Salem Husband-Wife Duo Launch Social Marketing Group

Salem resident and marketing professional Stephanie O'Shaughnessy sees an opportunity to guide local businesses lacking the resources to establish their social brand on the Internet.

With the assistance of her husband David O'Shaughnessy, a web designer with over 15 years of experience, she has launched a company to help other companies succeed in a world dominated by tablets and Twitter.

"We've been in the business for a long time," said Stephanie O'Shuaghnessy. "We thought -- 'why don't we put our services together and create this company. We can both use our talents and creative outlets.'"

The two launched Com-You-Nity Marketing Group in December and they are already taking on local clients.

One of the more recent businesses getting a Com-You-Nity makeover is Salem's Ajna Yoga Center, which offers both yoga and life coaching.

The budding company also does marketing for David's sister Jill O'Shaughnessy, a realtor for Coco, Early & Associates.

Stephanie O Shaughnessy says that the goal is to target small businesses that are thriving but are not big enough for a marketing team.

"People want to engage on that level but they may not have the time because they're focusing on all of the aspects of their business, or may not know how to," she said.

The two will offer a laundry list of services for both individuals and businesses, including blog writing, Facebook page creation and maintenance, contest promotion, search engine optimization, web design, logo design, and business card design.

Their social media approach will be to engage with other businesses, updating content and keeping up with evolving mediums.

The career shift comes after Stephanie O'Shaughnessy left the corporate world eight months ago after having a baby.

"I said this is the perfect opportunity for me to start a business on my own where I can kind of be a little bit more flexible with my hours. I really had nothing to lose."

Her husband will continue with a design company on the seacoast, using his additional time to provide his design talents by night for Com-You-Nity.

In the past, he has done design work for Reebok, Liberty Mutual and Lindt.

Stephanie O'Shaughnessy says that her first dream was to be a newscaster, and she actually went to college for English.

She instead landed a marketing and event planning role at a software company, where she had plenty of opportunities to use her degree. 

"I have a lot of energy. I'm kind of a happy-go-lucky person. It was exciting that I could use my English background (in my career), but also use all of these different marketing avenues."

As for her company name – Stephanie O'Shaughnessy says that she wants to promote the notion of a giant online community, where they are connecting YOU to your customer.

For more information on Com-You-Nity, visit their website here.

You can also find Com-You-Nity on Facebook.