Choosing a new social media agency after being burned by our previous experiences …
We’re in the process of major growth at Carew Dental and this brings about a new phenomenon: actual diary space instead of 12 week waiting lists! So, it’s time to broaden our reach and recruit new patients: cue social media advertising, something we haven’t done before.
Last year we engaged an agency to overhaul our organic social media. However, early doors we felt we’d made a mistake with the agency, but as I’d signed a 12 month contract we had to roll with it.
The agency personnel were lovely, however, their promises didn’t materialise: there was zero dynamism, content wasn’t on trend, and the posts yielded very little engagement.
Imagine running a competition with a £445 prize, and only getting 76 likes!!!
I was dubious about engaging another agency so explored other options: manage in-house, recruit a part-time social media employee, use a freelance contractor, a dentistry-specific agency, or another general agency.
There are pros and cons with all of the above.
For managing in-house I think it depends a lot on your team – it can be dynamic and save a fortune. Not for us though, nobody on the team enjoys capturing content, editing, or graphic design. Plus, we have an added headache of our principal vociferously shunning any social media involvement, and the domino effect this has had on other team members.
I was weighing up all the options when fate intervened in the form of Nathan Renton from The Social Co. in Durham.
Nathan learnt about us through his friend who’d been to Carew Dental for treatment then documented her patient journey on TikTok. Seeing our dentistry and gorgeous practice, Nathan wanted to meet to see if we might work together.
We had a couple of meetings and liked The Social Co.’s work, the brands they worked with, and Nathan’s ‘can do’ approach. When considering options we were clear about our goals – lead generation and brand awareness with a modest spend. Discussing these aims with Nathan, he listened and came up with a plan:
- Paid social media with £1,000 per month advertising spend: this is 50% lower than the recommendation from our previous agency, however Nathan advised it would still offer us sufficient presence to generate new leads.
- Organic social media with a small Boost budget: for brand awareness, to support paid social media, and to increase engagement.
- Content creation days: where the headache would disappear as the Social Co. team would descend on the practice and shoot content.
- Influencer sourcing and management.
- Photoshoot for stock imagery: desperately needed for our new website!
- A 6-month contract rather than the standard 12-months.
I liked the idea of a short contract and smaller budgets, it felt like a way to trial paid social media advertising without committing to a lengthy engagement or a huge spend. Plus using Meta Pixel we would track traffic and new business conversions.
Next, I costed the spend if we engaged The Social Co. vs other agencies, a freelancer, or a new recruit, and The Social Co.’s management fees weren’t off the scale.
I was tempted, but having previously signed up to an expensive 12-month contract, having no experience of working with the agency, I’ve learned my lesson and won’t be repeating that!
So, as part of de-risking decision making, we decided to work with The Social Co. on a one-off project. We contracted them solely for the stock imagery photoshoot. Nathan instantly sprang into action and made it happen at extremely short-notice. He organised the photographer, Sean, and briefing meetings, the experience was exceptional.
Unfortunately, photoshoot day went terribly wrong on a personal front as my son, Alfie, was hospitalised with a deep vein thrombosis and neither him nor I could attend (see #19 When the team steps up). Yet, Sean was amazing and didn’t flinch at the chaos; producing over 100 outstanding photos, all edited and uploaded a couple of days after the shoot. I was seriously impressed!
Next, Nathan pipes up with a collaboration; Carew Dental X House of Zana Workwear – the new Figs scrubs of the UK – and before we know it we’ve got another exciting photoshoot planned!
He’d really shown us how The Social Co. operate and their energy was marvellous! Persuaded, we decided to give them a go.
With Nathan’s habitual gusto we had an onboarding meeting with himself and the key personnel running our account, then a sub-meeting with the lead designer. Everybody was focussed on understanding the Carew Dental brand, our vibe, goals, and discussing in detail how they would achieve desired results.
Another meeting with initial designs and the first content calendar, then full steam ahead!
Our first Carew Dental X The Social Co. post went live on Instagram and Facebook on Friday 06 September and they just keep rolling them out, the paid posts are due to start next week.
Notice the number of likes on that first post … rather higher than the competition one 😅👀
I’m massively excited about this relationship. The content creation days sound like an absolute blast, and I think it will be great fun working with influencers too. Our Carew Crew are high-energy and passionate about dentistry and customer experience, combine this with the young, dynamic and passionate team at The Social Co. … I reckon we’re set to take our social media to another level 💥💥💥
JOANNA CAREW 
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