Name: Hayley McCool Smith

Company: Princess Productions

Job Role: Social Media Editor & Interactive Researcher on T4

Follow Hayley on Twitter: @hayleymccool

What is a usual day for you?

I get into work around 9.15am. The first thing I do is look at my emails and then look at Mashable and all the other tech digital websites to see if anything has maybe come out over night that could be of use to us. Generally Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is dedicated to finding out what guests we have in that week, researching them and then coming up with items that we can do with them in the studio. Once we have done that we concentrate on looking at how we can make T4 a lot more interactive. At the moment I’m working on an interactive treasure hunt that will take place at ‘T4 stars of 2011’ (an event at Earls Court which we do every year) so I am working out how we can integrate Facebook into it, for example getting competitions and pages made, speaking to IT and then seeing how then can they facilitate what we need and generally finding new trends in digital- anything that’s emerging and,on the side ,writing scripts for studio items and things like that.

You said you look at sites like Mashable- if you do find a new trend or news what do you do with that and how does that effect a usual day?

At the moment there is a big trend in brand partnering. For example, a magazine partnering with an agency  and then launching a mini series on Facebook.  It’s really important for us to know what is going on in the digital industries. Often campaigns that are created for brands use really interesting platforms and their ideas are completely innovative. We are trying to do the same for television.

Tell me how you got your role?

I started as a runner about 5 or 6 years ago working for a film company in Liverpool and then I got work experience at BBC Radio Merseyside for about a year. From there I worked in radio and then I moved into to learning about multi platform producing.  I did a training  scheme worked quite closely with digital agencies. On the back of that I got a job at a digital agency and worked with them for just under a year before starting at  T4.  I have been working here for nearly 2 years now.

You have been voted  ‘Top 30 under 30 in Digital by The Drum Magazine’‘ – Why do you think you were placed in that category?

It’s a bit of an ambiguous area as I think there are a lot of women who work in agencies but not so many that work in television whose skills specifically lie in digital. The area I work in is so new, a couple of years it wouldn’t have even existed,  so there’s a distinct lack of women in digital television but not necessarily in digital agencies. I think a lot of it is down to making yourself really accessible and easy to find, so my advice for anyone getting into the industry is make sure you’re on Twitter, linkedIn and all the usual platforms. If you have a particular interest in a digital area, whether it be social media or branding, start a blog. It’s a creative way for future employers to see that you have a vested interest in the industry.

 
You said to me when I asked to participate in this interview  – ‘’I need to convince kids that working in digital is the future of TV’’ could you explain…

This industry is changing so much at the moment.  In 2012 there is going to be a massive increase in people who are buying connected TVs. These days people are watching ‘X Factor’ or ‘The Apprentice’ and taking to twitter at the same time. At the same time, a lot of people under the age of twenty are getting their TV purely on on demand services. I know working in TV that a lot of people still don’t really understand digital and don’t understand the massive changes that are going to take place in the next two years. This is for a variety of reasons, perhaps they are digital immigrants as apposed to digital natives. We need to cater for a generation that have been brought up with youTube and Facebook without alienating the rest of our viewing audience. From personal experience, it is often quite difficult  trying to recruit people for a digital role in TV. Many people assume that if you’re going to work in TV, you have got to know how cameras work and write scripts and to an extent you have. But there there is this whole area of television that is emerging for people who are purely interested in digital and technology.

To find out more about Hayley you can reach him on her linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Ryan Dixon, the brand manager at Thorpe Park and he told me:

• How social media drives ticket sales
• Why understanding exactly what you want to do from the outset is so important

Ryan’s interview can be found here.

Name: Ryan Dixon

Company: Thorpe Park

Job Role: Brand Manager

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @ryandixon85

What is a usual day for you?

A usual day for me in a season is looking at the figures of people coming into the park the previous day and whether or not we need to do any tactical changes. All of our business is driven by ticket sales so if we don’t hit the target we have set we need at look at if we need to change the communication.  That could be our communication via our social networking social, or it could be our website. Longer term there are key periods in our year, so there are usual things like summer and Easter, then we have various event throughout the year, such as fright night, so it’s putting plans together for them through key media.

How did you get into your role?

I did marketing at University and got into it that way. I started off with a big American manufacturering company; they weren’t actually doing the kind of marketing that I wanted to pursue, so I then went onto an agency to get more experience and then the role I am currently in came up, actually through a friend of mine. It was the kind of marketing I wanted to be doing. It was for a well recognised brand, doing some of the above the line stuff that I really wanted to do. It’s working on stunt shows to new ride launches; it is a fun place to be. I saw the role and thought that was the thing I would like to do.

On that journey at what point did you get introduced to social media?

It was very early on when I arrived at Thorpe Park, we didn’t have a Facebook page we were active on, and the Twitter page was in its infancy, so it really started at that point and since then it has been about not just having a page, but how the page can really work for us. So we have grown our fan page by about 250,000 in the last 2 years.  It has continued to grow from when I started. There is a big focus, especially for next year to drive engaging content on social media. So it has been there since beginning but it’s started to get more serious in the last year or so.

Have you seen a big change with social media and how you use it?

We have seen a big change. When we started with Facebook, we did it because it seemed like the right thing to be doing and everyone else was doing it and we used it to periodically update people on things that were going on at the park and we used it as a tool to communicate offers and things that have definitely driven sales. It has changed over time, our fan base doesn’t respond to just communication around offers, our engagement rates are really low on that, it’s putting content on there that people get really exited about. Whether that’s footage of a ride or it’s the latest developments on a new ride, I think now it’s the content people crave. So in terms of the change I think we have gone from using it as a tactical tool for updating people on things to actually it being all about content, that isn’t necessarily pushing a sale but it’s building the brand up which in turn (not tractable) drives sales to Thorpe Park. The other thing that is still evolving with us is that two-way communication. People are asking questions, they complain and its all how we look at that, deal with it and communicate back to people. I think that is definately a focus for us next year.

Do you think without social media it would be hard to drive ticket sales?

I wouldn’t say that it is impossible without social media. I would say we would be able to still do it. We did it for 20 odd years before that anyway but I think it’s a really important part of what we do now and it really help to drive that excitement and reach out and communicate with people, previously we were relying on people coming to us. In terms of our brand website we were relying on people hearing radio campaigns, TV adverts.  With this we have a great set of brand advocates on our social media site that we can start to have two way conversations with. So I wouldn’t say without social media it’s impossible but it definitely help a lot.

What’s the best advice for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?

The key thing is knowing what you want to do from the outset. With me I knew I wanted to get involved with a consumer brand, I knew that I wanted to get involved with some above the line media stuff. I do so having that knowledge- it helped that every job I got was taking me towards that step. The problem is,  and this is more advice for people coming straight out of university- if you go into a channel that you don’t necessarily want to be in because you don’t really understand what you want to do, long term you will end up getting sucked in and will end up three years down the line not being able to break out of that channel and move into another channel. I think the barriers that get put up in the marketing industry once you get in are so high that its very tough to make that move, so I think the biggest advice from me would be- understand exactly what you want to do from the outset and make sure whatever job you’re doing,  the projects you’re doing within that job are taking you to that point.

To find out more about Ryan Dixon you can reach him on his linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Georgia Rakusen, the account manager at Screenreach and she told me:

• How she ran her own digital media and events production company
• Why Twitter is so incredibly important

Georgia’s interview can be found here.

Name: Georgia Rakusen

Company: Screenreach

Job Role: Account Manager

Follow Georgia on Twitter: @g_rak

What is a usual day for you?

I’m the account manager at Screenreach Interactive and my job on a day to day basis involves managing clients’ projects and being in charge of the delivery. I oversee the creative and the technical elements, and make sure it’s what the client has asked for. We always try to exceed those expectations as well. I also work closely with the marketing team and business development. We’re one big happy family!

How did you get into your role?

Before my role at Screenreach I ran my own digital media and events production company called Haus Projects. In my role there, I managed projects for festivals, conferences, large-scale events, organisations and venues. This involved managing special projects such as web projects, social media strategies or large events working with digital media artists.

So you have always been involved in social and digital media?

Yes it’s always been something that I’ve been very interested in, but it’s not something I had planned to do. I studied English Literature at University and went on to work in event management. Being clued up on social media has worked very well for me. I was recruited by a local university to devise and deliver an entire module on digital marketing for advertising and media students. I enjoyed challenging the students expectations of how social media could be used to advertise businesses, and we looked at some really interesting case studies. I’m not a lot older than graduating age so think I provided an interesting perspective, compared to some of the other lecturers. Social media has always given me a head start when dealing with clients. I have a strong online presence, which works as an asset to the company I am with now. We have an amazing marketing manager, Sarah Athey, who I work closely with. We look at competition, emerging trends in the technology and digital sectors, and see what we can do better.

What makes you so passionate about Social Media and why is it you have had such success within it?

Twitter levels the playing field. It gives you the power to communicate on the same level as those you admire, and the rich and famous, the notorious! Social media removes the gate keeper between yourself and a million other people. It can be very liberating. It prompted me to follow people who were making interesting use out of Twitter and Facebook, creating viral campaigns such as alternative reality games for feature films, and embedding social across wider marketing campaigns. It is exciting to see how people use technology for political and social use. I blog, I tweet, I’m on Facebook. I have an opinion, and I like not having a barrier between me and other people.

How do you see the impact of social media expanding at Screenreach?

Screenreach has developed a open digital media platform  called Screach, and we’ve developed a mobile app which sits on peoples’ social networks. It allows Users to have two-way interactive experiences with content on TV, advertising screens, radio, and at sporting events and concerts. Literally anywhere. As the app gains traction (we have a new release coming out soon!) Users will be able to challenge each other to games and experiences, and post their engagements on Facebook and Twitter. This in turn will allow us to better profile our audience, and help our clients respond better to the likes and desires of Users.

What is the best advice for someone wanting to get into social and digital media?
My number one tip would be to have an opinion. No one reads a blog by a person with no conviction. Become an expert in your chosen field – whether that’s in mobile apps or tortoise breeding! See what other people are doing online, and have conversations with them – across all the relevant social networks. Sometimes it’s about being brave, but some of the most successful companies to emerge in the last 10 years are the most disruptive ones, so don’t be afraid to be different. Also, companies use social media to recruit, so you’ll find the best chance of a job in digital by being present and vocal on those channels.

To find out more about Georgia Rakusen you can reach her on her linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Laura Fields, an online marketing coordinator for fashion brand Firetrap and she told me:

• Why brand exposure is so important
• How working with V Festival was great for Firetrap

Laura’s interview can be found here.

Dowshan and Andrew showcased the results of classes that they have delivered to GCSE students at Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School in east London and the lessons they have drawn from this experience.

Dr Vicki Obied, the PGCE Course Director was on hand to encourage her students to take advantage of this presentation and workshop – which they all did enthusiastically. We were impressed by the PGCE students’ inquisitiveness regarding the techniques and technologies that were discussed.

There was also a good deal of healthy debate. Of course teachers need to equip their students with the basics of language, maths and core curriculum subjects. However, the reality of the social web has significant impact for young people coming through the education system and entering the work-place. TWKS are determined to ensure that both new and current teachers understand and are conversant with the possibilities they have for opening up learning for the new generation of ‘digital natives’.

Andrew and Dowshan certainly hit a nerve with these trainee teachers as over half reported back to us that the all too brief timetabled session would be beneficial and impact their teaching. There was also a demand for more insight on ‘monitoring, social gaming, privacy, inappropriate classroom use and safety and the use of content’. Again from the feedback, we can see that teachers are keen for specific lesson plans that can be delivered into classrooms.

By and large these are young teachers who are ‘digital natives’ – the same as their students. Despite the potential of digital and social media, Dowshan and Andrew emphasised that these technologies and techniques sit alongside and do not replace traditional methods. As Dowshan said: “A ‘tweet’ can be an ‘extreme précis’ – with the correct use of language and grammar please!”

The traditional principles still must be taught but we must take the time to educate the young about the reality of digital and social media technology. Some say that students today do not need educating in these areas as they are aware of this. But that is like saying that if you are born and live in England – why should we educate you in English language, literature and spoken English. The focus is to use digital and social media to bring the curriculum to life – producing engaging lesson, helping students to understand the true potential of these social tools and take these skills into their professional lives.

Adapted by TWKS Content Team from Lucy Johnson, Digital Suss Blog

Name: Laura Fields

Company: Firetrap

Job Role: Online Marketing Coordinator

Follow Laura on Twitter: @eeeeekyfields

What is a usual day for you?

I’ll come in and see what is planned for the week, what offers we have got on, what promotions, how the sales are going, what we need to push – and then we can put that into social media as well. We push certain projects if we have competitions, and then if there is anything we can put on Facebook or Twitter and put anything on in the blog that links to that.

How did you get into your role?

I started at ASOS where I spent 2 years in buying. I then did some freelance work and work experience for 6 months, then I worked at Ben Sherman and also worked for two of Peter Jones’ (Dragons Den) companies and I then I saw the Firetrap position and got the job.

How essential is social media for your role?

Well before I started we didn’t really do a lot with it. Then when I joined they focused on it a bit more and as time goes on its getting bigger and bigger – so I’m putting more and more effort into it. It is quite a small department and can be quite tricky to keep on top of, but it is getting more important that we do it.

How would you say social media has impacted Firetrap as a brand?

It’s brand exposure at the end of the day and it improves sales figures and means more people go to our site as well. Social media really links well with the ecommerce side of the site and it’s good because we can talk about events we have got going on, getting people down into our stores as well and then that increases sales at the end of the day.

What social media tools do you use on a regular basis?

Facebook and Twitter. We have a few things going on YouTube and you have the blog on the site. Our biggest social platform is Facebook. We build Facebook tabs to promote competitions to get more people to ‘like us’.

What is your best social media campaign?

We worked with V festival and that worked really well for us. We ran a competition where we posted a link on the V festival page and from that we had a 10,000 sign ups and saw an increase in Facebook by 1,000 likes a day. So working with partners really does help. Its gets us followers and brand exposure. We also did a project for Deadly the Gnome – our brand mascot. That is just a bit of fun and gets people interacting. It has it own Facebook page where people upload and like pictures and using it on Twitter. It just gets a lot of people talking about it.

What is the best advice to get a role like yours?

Work experience is so important. Go out and gain as much as experience as you can by working for different companies. Then it will show you what you really want to do.

To find out more about Laura Fields you can reach her on her linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Poppy Dinsey, founder of What I Wore Today and she told me:

• How she set up WIWT
• Why having a basic understanding of HTML is important
• Her vision for her online brand

Poppy’s interview can be found here.

Name: Poppy Dinsey

Company: What I Wore Today

Job Role: Founder at WIWT

Follow Poppy on Twitter: @poppyd

What is a usual day for you?

I spend a lot of time doing some kind of interview for press and magazines. My office is in Old Street and I live in West London, so I will either start by having meetings with PR companies or brands directly usually in the Soho area, and then I make my way east to the office. Then we work on site development or promotions that are coming up. I also will try to keep on top of thousands of emails that seem to come in daily!

How did What I Wore Today (WIWT) begin?

It began when I was working in real estate search. I was working in the London tech start-up scene for a good few years before hand and I just started it as a bit of fun I already had other blogs and it was just going to be another blog that I was going to start doing which was me uploading an outfit a day. It was a New Year resolution for 2010. I was in America at the time and it took off quite quickly. I was really surprised by peoples’ responses and the traffic it was getting during the first few weeks and months, so I left my full time job in May 2010 to then focus on trying to build WIWT up full time.

So you already had a good understanding of html and using blogs when you set up WIWT. Have you always been interest in social media?

Yes. I’ve blogged for over 10 years so I grew up with it. My oldest blogs are no longer online they have been built on or bought into by other companies. I’ve blogged for as long as I can remember so it was very normal for me to talk about what I had done and what I was doing offline and online. I remember joining Twitter in 2008 and thinking it was the best things ever and I could see how important it would be for driving traffic to blogs. And as for the Facebook era, I guess I was the perfect age for Facebook as it was when everyone had to have university address in order to join at the start, it seems like a very long time ago now. I was just the perfect age for those tools being released.

What do you see as the next big thing in social media?

I think they’re going to be big privacy backlashes and I think people won’t necessarily just sit back and let it happen. I genuinely invest a lot of time into my Facebook privacy settings but I find it really complicated and I’m someone who runs a website so they do make it as complicated as possible. I think now a lot of people generally in social media want to back things up with offline. I think it will carry on with people being wary of who owns their data and all that privacy stuff.

What is your long-term plan for WIWT?

At the moment we have just been going for about a month. It’s had about a million pages views with about 6,000 outfits uploaded to it. So we’re just going to be growing as much as possible and targeting the UK as well as the global users we have. The traffic is still 70% UK. We want as many people uploading their outfits, as many people as possible shopping from having seen outfits on our site, working really closely with British high streets brands and also offering promotions. And as you see an offline advert, a brand will normally say ‘like this’ on Facebook, ‘follow us’ on Twitter, we also want them to say ‘upload’ or ‘tag us’ on WIWT.

What is the best advice you could give someone who is thinking about setting up a blog, website or brand?

Be very consistent with whatever they choose. If it’s your own personal brand – then invest everything into it in terms of time and do not expect rewards to come from it very quickly. How often you post and what you talk about is what you have to be consistent with it. An audience expects something of you once they subscribe. It can be quite difficult to change it sometimes, for instance when someone is used to tweeting throughout X Factor and then you don’t do it and then start banging on about politics or something then you can lose a lot of followers as they haven’t subscribed to you for that.

To find out more about Poppy Dinsey you can reach her on her linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Beckie Crane from London & Partners and she told me:

• How she went from being a PA to in events management
• Why mobile marketing could be the next big thing
• Her favourite online campaign

Beckies’s interview can be found here.

Name: Beckie Crane

Company: London & Partners

Job Role: Major Event Marketing Manager

Follow Beckie on Twitter: @beckiecrane

What is a usual day for you?

There isn’t really a usual day so to speak. It can be meeting with clients to writing strategies or looking at creatives for designs. It really varies because I work on a number of projects and events.

How did you get into your role?

I did my A levels and I was working in an investment bank as a PA knowing the whole time that it wasn’t actually me and also knowing that I wanted to go to university and do a degree in something. I had also been doing a lot of events as a PA and realised that I had a flair for it. So I managed to find a degree course at Leeds Metropolitan university in Events Management and there was also a marketing elective. So I gave up my job and went back to studying and became a full-time student. I did a placement year and then secured my first job working in the events industry. I had an interest in the marketing of the events and answering questions such as: ‘what does the event look like’; ‘how do you market that to people’; ‘how do you build an audience and let people know what the event is’. I just found it really interesting.

Would you say social media is essential for your role?

Yes. Having a really good understanding of it is essential. I work with many digital companies and in-house digital teams. I work with them to build not only the digital offering but also the social media offering. We all know that it’s becoming more and more important to use social media and engage through it. Not only is it effective but it’s also a really quick way of reaching people and engaging them in your event or your product. What we are still working out is how much it actually converts people to buy tickets. That’s something we’re working on developing at the moment because it would be really good to say ‘that person liked our page and they bought a ticket’. So that’s where we are but we know it’s important and we do use it in all of our campaigns, such as to sell tickets or create awareness.

What’s the next big thing in social media?

I think mobile marketing is going to be the next big thing – especially given that pretty much everyone has smart phones. You can use location based devices and then market to people in those locations. For example, being able to say that I’ve just arrived for London Fashion weekend and I know that within the area I’m in there are designers offering discounts if I go to their stand. Not only does it work for people working for the event and sponsors but it also provided added value to the attendees.

What is/are you favorite social media campaigns?

The Ikea campaign where you just clicked on the things you liked and from that make your favorite room. That was brilliant!

What’s the best piece of advice and how do I get a role like yours?

The best advice is not getting hung up on knowing what you want to do. I think so many people put so much emphasis on it when you are 18 or 21 – you should know what you want to do! My advice would be to go with something you love. You spend a long time working so you may as well do something that you enjoy! I love going to gigs, I love going to events, I love going to festivals and parties – and the fact that I can work in this industry and make things happen makes me happy!

The biggest thing I would recommend is getting work experience. In your summer holidays even work for free and use your network; it’s a big thing to get work experience. I worked in a PR company which specialised in events for 6 months just doing press cuttings but the knowledge I picked up while I was there was so useful. I was literally just cutting out bits of paper and sticking it on to another bit of paper. And those contacts that I made all those years ago I still use now – so it might seem basic, especially when you do work experience, but actually the contacts you make are invaluable.

To find out more about Beckie Crane you can reach her on her linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Paris Zarcilla from SBTV and he told me:

• How he became the Creative Director at SBTV
• What he believes defines the internet
• His advice on how to make it

Paris’s interview can be found here.

Name: Karen Campbell

Company: BBC

Job Title: Content Producer for Radio 1 and 1xtra

Follow Karen on Twitter: @newsychick1

What is a usual day for you?

First of all going through suggestions for what we can possibly put on the homepages online for both networks. This could be shortlisting the most important four from that list, then delegating jobs like which people are doing promotions for the website and then updating the homepages with the latest promos. Then I’ll have a look at what’s happened on both networks the night before to see if there are any highlight moments – such as any guest mixes or interviews. Then sometimes it’s a case of going through the shows and finding that piece of audio and clipping it to use on the website and using social media plugins to promote that –  so a lot of Twitter and Facebook. Oh and a lot of emails!

How do you see social media expanding within Radio 1/1xtra?

I think the good thing that we have done with social media is use it to get a lot of instant reaction from our listeners.  Social media feeds a lot of the on air content. Listeners may tweet us, message us on Facebook and feedback on tracks. It is just important for us to be in social space in order and to be able to expand to our listeners.

What social media tools do you use on a regular basis?

On a daily basis we mainly use Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. We are increasingly using QR codes.

How can I get a role like yours?

I think you need to have and be actively using the Internet. Blogging is good, so if you have a blog or at least know how to get one then that is a start. An understanding of HTML definitely for our job because we update a lot of the site in HTML – so to understand that side of things is good. You don’t have to be a whizz! It helps to have a good knowledge of Photoshop because we use it on a daily basis. Also making a lot of contacts so when it comes to interviews it’s useful to have background information on someone, so you might just check them out on LinkedIn. Connections help a lot when it comes to situations such as interviews for a job like that.

What’s been your biggest success in social media to date?

Two things. The first one is Chris Moyle’s record attempt. He broke the record for the longest radio show and time on air. It was literally a 24-hour operation in which we worked in rotas. It was worldwide on Twitter and that’s amazing for a radio DJ when people say that radio is dying. So that was really important and we did a lot on social media and had a lot of interaction and it as really useful for him to keep going.

On Radio 1 we did a thing called ‘U CTRL KATY’ with Katy Perry. We had Katy Perry in a room and by using just audience participation and social media sites they decided what she did, whether she painted a room or danced around with random props we had in the room. She was controlled entirely by listeners and that was a first for us and it worked really well. It was a really good way of using social media to power content.

 To find out more about Karen Campbell you can reach her on her Linkedin page.

Last week I interviewed Aaron Sylvester from Lucid Online and he told me about:

• How to get a job in the music industry
• His role as Senior Digital Marketing Director
• Insights into a new game that he thinks could be the next big thing in social media

Aaron’s Interview can be found here: ‘How to make it in the music industry.’ 

Name: Aaron Sylvester

 Company: Lucid Online

     Name: Jonathan Almond

    Company: FMX FremantleMedia

    Job Role: Associate Producer

    Follow Jonathan on Twitter:  @jonalmond

What does your day usually consist of?

It varies quite a lot! At the moment I’m doing a lot with YouTube. The department I work in is called SMX and it’s the central digital diversion of Fremantle Media and that supports all of Fremantle’s production territories all around the world. A lot of them are looking for ways to generate extra revenue for YouTube from content that they’re already putting on TV like clips. We then putt it onto YouTube channels, like X factor India, Britain’s Got Talent and all that kind of stuff. It’s a way to create additional revenue for content you have already produced on TV.

Why is social media so important to Freemantle?

 I think mainly it’s because it’s just an easy way of reaching people and as they’re all ready there it’s so easy for people to share things through social media.

What do you see as the next big thing in social media?

That’s a tough one and a very good question. Facebook isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, Twitter seems to be getting bigger and bigger all the time as well.

What social media tools do you use?

Well at work I am mainly using YouTube at the moment but personally Facebook, I use Twitter, mostly to read tweets, and YouTube which is obviously getting bigger and bigger. YouTube are looking to move into more professional content as well so I think YouTube is going to become a bigger destination for people than it is now as there to expand their audience.

Are there any social media campaigns you would of loved to have been involved in?

Still the best one for me is the Old Spice campaign, the stuff they did was brilliant and the Skittles campaign as well.

What do you think has been your biggest success in social media within your job so far?

I think probably the stuff I did with Tate Modern because that was so new. We used the social network Bebo and with that we made characters come alive online and the amount of people who would interact with the characters daily was quite surprising. People would have conversations with these characters even though I was writing what all of the characters were saying. -Obviously the characters weren’t real,-so I think the way we brought them to life online is one of the things I’m most proud of.

How can I get into a role like yours and what’s the best advice you could give me?

It’s very important to be passionate and keep up to date with everything that’s going on in digital. What I do is a hybrid of TV and digital and I’m interested in both and I follow both.  I watch a lot of TV and am on the Internet the whole time but I think if it’s for people stating out then just start at the bottom. I went in as a runner then moved to digital, get experience where you can, stay interested follow the things you’re interested in. You have got to be keen, show keenness and be willing to do whatever you need to do!

To find our more about Jonathan you can reach him on Linkedin page.