Drive Social Media Reviews
62% would recommend to a friend
(111 total reviews)
Josh Sample
65% approve of CEO
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Found 111 of over 116 reviews
Updated Dec 4, 2023
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Excerpts from user reviews, not authored by Glassdoor
- "Leadership has a lot of corruption, people are so mean to one another in the attempt to 'make them better'" (in 3 reviews)
- "Super toxic, upper management literally screams at employees until they cry in meetings." (in 3 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Drive Social Media and is not affected by filters.
- 5.0Oct 10, 2023Account ExecutiveFormer Employee, more than 1 yearSaint Louis, MO
Pros
PTO, Bonuses, coworkers, amazing clients, enjoyable work
Cons
At times it can be long hours when things go wrong, but that's life. Parking isn't paid Comp could be better
- 5.0Aug 29, 2023Account ExuctiveFormer Employee
Pros
Unrivaled Growth Opportunities: Drive Social Media is the ideal place for anyone genuinely looking to advance their career in social media marketing. I personally left a year ago because an unparalleled position opened up elsewhere, but it wasn't because Drive lacked opportunities. It's just that the specific role I was looking for wasn't available at the time. Challenging yet Rewarding: Yes, there is a lot of work, but it's the kind that sharpens you. While I've heard some "woke" individuals complain, if you're looking to genuinely learn and deliver top-notch services to clients, this is your place. If you're looking for a breezy 9-5 where your input isn't pivotal, this might not be your jam. Diverse Client Portfolio: Working with a broad range of clients offers invaluable experience. It’s like a crash course in handling diverse accounts, and this experience is gold in the industry. Committed Team: The colleagues here are second to none. The bonds formed here, given the collaborative nature of the tasks, are strong and lasting.
Cons
Not for Everyone: This place demands your best, always. It's not for the faint-hearted or those looking for an easy ride. It's rigorous, but the learning curve is steep, and the rewards are there for those who persist.
- 5.0Sep 6, 2023Senior Project ManagerCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearSaint Louis, MO
Pros
An extremely fast-paced working environment with very talented individuals. Stay on-top of your work, communicate with your team & follow the process, and you won't have an issue. My team has had an extreme growth rate in the past year, and we've hit our quarterly retention goals at over 90% for the past 3 quarters. That was also done without working overtime! I also love how Drive is very in-tune with educating it's employees and keeping us in the loop with all the marketing trends in the world. I love getting use ChatGPT and seeing all the capabilities it can do for us. That has been a game changer! Working here is also cool AF. I love going to workshop week each year where everyone at the company can collaborate and learn from each other. I also enjoy the transparency shown during this week from Josh Sample. He goes through each departments successes and failures, position growth opportunities & promotions, and his goals for the following year. Also, can't forget the amazing guest speakers! Like Erika Nardini from Barstool spots or Gary Robertson, the Sargeant & Hostage Negotiator. I can't wait to see who shows up at the 2024 workshop week!
Cons
Some employees are overworked/been without an AE or AM for a few months. I feel like it's brought down the energy in the STL office.
- 1.0Dec 4, 2023DesignerFormer Employee, less than 1 yearAtlanta, GA
Pros
The design director. Unfortunately, he's located in St. Louis.
Cons
Drive does not respect or value creatives. The CEO creates a toxic workplace with reports of incentivizing the termination of creative staff. This situation further intensifies an already excessive workload. Additionally, the person in charge of the Atlanta office fails to provide any genuine leadership, resorting to shallow positivity and remaining detached from the daily activities and responsibilities of the team. Issues are routinely dismissed and labeled too negative to warrant a discussion.
1
Drive Social Media Response3dHey there, Thank you very much for your feedback. It seems like a conversation got extremely twisted. Our CEO 100% unequivocally never incentivized firing anyone, period. I also don't think the two of you were ever in the same meeting, so I'm assuming someone has given you inaccurate second-hand information. You have my number and can reach out to me directly if you'd like to clear this up. I'd appreciate it if you did. Thanks!
- 1.0Nov 30, 2023Business Development Representative (BDR)Former Employee, less than 1 yearTampa, FL
Pros
The pay is good at first
Cons
The reason the pay is so good is because they don’t expect you to last very long. They have a super high turnover rate for this position Boiler room style type of sales. They are constantly forcing people to accept meetings with them. They phrase it as “High Standard” but I realized they bring you in hopes in the shirt time you are there you can book them more meeting and prospect more businesses and then churn you out That’s why they are constantly hiring. It is extremely aggressive sales tactics
- 1.0Aug 8, 2023Anonymous EmployeeFormer Employee, more than 1 yearNashville, TN
Pros
The people at the pod level/ground floor are great, generally very friendly and helpful. You can learn a lot from your coworkers, and the high stress environment can help you learn to adapt quickly. It's an okay stepping stone job if you're just trying to get into any of the industries their employees work in (Ads, video/photo, graphic design, copywriting, project management, client relations, etc.)
Cons
The "leadership" and higher level management is straight up bad. They have no idea how their business works or how anything actually gets made. Leading directly to a disconnect between them and their employees that they have no interest in fixing. Leadership creates problems they refuse to fix, and delegate their jobs to their subordinates who inevitably quit, leading to the alarming turnover rate at Drive. The whole company is a revolving door, in which they continually hire new waves of people to replace dozens of people who quit every month. They also pay lower than market price for almost every position, so if you're deciding between this company and another, don't choose Drive. You will be underpaid, overworked, and undervalued. Also, don't believe most of the positive reviews here, ~90% of them were left by people who left after half a year of working here.
12 - 5.0Sep 16, 2023Business DeveloperFormer Employee, less than 1 yearSaint Louis, MO
Pros
This product works. The data is undeniable and the way they have access to Meta is incredible. I think a lot of people have a bad misconception because they either (1) Don't explain it properly to the business owner or (2) Don't work on the intro/presentation enough. This is not a one size fits all, you have to be actively listening to the business owner's issues and apply a solution in a way they can understand the value of data science. That being said this is not an easy sales role, you must apply yourself, do as you are instructed and actually dedicate yourself to the role. I don't agree with the "Wolf of Wallstreet" atmosphere as HR is actively embedding diversity and culture into the work atmosphere. This company is extremely receptive on how they can improve and apply better company culture. People are who they are and I think if you try and control anyone outside of yourself you will absolutely fail at this position. Other pros are generous PTO and sick days as well as a great and thorough onboarding and training process. Company technology is top tier and everyone is extremely intelligent. Other pros include data driven feedback, weekly 1 on 1's and I feel as though directors genuinely care about your well being and success. This company is in existence to bring in revenue to both it's partners and itself. Also base pay is above the area median income average, which is great. Starting out give yourself some grace because there is a learning period. If I could have stayed with Drive I would have long term but unfortunately I had to take care of some outside issues that were effecting my performance.
Cons
I honestly think the presentations can be adjusted a bit to reflect a higher emphasis on data science and how the process works. Focusing more on how ads are tracked and the process will help the business owner connect the dots. Social media is tricky because it has a bad reputation, but maybe adjusting the verbiage to reflect more data science and the tracing of the ads, how Drive communicates with Meta's data would help immensely for the intro. Also focusing more on how Drive got connected to Meta in the first place, highlighting that relationship in detail and sharing that with the business owner would provide a sense of understanding that Meta really does trust Drive which is extremely important and valuable. Going more in detail on impressions vs conversions and how that works during the intro would help too. Also going deeper in depth on HOW Drive became a preferred meta business as opposed to what that means overall would greatly close that trust gap. Social media is a land of the unknown to many business owners, so maybe highlighting more about how as opposed to what. Also adjusting the partner slide to reflect more small business with the big brands. Just some thoughts.
2 - 3.0Oct 19, 2023VideographerFormer EmployeeSaint Louis, MO
Pros
Open floor plan facilitates lot's of collaboration with your coworkers (which are arguably the best part of the job). I've had some great conversations from across the room with coworkers on different pods (what they call teams here) about anything and everything. For the most part, operations level employees (and some strategists) take care of one another. We try to share the workload in the busy season. I've made lots of great friends and connections that lasted after hours and after my tenure and I'm grateful to Drive for that. The job is what you can make of it. From a video perspective, during my time if I could convince a client and my team that a particular idea would work for a video then I had all the green lights I needed to have more or less full creative freedom which is an awesome experience if you can pull it off (more on that later).
Cons
The structure. Years ago the company I'm sure worked like clockwork. They get data, make a strategy, execute it, and the client makes tons of money. That being said, the company has grown and expanded year after year so much that we can start to see the cracks growing. Excessive turnover from account executives and other operations employees. New hires are being put in to immediately start putting out old fires. It's a never-ending game of catch up and I don't know if it's sustainable. From a video point of view, once the season gets busy it gets tough. Management will time and time again hand out free photo and video shoots to disgruntled clients to try and get back in their good graces. Creative freedom goes out the door at this point. While management tries their best to keep you to a maximum of 3 shoots a week, this isn't always how it plays out. Shoots come up on short notice, edits are expedited, you find that you and your copywriters (responsible for storyboards) are re-hashing the same creative that you used on another business for your current client so you can churn and burn onto the next shoot. It's exhausting and it makes it difficult to do anything worthwhile creatively. You'll write out shotlists with requirements for talent, props, etc. but more often than not you'll end up on set with a client (or team) that hasn't done the necessary prep for the shoot and you just have to force it to work. Once in a while you'll get a gem of a client. They're gung-ho about creative, they'll go the extra mile with you to make sure you can make something special, and you can get something that Drive loves to showcase on their site, in their pitch decks, etc. These are the outliers, and when they don't get their ROI they'll leave. Finally, the pay. It's not great. If you're a freelancer looking to switch to a more steady source of income, that's great, but it won't be much. You're overworked and underpaid most times of the year. You have the ability to bonus if your team's retention is high enough. That being said, you could have the best relationship with your client but if anyone else on the team botches the client's strategy and they leave, there goes your bonus. You'll make more in a year shooting weddings then you will working here -- guaranteed.
5 - 2.0Oct 24, 2023Business DeveloperCurrent EmployeeTampa, FL
Pros
The pay was good and they were laid back when it comes to the “little stuff”
Cons
Very toxic and pushy. They go about business in a super unprofessional way and expect you to do the same.
- 5.0Aug 22, 2023Director of SalesCurrent Employee, more than 1 yearNashville, TN
Pros
quick upward mobility, tons of 1:1 attention from management, people are always willing to help when needed
Cons
the landscape and industry we work in is always changing and evolving, so we have to learn to adapt quickly to ongoing changes
1
Drive Social Media Reviews FAQs
Drive Social Media has an overall rating of 3.5 out of 5, based on over 116 reviews left anonymously by employees. 62% of employees would recommend working at Drive Social Media to a friend and 63% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -19% over the last 12 months.
62% of Drive Social Media employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Drive Social Media 3.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.4 for culture and values and 3.9 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Drive Social Media to be culture, senior leadership, career development and the cons to be management .
