Socium Media

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of paid media for Canopy, a direct-to-consumer business that sells humidifiers in the beauty and wellness space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Socium Media?

We hired Socium Media to help launch our business. They handle all of our digital marketing efforts across Facebook, Instagram, and Google.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a strategy for paid advertising on social media and search engines. Since then, they’ve executed their strategy using Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads. They produce copy for ads in conjunction with the creative that we provide.

What is the team composition?

Sam (Co-Founder) is also on our calls every day, but we also work with an SEO expert, and an SEM expert. We also have an account lead who manages our Facebook and Instagram ads while a strategy leader analyzes our results and creates roadmaps for future endeavors.

How did you come to work with Socium Media?

I found them on Clutch. Leading up to the engagement, I considered about 40 different companies. After talking to Sam and Owen (Co-Founder), I was confident that they would be a great extension of our team. Their approach when working with startups aligned with my vision. They were very analytical and data-focused. The Socium Media team did a great job explaining how they were different than other companies in the market.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2020 and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched in October, and we’ve consistently outperformed our return on ad spend  (ROAS) goals by about 50% and have reduced our cost per acquisition. Our conversion rate is almost double what most other e-commerce businesses see. That alone is amazing for our business and will help us scale as we continue to grow. We love Socium Media.

How did Socium Media perform from a project management standpoint?

All of our communications are done over WhatsApp per our request. We also use Google Sheets and Google Docs to keep track of everything. They built a micro-site where we can manage and monitor our rankings over time. On top of that, they provide detailed custom reports for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re incredibly attentive. I’ve worked with a ton of agencies over the years who take 48 hours to reply to an email. Whereas I can reach anyone on the Socium Media team whenever I need to. For example, our Facebook Ad account was suspended on Thanksgiving, but three members of the Socium Media team were scrambling to help us get this count reactivated before Black Friday. That really stands out because they should have been spending time with their families. They stepped up to the plate when it mattered most.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any gripes with them. They’ve done a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Socium Media is very good at what they do, and they’re a perfect fit for startups given their flexibility. They’ve provided a white-glove experience. They’re as excited about our progress as we are.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I manage the performance marketing channels at my current role. My company works in the real estate sector, specifically in the office space vertical.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Socium Media?

The help scale and optimize our paid search platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

Increased conversion volume thats tied to higher quality while optimizing for increased efficiency simultaneously.

SOLUTION

How did you select Socium Media?

They were already in place when I started working here.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They handle a large number of campaigns for both our Google and Bing ad platforms. Because our business is setup in specific regions of the country, Socium has setup and maintained a granular "hyper local" account structure thats filled with nuance in order to meet our needs. They are constantly looking for new ways to add incremental value to our existing accounts while holding themselves accountable of their own work to ensure that they are executing towards our goals and expectations.

What was the team composition?

I work with two account representatives, this composition has not changed since my time here.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have been able to optimize successfully towards lower funnel conversion events which has been a huge lever in being able to grow our business. They have also been able to maintain the efficiency of this lower funnel event as we scale up our budgets.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very strong, we have a Slack channel that we are in constant communications through - as well as a weekly touch base meeting.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

That they are very focused on our business, and not merely trying to get us to spend without being able to justify it. They are also very open to suggestions and new ideas - which is not something all agencies are able to handle. They have great attitudes while they work on hefty projects that ultimately meet and often exceed our deadlines.

Are there any areas for improvement?

At times they could be a little bit more granular in some of the results that they show and speak to. But often they are willing to do this once requested.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Two Bridges is a nimble design studio based out of Denver, Colorado. We design what matters for people who care. We specialize in building brand identities, hand-drawn wordmarks, and bridging the gap between you and your clients through thoughtful design. My name is Wells Collins and I am the Creative Director of Two Bridges Design.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Socium Media?

We hired Socium 6 months ago to help improve our website's SEO. We wanted to rank for branding and graphic design keyword in our home city of Denver, CO. We also wanted to improve the language throughout the site.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to rank for branding and graphic design keyword in our home city of Denver, CO. We also wanted to improve the language throughout the site and flesh out the blog with relevant design industry articles.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Socium through a friend referral. After a great kickoff call we started with a three month trial and haven't stopped since. Socium was honest and transparent with what we needed and what we didn't.

Describe the project in detail.

After a thorough kickoff call we began with a full website audit to determine areas for improvement. Our first goal was to fix all of the language, page titles, and meta tags to improve SEO. The next step was to create a few landing pages relevant to our industry and location. Recently Socium has been an essential partner in reaching out to design blogs to inquire about guest blogging opportunities.

What was the team composition?

We originally talked with Socium co-founder Sam Serman and the SEO lead Ricky Weiss. Since the kickoff, we've had direct contact and a bi-monthly meeting with SEO lead Ricky to review our progress.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've begun ranking for design keywords and have moved up the list for Denver related searches. We have fleshed out our site with new landing pages, revised the copy and case studies, and added more links throughout to improve our bounce rate.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Socium Media team has been a pleasure to work with. SEO lead Ricky Weiss is a master of his craft. He's been very proactive in suggesting new angles to improve our site and has even been helping write guest blog posts in add backlinks to our site. We communicate on a bi-monthly basis bus the team is very responsive if we have any questions in between calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Aside from helping us build out our website to look more professional, they are constantly looking for ways to improve our keyword rankings and drive more high quality leads to our contact forms.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None at this time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior manager of web and digital for J. Press.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Socium Media?

Until I was brought on recently, we weren’t doing any digital marketing. We wanted to find a partner to help us launch it in a more significant way while growing our audience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I met with them, they provided a presentation on how we could best launch our digital marketing efforts. It included Facebook Ads, and PPC on Google, and Bing. We came into this project with a fairly low budget, but they’ve provided a great path to grow within that budget. We’re running retargeting and prospecting ads, and are running brand keywords. We’re also doing well on Google Shopping.

We provide content and they write the copy, which I generally only need to make minor edits to. They have a good understanding of what our voice is and what we need to focus on based on the season. They understand our brand very well, so they propose how to change up the ads and provide copy.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Sam (Co-Founder) and 2 other people. 

How did you come to work with Socium Media?

I found them on Clutch. I reached out to a few different agencies, but after meeting with them, they were the most engaged and knew what was essential within our budget. They’ve also worked with similarly size companies in the apparel industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $15,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020 and we continue to work with them. We started with a three-month contract, but have chosen to extend it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

 Our growth in traffic has been significant year over year, even considering the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s hard to compare because our physical stores aren’t open, but we’ve still exceeded last year’s sales numbers.  

How did Socium Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I met with them in person at first, but now that we’re social distancing, we have a phone call once a week through Google Hangouts. I’ll have another call with the owner to review how everything is going. That’s when we discuss overarching topics. Working with them is an easy process. They guide us and we make edits along the way. They’ve been a really great partner in that sense.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been really good about keeping this in our budget. Whereas, in past experiences, other companies really pushed us to spend more. They’re concerned with helping us grow and ensure that we’re comfortable for each step along the way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything at this time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the marketing manager and we offer women's clothing rentals for special occasions or everyday wear.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Socium Media?

We needed help with our paid marketing efforts, specifically, search engine marketing. We don't always have enough time to manage our campaigns, which is why we hired Socium.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Originally, we hired them for SEM, but we ended up expanding our relationship to programmatic, apple search ads, and display marketing. They mostly did strategy and audited one of our blogs for us as well.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Sam ( Co-founder). and two other account managers.

How did you come to work with Socium Media ?

We were referred through a mutual connection.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work helped grow our net new subscribers by 34% in Q4 2019. It was a big jump for us. They're very open to relaying ideas back and forth. They're great partners overall.

How did Socium Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We have constant communication every day through Slack. Every week we have status meetings, and we have a face-to-face meeting with them once a quarter. They're pretty much like a member of our team at this point.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're really open-minded and open to new ideas as well. A lot of times agencies follow what our recommendations are but they actually push back as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if their agency were bigger, but that's the only minor challenge we have with Socium.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have a plan before you start talking with Socium, including what are your challenges, what you want them to help you solve, and what recommendations you need on specific campaigns.