilize local SEO and Google My Business. I don’t necessarily have the budget for a full-blown website development, but what I have seems to be working for now.

The team allows me to make use of one service at a time, kind of like letting me walk before I could run. This is an ideal arrangement since I have to stay within a budget. 

Social Media 55 sends me reports about my business’s SEO and updates me about how we’re performing on Google My Business. They upload geotagged pictures of our shop, which Google responds better to. Our website is as basic as it gets, but they make sure that we got the most out of it. 

They’ve also trained my staff on how to capture positive reviews and showed me on how to respond to negative ones. 

What is the team composition?

I work a lot with Ariane (Account Manager), but Benjamin (Co-Founder & VP of Operations) and Joseph (Co-Founder & CEO) are also always available when I need to speak to them. 

How did you come to work with Social Media 55?

Social Media 55 was referred to me by a friend who had dealt with them for multiple years. 

How much have you invested with them?

I spend about $1,500 a month on their services. For the past 24 months, I’ve spent around $36,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I've been with them for two years now since March 2019.  

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

Working with Social Media 55 has been amazing, and the results have been great. We're now at the top of Google search results in my area, which is great. The reports I get from Google My Business show that we are constantly getting a lot of activity, views, and searches — 20,000 month-over-month, to be exact. When I started with them, I only had 30 people viewing my profile or looking up my business. Even my friends whom I’ve spoken to have not gotten close to a thousand.

Social Media 55 has also helped us go from having two poor reviews to having 65 solid customer testimonials. To this day, they are still helping us capture reviews from our clients.

They’ve taught me so much and have given a lot of suggestions when it comes to marketing. They don't keep anything secret, Which I really appreciate. I know I would be able to do maybe half or 3/4 of the work that they're doing, but I don't have the time and I've come to enjoy working with Social Media 55. They’ve become really good friends through the years. 

How did Social Media 55 perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly communicate through email and phone. When I need something I usually text the account manager, and she responds right away. The team has given us access to our Google Analytics account, so we're able to check reports on the fly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've worked with other providers in other fields. For instance, I have suppliers of cutters, clippers, and other products. I'm not necessarily on a friendly basis with these suppliers, so it's always a joy to speak with Social Media 55. They have really set themselves apart. 

They really tailor their services to every single client they have. They've made me feel like I'm their only client because they've really given me a lot of attention. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's nothing I could think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let your guard down because Social Media 55 will never take advantage of you. Allow them to make suggestions because they're never going to push services that you don't need or can't afford. They will always have something for any type of budget.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Health Care technology company in the process of rebranding and launching our 2021 software. Chief Marketing Business Development Officer

For what projects/services did your company hire Social Media 55?

We are a healthcare technology company. Our initial services from Social Media 55 were to provide a strategy for SEO and social media. We had them completely redesign our coming soon page and all of our social media and SEO. Social Media 55 has been producing all of our website copy and helping us prepare for our software launch.

They have had a great back and forth communication throughout this building process and they delivered everything on time so far. We needed to optimize all our social media pages with custom banners and they created an entirely new updated look for us. We are doing regular posting and engagement services and working on a lot of content development. All areas where we were lacking.

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

We searched for top digital marketing agencies and interviewed a couple. They were the best all around fit and they offered everything we were looking for.

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

After our kick off meeting Social Media 55 ran a market analysis for us marking out all the areas we were able to penetrate. They immediately redesigned our landing page for our software launch and dealt with all the copy for the site and backend. They handled title tags and meta tag descriptions and organized them in Excel files so they’d be easy to apply to the site. They created all of our branding kit, sales collateral, and other design and strategy needs we had. The project is ongoing and everything is running smoothly.

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

We have been working directly with Benjamin has been our account manager Bret on web development, Fred on design a copywriter and Joseph for strategy.

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

Our original landing page had content that was not relevant and the design had an awful experience. Our current page has great design, a nice user experience a call to action and it is stacked with relevant content. We see it working well on google now. We are pleased with all the social media collateral. It’s elevated our brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is regular daily communication. We use slack and email to communicate and we have weekly meetings by phone and sometimes additional zoom meetings.

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

Social Media 55 is equipped with great talent in many areas of marketing. They are the perfect solution for a growing business.

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

They are adapting to our needs well so no they are doing just fine.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Optique de la madeleine is one of Paris's leading optometrist retail stores. We offer premium prescription lenses and high-end frames. We have been servicing Paris for over a decade. My position at Optique de la Madelaine is President.

For what projects/services did your company hire Social Media 55?

We hired Social Media 55 back in 2014 to assist us with our Facebook and Instagram Marketing. Since then, we have grown multiple accounts following and have increased our customer base year after year. Social Media 55 helped us with content creation, strategy, content scheduling, and graphic design. In addition, they have been running very sophisticated ad campaigns around holiday seasons for the past several years.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to elevate our branding, increase exposure, start to have a real presence on social media with a professional look, and to increase revenue. We wanted to look more aggressive than the competition on certain channels.

How did you select Social Media 55?

We wanted a North American leading agency. We did not want to work with an agency in France due to language limitations here. Social Media 55 really stuck out to us because not only did they offer service in English but they are perfect in French as well.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Social media 55 created a strategy for us. Once we all agreed on that strategy, Social Media 55 began creating designs for us. Once we developed a fair amount of content, we began using them to post to our Social Media and to create our Ads campaign with their Ads team.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a few different departments on their team. We worked with a Social media manager, a graphic designer, an Ad specialist, and a web developer for our landing pages. For the most part, we are in direct contact with our Account Manager that is available 7 days a week.

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

For starters, after years of running these campaigns, we are fortunate to have adopted well over 1000 new clients due to their initiatives. Our accounts look spectacular, professional, and have all the information you need. They helped us grow our Instagram following to over 5000 followers and put us in contact with specific celebrities, and public figures.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with Social Media 55 makes the entire process an absolute breeze. They are always available to us and bring so much value and ideas to the table.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Social Media 55 feels like they are an extension to our team. No matter what business we would get into next, they would be part of our team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I cannot think of anything, they have done a wonderful job so far! 6 years and counting!

Please describe your company and your position there.

Just Toys International is a toy company that licenses and manufactures toys, collectables and novelty items, including great toys for Minecraft, Kirby, Sonic, Dragon Ball Z and more.

For what projects/services did your company hire Social Media 55?

Social Media 55 was hired for multiple purposes. They built us a new website, featuring an online company store. They also managed our social media marketing plan, with paid and organic posts, including design, content and management of posts.

What were your goals for this project?

New website, company store, greater social media presence, consistency in social media, and greater reach, interaction, and converted sales.

How did you select this vendor?

I researched multiple social media companies. I found Social Media 55 in the top 10 or top 20 in almost every article I read. I interviewed them, as well as other companies. They weren't the most expensive nor the cheapest, but they genuinely seemed excited and interested in our business.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

To design and create content for social media posts, both paid ads and organic posts. We wanted to stay true to our brand and our licenses. We wanted to gain more attention to our brand and products and educate our fans and genres about us, as well as increase sales and conversions.

We also wanted to completely rebuild our company website and include a company store online. Social Media 55 has done all of the above so far.

What was the team composition?

I've worked closely with a few specific people, but they've been very quick to respond and act, as well as be patient with our ever-changing business and opinions, as well as a fast learning curve to understand our brand and company in order to implement changes that suited our "feel" immediately.

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

Like I said, they've been very patient with our feedback, or lack thereof at times, as well as quick to respond and make changes on the fly when needed. We've relied on their expertise for social media, at the same time, they've listened to our input and feedback as well. It's been a good working relationship.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Great. Easy to comprehend and very transparent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They ranked very high in reviews and lists of top social media companies, and I think it is because of their willingness to stand their ground with their expertise, but also a willingness to listen and respect their clients opinions and stances. Very accomodating, but not a pushover.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We did feel their initial designs were lacking in imagination or they just didn't quite understand our brand at first. But they learned quickly and made changes to accomodate quickly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a co-founder of a content production company. We produce corporate and strategic content for B2C and B2B companies and brands. Since we’re still in the early years, I wear lots of hats like producer, director, content strategist.

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Media 55?

Every market, be it Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, or Chicago is going to be quite competitive nowadays. Understandably, video content is huge, and a lot of companies need it. We needed Social Media 55 to improve our SEO rankings, since that wasn’t something I prioritized when I was building the company initially. They’ve given us valuable advice regarding what sites to invest in and how to get reviews from customers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re very much on top of the trends in the industry. They’ll tell us what components we have to add or how many reviews we need for people to be able to find us and stay competitive in the rankings.  We started by building up our reputation on different platforms and revamping our content and content titling. They’ve also helped us grow our brand value, reach, and lead generation efforts.

Initially, they started by learning as much as possible about our industry so that they could best position us. We had a few meetings where Joe (Founder, Social Media 55) invested the time to learn about our industry and the keywords we liked.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Joe and Ben (VP, Social Media 55), who’s an old friend of mine. I’ve watched Joe kind of bring him into the industry. They’re very responsive.

How did you come to work with Social Media 55?

I've been producing content online since the late nineties, so I’ve been very plugged-in to what's happening online, who's pushing, and who's growing. Joe is out there with a brand that means ‘relentless effort.’ He’s transparent and he offers value. When I met him in-person after following his career for a few years, I saw that he actually cared about his clients.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2015.

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

It's hard to find an exact day or date to pinpoint their influence, but what I can say is that we haven’t left them in our four years of working together. They’ve delivered consistently increased visibility for us. We actually just hit 1,000 followers on LinkedIn today. Joe’s business development advice and support have been great as well. He knows how to do the right stuff.

How did Social Media 55 perform from a project management standpoint?

Goal setting is, is a very important thing for Joe. He’s not one to do the minimum. He wants to do the maximum for his clients and he wants to steer them. You want to give him the best advice possible and that does mean setting goals, the measurable, attainable or even ambitious goals. Once he achieves them, he sets new ones. That’s one of the strongest parts of his value.  

Additionally, he's really good over the phone and really diligent with his emails. If it’s really an emergency, he'll reach me over Facebook Messenger. He's active on LinkedIn, as well. Joe lives for his clients so he’s available seven days a week and puts his clients before himself all the time.

I've seen him grow and I’m proud of him. He doesn't shy away from the phone or email. He's equally dexterous across all communication platforms.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'll reiterate it: the sheer devotion he has to his customers and accounts. He earns every penny that he charges, and he’s very fair. You can hear in his voice how much pride he takes in over-delivering and seeing his clients grow. Because of this, he’s learned about our industry and not given us cookie-cutter advice. Rather, it’s been a very customized and hands-on experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I thought they had tons to improve on, then I wouldn't be taking this call. All I'd like to see them improve on is to grow. I want to see the company scale.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve seen a lot of scamming social media companies out there that pander for the same SEO dollars. Joe is the real deal and runs a company that will put your money to use.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of my company. We’re a shop that sells and repairs mobile phones, TVs, and computers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Media 55?

I wanted to bring more people into the store but was busy repairing and managing the business. Since I’m not amazing with marketing, it was necessary to hire an agency.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Media 55 manages every aspect of my marketing and advertising strategies. First, their team directed our social media marketing strategy for platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. They also created my logo and helped develop my brand. As our engagement continued, Social Media 55 offered more services. Now, their team also manages all my graphic design needs. A large portion of their efforts involves Google, which has improved our online ratings.

What is the team composition?

Generally, I work with Joseph (CEO, Social Media 55). Sometimes I will deal with his partner or another gentleman too.

How did you come to work with Social Media 55?

A colleague recommended Social Media 55.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our engagement in August 2014, and it’s ongoing.

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

I’m extremely happy; they’ve done a great job. I’m not good at marketing so their team has taken a lot off my plate. Their services have definitely brought in more revenue than I’ve spent for them, which is why I continue to engage them. Their team helped improve our ratings on Google from 3.9 to about 4.9. Since working with Social Media 55, whenever I ask clients how they heard about the store they say Google. That used to never happen.

How did Social Media 55 perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate at least once a week. While Joseph likes to connect through e-mail, I prefer the phone. Despite their preference, Social Media 55 has accommodated my preference. One thing about Social Media 55 is that they’re always on time. If their team tells me to expect a product on the 14th, it will be ready on the 14th or the 13th.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The owner of the company is there for me. I’ve never seen an owner so involved in the day to day activities of their business. He’s available to help with anything I need. He calls to check that I’m happy, which makes me feel good. I’ve worked with companies in the past that felt more like a call center of employees who would pitch me different ideas. Unlike competitors, Social Media 55 is hands-on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m very happy with their service. If I could save money and receive the same service, I’d be even happier. They could improve on their prices, but you get what you pay for.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give their strategies as much time as possible to create returns. Hold on and stick with Social Media 55 because results don’t happen overnight.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a mobile gaming studio that makes titles for iOS and Android.

What challenge were you trying to address with Social Media 55?

We approached Social Media 55 to help us home in on our target demographic for one of our puzzle games. By leveraging their market research, we hoped to gain more installs for our games.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Social Media 55 has optimized our social ad campaigns to increase our organic reach and the number of game installs. Joe (COO, Social Media 55) oversees our Facebook and Instagram ads, aiming to boost visibility, followers, and page likes. In addition, he performs A/B testing on our creatives to see which assets are more effective. We then use that information to design better content.

What is the team composition?

I coordinate exclusively with Joe who does all of the work himself. He has always wanted to learn more about mobile gaming, and I appreciate how invested he is in our project. Every once in a while, he’ll even stop by the office to work with me on some of my challenges.

How did you come to work with Social Media 55?

I found them on Google. They were the top rated agency, and all of their reviews were positive. Joe also interviewed well, so I felt comfortable moving forward.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work started in December 2016 and is ongoing.

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

Our number of installs has gone up while our cost per install has decreased. It normally costs about $3–4 to convert a lead from Facebook, but Social Media 55 brought it down to under $2. Not to mention, Joe targeted users who were willing to spend more money once installing our game, so the quality of our traffic has increased remarkably. They’ve raised the average user spend to about $11 compared to the typical $7–8, resulting in a better bottom line.

How did Social Media 55 perform from a project management standpoint?

We speak 2–3 times a week over the phone, and Joe always responds no matter the time. In terms of budget, he usually provides conservative estimates and sometimes tries to be under budget to be safe. This helps us avoid hidden fees or surprise expenses.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with Social Media 55’s scope of knowledge when it comes to social media campaigns. Even though I’m certified through Facebook, Joe has still taught me little tips and tricks that I value tremendously. That’s why he’s still helping us with current projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve nothing to improve.