Socium Media
Jul 08, 2020 | Company News

A New Layer for Company Culture

What a time!! Through all of the events happening in the world, one thing will already remain true: Our employees are the most important asset to our company. When we moved into our new office on Broadway and Canal St. in December 2019, a few new rituals quickly started to emerge. To name a few:

  • Finger snaps for a nice job/thank you shout-out during our weekly Monday team meetings.
  • Everyone sitting together at the lunch table with our office lunch stipends.
  • The Sonos frequently playing and usually headlining with our favorite soundtrack, ‘A Star is Born’.
  • Everyone graciously accepting office basketball 10-shot challenges (sorry, David you’re still worst in the office).
  • Daily barista practices with our new espresso machine. Goal: transforming foam into art.

Since day 1, we had a vision of creating an amazing in-office culture. March 10th hit and things changed… FAST. We’re now all virtual. But how do we continue to pave the way forward? Below are a few themes of what we have identified to keep everyone winning, especially our growing culture, during this time:

Be There as a Human Being

We are all listening to the news and dealing with even more personal matters than ever before. As business leaders, it is our responsibility to spend time with everyone and really learn how each individual is doing at a more personal level and how we can support. Setting up video conference 1:1’s, even just a simple ping on Slack to let team members know that you are thinking of them goes a long way.

Overnight, we can understand that some team members were all placed in a work from home set-up that was less than ideal. We’ve sent out desk chairs, headsets, extra monitors, you name it, to make sure that our team is set-up for success in their new home office.

Remain Committed to What You Believe In

Black Lives Matter

We support the Black Lives Matter movement. If anyone who wants to be involved in protests or feels like they haven’t been very “present” at work is recommended to take as much time off as they need. As a company, we made a donation + 100% company match to https://8cantwait.org/. This nonprofit brings immediate change to police departments with methods backed by data. As a company, we feel that the analytical side is similar to how Socium operates from a digital marketing perspective. We also strongly believe there needs to be an action around policy adoption to prevent and decrease unnecessary police violence.

As an Agency, We Are Still Your Partner

There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty right now. We have done a great job as a company to put ourselves in our client’s shoes and come up with solutions on how to treat digital marketing during this time. Our quick out clause in our contracts allows flexibility to our clients, so they can easily pause their marketing spend without paying an agency fee, then quickly resume when their specific timing is right.

A Thoughtful Step Ahead

On March 10th, we declared that we WILL get back to our office as a bigger, more resilient company. Outside of adding new clients and team members, to name a few wins we have celebrated over the course of these 4 months:

  • Launched our new Case Study page.
  • Increased our number of Clutch reviews by 40% (4.9 out of 5 stars).
  • Created a new blog.
  • Initiated a new employee training program.
  • Extended the option to WFH through Labor Day, whether or not the office opens before then.

Keep The Team On Their Toes

We have strategist calls every week for account managers to trade ideas, feed off one another, and sometimes play virtual games (Jackbox Party Pack is popular). Goat-2-Meeting (not a typo) helped support Sweetfarm.org and bring some surprise farm friends to a team member’s birthday Zoom call. Virtual wine tastings by Argaux brought the team together most recently. One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we get is “missing the office”, so we try to stay creative and get as much “face time” as we can.

Our team is resilient, and I could not be any prouder. As always, our doors are open to any conversation. Whether you are a small business looking for a free consultation, a business owner looking for ways to motivate a team, or someone who just needs a call for reassurance that they are doing everything right, we are here and we are “in it” together. Keep pushing!

Sam Sherman