Social Made Simple

Lance Hood (FranPro) 0:09

Hi , everyone , welcome . Today I have Corey Cotnoir , the COO of Social Made Simple . Corey , welcome to the call .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 0:17

Thank you for having me .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 0:19

Well , Corey , can you share a little bit about Social Made Simple and what you guys do ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 0:24

Certainly yeah . So , as the name dictates , we are in social media marketing . We were founded in 2009 . At the time of our inception . We were founded as basically a software platform and , again , as the name indicates , with the intention of simplifying social media marketing for , at that time , small and medium sized businesses , so the SMB space . In our brief tenure , early on in our first few years , we eventually rolled out managed services , which saw us essentially begin providing scheduled post content management , content creation as well as paid advertising for our client base . And about 2018 is when we began our fairly aggressive push into the multi location and franchising space and in that time we've seen our best growth historically to date . So from a very high level .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 1:15

You know , in that realm and in that space , in the franchise world , and obviously that's why we're here today how we work is we prefer to work across a national corporate brand , but really our services are for local franchisees , we work in local markets .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 1:29

That's one of the key distinctions of our service offering and you know we do a lot . We still have our software platform where you sign up , log in , use our platform to manage your own social marketing campaigns and programs . But again , our kind of key distinction as a business is we do it all for you . It's kind of as much or as little involvement that the small business owner or franchisee owner would like to have . We handle end to end . All of your social media marketing needs fall in house from our own team fully assigned out with client success managers . They are your core point of contact . You know end to end , always available support . So basically , you know we'll get into some of the detail but if you think about , you know needing social media marketing , we're kind of that one stop shop for that in the franchisee and franchise or space .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 2:17

Yeah , well , I could see how it'd be helpful to have somebody who's worked with talking with corporate to make sure that you get this true . You know message out the way you want it and then it's able to be replicated . You know , across stuff Are you able to take , like , if you're working with one franchisee , you can like learn from that and then apply that to the next franchisee of the same brand so that you can hit the ground running ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 2:42

Yeah , that's exactly right .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 2:44

That's why it's so compelling for these efforts in this space , because really , if we're working with a single location , small business , what we're trying to do in that case is pull from other similar businesses , but in a lot of cases they might have a different menu , they might have different services , a different brand , a different client base , but when we work with that one unified network , nearly all learnings can are applicable in some way , shape or form across their entire nationwide or even international network . So everything we're doing is , you know , data supported , we're leveraging the heck out of everything that we have and that we generated . The longer we're with brands , the more intimately we know every last detail about their target market , their customer , the buyer journey , you know how their consumers are behaving in the social space . So it really is exponential in terms of how much more powerful our services become when we do work across larger networks like that . And then , of course , having we are pretty good at bridging the gap .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 3:39

I know a lot of people listening to this can probably test you . Sometimes franchise or franchisees have a bit of a gulf between how they perceive maybe their marketing efforts or what's you know working and not working in that space and we're , we feel , I think , a nice void in that sense and that we're relaying the corporate's needs and demands , but also we're catering more directly to what the franchisee needs in their local market to get more business .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 4:03

What would you say is kind of your differentiator with other people that might do local marketing for a franchise ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 4:09

Yeah , great question . So I think what you'll see in our space our biggest competition we're working with clients and attempting to , you know , sign on new brands . More often than not , they're always working with a software competitor , where the key differentiator there is , you know that's a in many cases slightly more affordable not always because we are a very affordable services company but the problem with that is you don't get great adoption . You might get every franchise a seat on a platform where they can log in . They can maybe even access a shared library of posts , but in order for their social to actually work for them in a local market , they need to do it . They need to log in , they need to schedule the content that they want that may be more localized , more user generated . They need to probably manage their own ad campaigns or at least supplement what corporate might be providing . So really our differentiator is that we do all of that completely for you . You can pretty much sign up with us , talk to us a few times and then , if you'd prefer it , you know not , talk to us again and we'll handle your social end to end .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 5:12

So the other piece if you find a brand like us that actually offers that managed services element is we are at the lowest end of affordability comparatively . Most often you're going to find an agency marketing agency level type of commitment . Financially that is usually not feasible for franchisees who you know . Again , that's what we're founded as service servicing small businesses and people with that small business mindset . They don't have an indisposable amount of income to just a revenue I should say , just to kick around to marketing . Marketing efforts have to work on a local level and agency environments usually require really really large upfront investments . So we fill that sweet spot between software that can be low cost but harder to get you know success , versus the other end of the spectrum of expensive marketing agency type projects and commitment . So we kind of fill that void in between of affordability but with results .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 6:08

Nice and do you have any stories of you don't have to mention company names specifically , but any stories that you can talk about how your services have made a difference ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 6:19

Yeah , yeah , we have a bunch and just it's worth mentioning before I get into specifics or two . On our website we have a resources tab that has a case studies page . On that case studies page you can basically see a bunch of brands as well as some industries and verticals where we've had success , with a lot of details , statistics , metrics , testimonials . So if anyone's curious , have they worked with a brand in my space ? Go to that page and you'll likely find something you're looking for .

Success Stories and Free Pilot Program

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 6:46

So one of our biggest success stories is a fitness franchise . I won't mention the brand , but they have nearly 600 active locations . We are a required vendor for every one of their active franchisee markets . So we work with every single location across the country , even internationally . We work in both a franchise development effort for their corporate team finding the new franchisees we found the master franchisors and multiple new country markets . But then in a local market we have been a key staple of their success . So we run lead generation campaigns in all of their territories . Those are geo-fence that we don't overlap with competing franchisees nearby . Our target is a $15 cost per lead . Over the last six or seven years we've been working with them . We've repeatedly delivered and hit those targets on a consistent basis and on average across all markets . Some of the most important metrics there our leads In our efforts , actually account for over 30% of all of that brand's new memberships . And then an even staggeringly high number more staggering high number is over 80% of the brand's leads come from our direct social media marketing lead gen campaign . So , um , if you kind of zoom out a little bit , we are at this point a really critical staple of their , their business operational unit . Um , you know , pull out social marketing , whether it's , as you know , social made simple or just social in general , and that brand has a lot of ground to make up in terms of , you know where they're getting their new revenue sources from , and and kind of their lead gen funnel . So , in the fitness space , that that work scales across really any other fitness vertical .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 8:24

Um , we also have a ton of success in home services space . Um , we have a large uh lawn care franchise that has over 250 plus locations . We generate sub 30 dollar cpls . We account for over 25 percent of or , I'm sorry , 25 percent of our leads convert into sales for them . Um , they have a seasonality to it , so we work around that . We don't , you know , have them in annual contracts for the run , in lead gen campaigns for lawn care in the winter . Um , so really we are pretty well catered . I think the the key takeaway here , ultimately , is that we become , you know , a core business unit for a lot of these brands when they're fully integrated like this . Um , we find that our team almost serves as a marketing arm of their own corporate and local , you know , franchise network nice and you , um , can you so say ?

Lance Hood (FranPro) 9:14

somebody want there's a link here people can click on and go check out your business , do you ? Um is what would be the general process of somebody getting started ? You said that you know , obviously there's a software and you have the managed service so you can just manage it for them . What would kind of be the process of , uh , getting started using the managed service ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 9:33

Yeah , yeah , great question . So the most appealing way is something we offer that is Almost unheard of in a managed services space , in an agency environment , which is a completely free pilot program most of the time . If you'll see that on a website they hear me say that or hear us say that they think , sure , what's the catch ? There really is no catch . Um , it's a 90 day , so three month , pilot program . The requirement is that that we work with a corporate point of contact , so someone on the marketing team marketing director , marketing manager , cmo , wherever that might be , someone who's a decision maker around , uh , whether social marketing is a need for that brand , um , and then that we work with five franchisee locations , so it doesn't have to be actual franchisees . It could be one franchisee that owns five locations . But we really want five locations and , like I said , five franchisees . The most important part there is we won't do it if the franchisees are not engaged . We're obviously footing the bill here . That includes no management fee and we also cover up to 185 dollars per month Per location in ad spend . So three months completely free out of pocket , not a dollar , um , a commitment from the brand . We just asked for time . We want to make sure that we aren't running a , you know , a pilot program for a brand that maybe was just looking for three months of Free marketing . They need to be invested in working with us , giving us feedback . Is this working ? Is it not working ? Um , how are you perceiving the results ? How can we tweak and improve the results At the end of the 90 days ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 10:56

You know we would have provided terms up front , prior to the pilot . Here's what this would look like , cost wise . After the fact , you know , uh , negotiating kind of different variables about how a program might shake out and then after the 90 days , if it works , we move to a contract . If it doesn't work , you know you're on your way and , um , no harm done . So that's our .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 11:15

You know the the most common way that brands would come to us there is , we typically on board about three new pilot programs per month . Um , because of that we kind of cap it and we have , like a right now , a few months worth of a backlog of pilots waiting to come on . Um , so if brands want to sort of skip the line , so to speak , we can just go right to a Signed program and doesn't ? There are no requirements there , it's just negotiating up front what that looks like and Jumping straight in um . Our launch and onboarding process for that is obviously shortened in that point . Um , depending on what the needs are , how big the brand is , how many locations are bringing on , you could expect , uh , no longer than 30 days , probably something between two weeks and and 30 days , um , in terms of a launch turn around , if we skip the pilot .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 12:02

All pretty incredible , like what you're just talking about here with getting people going , and there I mean you're really putting yourself out there . So that's a lot of confidence in what you're doing and those numbers of $15 a lead were pretty impressive .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 12:17

Yeah , the pilot program has been instrumental in our success as a business in getting new brands in the door . I mean , look , we understand the space and the challenge . It's not easy for a decision maker at a corporate level to kill off a vendor contract they currently have and jump over to one that's sort of unvetted , that they're unsure of , especially in the services space . Nobody offers free trials because it's basically , you know , human capital . We have to dedicate people to your work to make sure that this works for you and you can understand how that goes . So it's not easy for us to do that , but it's absolutely worth it because we , you know , you can only trust a salesperson so much when you talk to them and trust us . It's going to work and , believe me , this is going to work . You still have to understand and know that it's going to be what you're looking for before you go sign an annual contract and , you know , commit resources and time and money to a service offering .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 13:09

So it was a no brainer for us .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 13:10

It was just about . You know , from my perspective , my job is trying to make sure that we can make it work operationally and it's become an absolutely fantastic program . You know , we have amazing feedback , even for the brands that come on and don't end up signing on . There's still obviously very appreciative of the work and the effort we put in and more often than not it's sort of maybe just not the right timing or , you know , they'll come back to us at some point in the future when the timing is better . So , yeah , pilot program is something I definitely would strongly encourage people to reach out about . We also have a lot of people that ask you know if it's a franchisee that maybe has a couple franchisees but they're not sure they can get corporate buy in . Just reach out to us and we can see what we can do and how we might be able to work through , you know , some more customized approaches to getting some of that look and feel of pilot without kind of hitting all the requirements of our pilot program .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 14:00

And what can people do on their side to kind of shorten the process of getting things rolling and operating ? I mean , it sounds like you do most of it , but is there anything that they can do to help ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 14:11

Yeah , it's a great question . There's kind of two things that stand out . So this is for the pilot program , but also really just in general . Getting page access to over to us is actually it sounds simple , stupid , but it's actually the hardest thing . Facebook makes it incredibly challenging nowadays .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 14:27

Many of you probably are aware at this point that they've had their troubles as a brand largely around data security , privacy , all those things . So they've kind of locked down how you can provide page access to third parties . So because of that , it's got to jump through a few hoops in order to get an agency like us access to all of the pages we need access to . So in some cases , a franchisee might have made their page 10 years ago . They have no idea who owns it , how to locate it . So we do everything we can to try to help franchisees and franchisors find that access and hand that over to us , but prior to joining . That's something that would save a ton of time and allow us to really jump straight in . If you give us page access on day one , that can sometimes take weeks for people to track down . They got to work with meta support etc , etc .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 15:14

The other part is asset providing us with assets . So obviously we don't have access to if you have a restaurant and you're in the food space , we don't have your menu photography , we don't have the assets and videography of your services and products . So having a library of that available to us , we do work with assets . We'll edit them , we'll beat them , we'll cut video , we'll superimpose graphics , text , put offers on images , we'll handle all that . But we really need the raw assets up front in order to make sure we can get things out the door .

Launch Brand Campaign and Access Corporate Assets

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 15:49

Any delays there or if there's not a lot of assets available that can delay the process , just because we need to make sure we're not going to launch a campaign that isn't going to look good , isn't going to be brand consistent , and a lot of times franchisees may not have access to a full corporate library or maybe they're not totally familiar with where they can get that . So those two things I'd say are the ones that jump out page access and then photography , videography , corporate brand assets would be the other one .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 16:14

Well , perfect . Well , thank you , Corey , I really appreciate you and I'm very excited everybody you can go to the link here https://Franpro . vip/GoSocialMadeSimple and go check out Social Made Simple . Do you have any other thing that you want to leave everybody with ?

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 16:31

No , I appreciate the time today . I'm really excited to see any inquiries we have , what kind of interest level people have . We attend a lot of the franchise conferences nationwide , so if anyone here is frequently attending things like the IFA , the multi-unit conference , we attend a lot of brand conferences , so feel free to always reach out . We're around , we try to get our brand out in front of everybody and then , like I said , jump on to that pilot program . It's no obligation , no catch , and it really is a fantastic way to just get a bit of a taste of what we offer and how it can work for you and your brand .

Lance Hood (FranPro) 17:09

Thanks , Corey .

Corey Cotnoir (SocialMadeSimple) 17:10

Yeah .