Richmond-based Compleo puts social media to work

Jim Maxwell needed help to help boost public awareness of the United Virginia political-action committee through social media.

As the group's executive director, he enlisted the services of Compleo, a Richmond-based social-media consulting firm that specializes in branded applications on social-media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Compleo created a profile on Facebook, Twitter and Ning for United Virginia. Since mid-April, the Twitter site brought United Virginia 87 new followers while the Facebook site has produced 108 new "friends."

"It would normally take six months or more to get that type of new support from organizers, even in an election year," Maxwell said.

Paul Spicer, one of Compleo's owners, also was instrumental in helping United Virginia develop content for its Web site as well as manage the day-to-day activity of all its social-media networks.

"He is very talented," Maxwell said. "He's not afraid to work in a collaborative environment."

Spicer and Sonali Shetty started Compleo in February 2008.

In April, the company received a 2009 Muse Award at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The award, sponsored by the VMFA Business Council, honors companies for exceptional creativity in business.

Shetty and Spicer have been friends for years.

Shetty has a master's of science degree in biomedical engineering from Texas A&M University and an executive M.B.A. degree from the College of William and Mary. She started Spinnaker Edge Consulting in 2006, providing Web strategy, design and development services.

Spicer, who is an award-winning author, columnist and marketing consultant, operates Spicer Marketing. He also leads marketing initiatives for TecAccess, the Hanover County-based provider of accessibility and work-force solutions for people with disabilities, baby boomers and disabled veterans.

Shetty and Spicer began serious talks about starting Compleo in 2007 after Facebook started allowing third parties to build applications.

"We wanted to help companies learn how to leverage social media to build a community around their brand," Shetty said.

"We also look at monitoring social-media buzz and helping companies mitigate any issues that come out of it," Spicer said.

Compleo has gained recognition in the business community.

Rob Martin, managing partner of Henrico County-based BrandSync, a branding, consulting and public affairs firm, sought out Compleo's help when he wanted to beef up the Able to Choose campaign for the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities.

"They have done all the technology, public relations and social media for that campaign," Martin said. "I believe they gave us the power of social media to make our campaign a social movement in a way that is unprecedented in our work. They really energized our campaign."

In the past six months, Compleo has doubled its client base.

"Companies are really trying to figure out how to engage people with social media, and there is a degree of trepidation," Shetty said. "We work hard to meet the client where they are."

Compleo also works with large marketing firms and ad agencies that have clients looking for a social-media strategy.

Caroline Platt, an account manager for The Hodges Partnership, a public relations firm in Shockoe Bottom, reached out to Compleo in January to help with a social-media campaign for the Virginia Community College System.

The community-college system "wanted to launch a new education wizard through social media that would target high school and college students," Platt said.

Compleo helped The Hodges Partnership create profiles for Virginia's community colleges on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Blackboard, the software used by colleges to put lectures and courses online.

"They helped us integrate 'Ginny,' the character that exists on the wizard system as an online tour guide, on to all of these platforms," Platt said. "They are wonderful. They are a strong team because they complement each other so well. They are fun to work with."

Shetty and Spicer decided the best way to show clients how to build a brand was to do just that.

Through Compleo, in September they created a Web application on Facebook called iGO iWRITE.

The application allows travelers to share their travel stories online. Some of the stories eventually will be published in a book.

"Members of iGO iWRITE are essentially modern-day storytellers," Spicer said. "They can get their story and travel tidbits out to the masses much more effectively and efficiently than in the past."

Compleo's iGO iWRITE is one of more than 55,000 applications on Facebook.

"There is a growing user group out there that wanted something more engaging in free Web applications," Shetty said. "We see iGO iWRITE as an embodiment of the two of us. We both love to travel and tell stories."

The application generated a lot of buzz without a major marketing campaign.

"Bloggers picked it up and the Los Angeles Times did a story on it," Spicer said. "There is a lot of interest from the travel community, and that provides incentives for writers."