How Freeway PHX Doubled Their LinkedIn Metrics with CPG Synergy’s Social Media Strategy

Overview

Freeway PHX is your on-ramp into Arizona’s startup community, aiming to become the most accessible large-market startup ecosystem in the country. Led by founder Daniela Santangelo, a two-time founder, community leader,mentor, and proud mom of two. Freeway PHX connects founders, investors, and jobseekers in the Phoenix area.

With Freeway’s bi-annual Tech Talent Summit right around the corner, Daniela was juggling everything from event planning to vendor coordination, and social media promotion often took a back seat. She needed an effective way to share Freeway PHX’s mission online, to bring the community together.

The Challenge: Setting Social Media Standards

In today's fragmented attention economy, building a social media presence that genuinely engages and fosters community is more challenging than ever.While many business owners rely on tools like Canva to get started,these tools often become crutches to growth shortly after. While it may take just 30 seconds to use a Canva template, it takes the average video editor upto 120 hours to edit a single 10-minute video on YouTube. This stark contrast highlights the dilemma brands face: how to create engaging content without overextending their resources.

Understanding this challenge, the key for any brand entering social media is to differentiate without wasting resources. To achieve this, you need to find a healthy balance between content creation difficulty and production costs, exactly what we did for Freeway PHX.

To start, Freeway PHX aimed to increase event awareness and promote the upcoming Tech Talent Summit within the Phoenix startup ecosystem, testing what content resonated with their audience. Faced with limited resources and then eed for a scalable, authentic social media presence, they required a strategy that could deliver impactful results without overextending their capabilities.

In response to these challenges, CPG Synergy developed a customized solution that leveraged authentic founder-led content while balancing differentiation and content costs.

Campaign Goals

To address these challenges and achieve their mission, Freeway PHX established the following campaign goals:

• Drive event awareness and engagement on LinkedIn through short-form content and authentic posts.
• Highlight jobs, events, and industry news to showcase Freeway PHX's value as the hub and startup activator in Phoenix.
• Encourage community members and key leaders through personal business development to share and promote content, driving community engagement.
• Boost ticket sales for the Tech Talent Summit by creating promotional content for the event.

Our Solution: Balancing Differentiation & Content Costs

At CPG Synergy, we specialize in crafting authentic social media strategies that deliver results. Recognizing Freeway PHX's unique needs, we began by:

• Reviewing Freeway PHX's existing strategy to identify areas for improvement. We noticed that founder-led content outperformed all other posts and text-based copy. With an average engagement rate of less than 4% on most posts, we saw significant room for improvement.
• Developing content processes tailored for a one-person team or multiple freelancers to ensure consistency and efficiency in content creation and distribution across all channels, allowing for future revisions and automation.
• Testing various content types to determine what resonated most with the target audience, allowing us to decide what to double down on. We used Instagram as a test channel to see which creative would perform better on LinkedIn.

Campaign Execution: Leveraging Founder-Led Content and Building Community Engagement

Armed with valuable insights from our analysis and testing phase, we strategically executed the campaign by focusing on the following key areas:

Founder-Led Content

Recognizing the power of a authenticity, we prioritized founder-led content. Leveraging Daniela's unique voice and expertise, we created authenticand relatable content that resonated with the community. Instead of providing the usual scripts or step-by-step processes, we guided Daniela through an understanding of the subjective metrics and practices on social media to create a more personable brand voice.

Content Process Development

To streamline operations, we established a content calendar and a process to approve videos or suggest recommendations to send back to the video editor or other team members. This allowed for efficient communication and ensured consistency in content delivery.

Community Engagement

We activated community members and key leaders by having Daniela conduct business development to share and engage with Freeway PHX's content. This amplified its reach organically and built habit-forming practices with community members to engage with her content more frequently.

Event Promotion

Doubling down on promotional content for the Tech Talent Summit, we created short-form promos, recap and testimonial videos for the summit, and helped craft a video campaign in conjunction with targeted email messaging andfunnels to drive ticket sales.

Results: Achieving Rapid Growth in Key Metrics

By implementing these focused strategies, we witnessed incredible outcomes. Our strategic approach led to significant improvements across LinkedIn and other channels.

Campaign Performance

Our campaign efficiency was evident through impressive advertising metrics.

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): 3.5x
• Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM): $3.71
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): $2.20‍

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Social Media Metrics

The impact on social media was substantial:

• Total Organic Impressions: 29,505
• Average Engagement Rate: 13.8%
• Total Engagement Metrics vs. Competitors: Increased by 180%
   
  • New Followers: Up by 23.5%
   
  • Comments: Up by 185.2%
   
  • Reposts: Up by 104.8%
   
  • Reactions: Up by 162.8%

Email Marketing Metrics

Our email campaigns also saw significant improvements:

• Click-Through Rate (CTR): 16.93%
• Click Rate: 6.4%

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Why It Worked: The Power of Authentic Content

These incredible results weren't by chance. Our approach tapped into something fundamental: the power of authenticity. By putting Daniela's voice at the forefront and enhancing her time spent on content creation, we built trust and fostered a genuine connection with the audience.

While many agencies automate processes by creating scripts, filming creative content, or conducting business development themselves, this approach is counterintuitive early on. It severely limits your growth potential and creates an artificial barrier to success. Our years of experience consistently show that authenticity is the number one metric for success on social media.The results aren’t just marginal, they're significant.

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Key Takeaways

• Authentic Content: Humanizes the brand and builds credibility. Create raw, unedited or lightly edited, selfie-style short-form videos sharing your passion and thoughts.
• Community Engagement: Amplify your reach through shared networks and build habit-forming practices that drive engagement. Conduct personalized outreach and business development to your followers and personal network, asking them to share your content with their audience. Create short-form video messages to personalize outreach.
• Consistent Improvement: Keep the audience engaged, informed, and eager for more. Focus on improving content quality and subjective content metrics over posting daily.

Moving Forward: Scaling Success

With these solid foundations, Freeway PHX is well positioned to sustain and accelerate its online growth. The scalable system we implemented ensures that, even with limited time, maintaining an active and engaging social media presence is not just feasible, it's one of the most powerful drivers for ongoing business success.

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Looking to Double Your Engagement?

Ready to take your social media to the next level? Contact us today, and let's start building your success story.

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About CPG Synergy

CPG Synergy specializes in authentic social media strategies, content creation, community engagement, and influencer marketing. Our expertise helps startups and businesses amplify their message, engage their community, and drive measurable results. We provide you with the resources, tools, and guidance you need to grow your business, not just what you want.

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