Welcome to the COSMarketing end-of-year recap! End-of-the-Year
Introduction & the state of affairs of online advertising in social media:
In 2022, marketing budgets soared to 9.5% of total company revenue. This is almost doubled since the pandemic. Online advertising has grown significantly across the board, especially on social media. Our agency took a similar approach this past year in increasing our marketing budget.
Our increase mainly was spent on the production of organic content. We decided to continue going 80% organic & 20% paid ads on social media. Since 2020 we have adopted an aggressive mostly video, reels, & stories campaign that is focused on engagements first.
We aren’t trying to reach any & everyone. We are adapting our content for our audience with the idea of connecting with them in a meaningful way.
This article details what worked for us in 2022 in terms of advertisement and branding. We will also go over our winning content strategy and talk about new equipment and software we were fortunate to purchase this year and the benefits of each. We will discuss some of our major milestones last year and how we plan to surpass that in 2023. Let’s all make 2023 full of wins!
How we reached hundreds of thousands of people on social media with little ad spend:
During 2022 we knew to grow long-term we had to ensure we could always bring our clients results. The majority of our clients are small businesses and “mom and pops” looking to outshine much larger competitors. Being a smaller company means you might have the heart and the mindset of a larger company but your budget might not be equal to theirs. If that is the case, what are your options? That brings us to our point in the intro. Organic marketing on social media can be a sound strategy if you are on a fixed budget and you want to get in front of the masses!
We believe in utilizing the same techniques that we do for our clients. Ethically and logically this makes sense. Our clients appreciate that we talk to the talk and we know that social media is surging, making it the common sense choice. A lot of industries are behind the 8 ball, making it a place of less competition than other marketing methods.
COSMarketing Agency’s organic content marketing strategy in 2022 involved posting 5-8 times per week (a lofty endeavor). We were able to do this through rigorous strategy and study. We planned out 2-3 months at a time to make sure content had a consistent flow. Every month we tracked our analytics on social media and paid close attention to our engagements and our reach more than likes and followers.
In past years likes and followers were important. These are now considered “vanity metrics.” This means today they are largely seen as a bonus but are not everything. In 2023, likes and followers will be far less important than ever before. What matters most is how many people are actively participating in your content, which is what is reflected in your “engagement” data. The ad dollars that we did end up using went to stay in front of our most active group of followers and collaborators and people in their circle. These are the most likely group of people to buy (and talk about) our services. By using this strategy our team was able to cut down on ad spending across most social platforms. Any ad spending increase came from new social media outlets we were trying out for the first time.
New equipment and software upgrades!
We tell our clients to reinvest resources into their internal infrastructure as often as they can. Anytime you can make your operations faster and more efficient it increases productivity and adds to your value. We do the same in our company. This year we invested heavily in new computers, laptops, tablets, & videography equipment. We finally got the GoPro we were eyeing for a long time. Now we can shoot photos and videos in various conditions, even underwater! This gives us more internal space, faster speed, and the ability to get content on the go anytime anywhere. As an agency that is focused so heavily on content, this was a game-changer for us!
As far as software goes we upgraded our editing capabilities. We now can edit amongst our team more efficiently as well. No need to wait to download files, put them in another system, and send them. We can sync everything together in one step. The efficiency of this will allow us to get out 2.5 – 3x the content in the same amount of time!
Videos and reels are easier to make for us than ever before. We can turn some of our older photo posts into moving images (short video clips) with a few simple clips, giving them new life! Because of this advancement at the end of 2022, we were able to officially launch our new TikTok channel! We are still developing this platform but so far this is on track to eventually be our most successful social media page before 2024!
Clients, prospects, and community outreach:
2022 was the year we stepped up our game in terms of local community outreach. We launched our Alignable and Next Door pages, which focus on an almost entirely local market. Central Florida was our main target range, with special attention on Apopka, Longwood, Winter Park, and Altamonte Springs. We’ve learned over the years most people do business with those they know, like, and trust. Local businesses tend to feel more comfortable with agencies in their area, making it easier for us to form relationships with them. We also joined several Facebook groups that cater to small business owners. We are proud to be many entrepreneurs’ #1 source for digital marketing information!
COSMarketing Agency’s client base almost doubled from 2021 to 2022, although volume alone wasn’t our goal. We are most proud of the kind of clients we onboarded this past year. The majority of our new clients brought us on to be growth partners. They made a strategic long-term decision to partner with our agency and trusted us to have their best interest in mind. Many of these companies are what one would consider “essential businesses.” Companies who provide a valuable needed service in the community. Some of these industries are Outdoor and indoor cleaning, pest control and lawn care, real estate, legal, and health and wellness.
In years past our agency was just happy to get someone on board. Now that we have been open for more than 4 years we are established enough to be strategic about who we work with. We prefer these essential businesses because we can always find clients online, even in the current recession we are in. No matter what happens with our economy, essential businesses will always be needed. If your plumbing doesn’t work, you’re calling a plumber real quick. If your property is infested with bugs, you are gonna call a pest control company. You get the point.
In 2023, we intend on going to more events and conventions in person, not just online. We were doing 1-3 events per year, we intend on upping that to 2-4 events this year. We will be announcing every event that we are attending weeks or months in advance to give you guys ample time to plan if you want to join us.
Conclusion and a taste of our 2023 plans:
In writing our COSMarketing end-of-year recap, we wanted to emphasize how much 2022 surpassed our wildest expectations. We increased our engagements and online reach significantly. We grew our client base and were able to reinvest in new equipment that will aid in every aspect of our company. Any new companies looking to jump on the bandwagon and work with us will reap the benefits.
In 2023 we have increased our pricing to accommodate more personnel and to raise ourselves to meet a higher level of clientele. Our ideal client is ideally in an essential business and is looking to make serious changes in their company. We no longer are looking to work with side hustles or companies not fully invested in their brand. Entrepreneurs who work with us must have a growth mindset.
If you cannot think big, we are no longer the company for you. This might sound harsh to some and appealing to others. If you are an “overachiever” you know what it’s like to put all the effort in and have the other people working with you never meet expectations or work on your level. Not with us. We work darn hard and we love what we do.
When we work with companies that are the same for their businesses too it makes working for them that much more rewarding. Our current body of clients understands the way we think and trust us to do the job because we’ve been tested through time and have earned their trust.
It’s never been a better time to work with COSMarketing Agency, a growing full-service digital marketing agency in Central Florida. We promise to deliver you access to the masses across all major social media and search engine platforms through high-quality content. We pride ourselves in custom posts and strategies that put you and your company at the forefront. Make your competitors wish they knew your secret sauce!
Don’t let 2023 pass you by. Make the right decision and invest in your brand! Call or text us today at 407-334-9378 or email us at COSMarketingAgency@gmail.com to book a no-cost assessment of your social media pages. Let’s create magic together, cheers!
