Celebrating individuals, companies and projects promoting positive change each month!
I’m Kerry Watkins, MD of Social Brighton.
Tell us a bit about you!
I founded Social Brighton back in 2010 because I wanted to help businesses develop the skills they needed to use social media effectively to grow their business.
I got into social media by accident really, I was an operations manager in the bar and nightclub sector when social media really took off and immediately saw an opportunity for a more impactful and two-way approach to marketing with our target audience.
I developed a marketing strategy that was built on using social to communicate with our customers and wider audience whilst reducing our print costs and environmental impact at the same time. Over that year, we managed to save tens of thousands and massively reduce our print and waste.
Since 2010 I’ve grown the business and we deliver training and consultancy as well as more hands on support, specialising in social media strategy development and Facebook & Instagram advertising.
I love the variety of clients we work with; one moment we’re creating content for high street retailers and then, I’ll be working on a strategy for a social impact project in Africa. There’s a unique way every organisation can leverage social media and I love working with them to identify and develop that unique approach.
What amazing work you are doing or involved in for positive change?
I have a great team at Social Brighton and we are all very passionate about what we do. We’re currently managing a couple of social media projects in developing countries; one is about challenging social norms around gender equality to improve the lives of women, and the other is improving knowledge around health and hygiene for new mums in poor areas.
I’m also working with Safe & The City, a new app. The aim is to create a world in which everyone can feel safe. Through crowdsourcing user & crime data, our mission is to help them shape smarter, safer streets, communities & cities. We started working with Jillian Kowalchuk, the inspirational founder, last year to develop a social media framework and hope to support them growing the app beyond London.
We also recently partnered with a charity called CALM (The Campaign Against Living Miserably) and are donating 10% of our training course profits to them this Jan & Feb. The team and I are also running the Brighton Half Marathon on Feb 24th to raise money for them.
We are really close to our £500 target and if anyone would like to help us support CALM you can donate here or come along to one of our training courses. Or you can turn up to Brighton seafront on the 24th and clap loudly as we run/struggle past!
It was also great to start working with the London Waste & Recycling Board this month - a brilliant team committed to reinvigorating recycling, accelerating the circular economy and helping London become a zero carbon city. I do feel very lucky to be doing what I love for a living and also supporting organisations such as these to create a positive impact.
Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years?
In 5 years I would love to be working with more organisations who are committed to creating a positive social impact. Despite the negativity that sometimes surrounds social networking, I believe that there are ways we can use social media to improve knowledge and change attitudes and positively impact people around the world.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://socialbrighton.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-watkins/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/socialbrighton/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/social_brighton
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialbrightontraining/
Get yourself featured as our next ‘Bloomer Of The Month’. Tell us about your project or business achieving amazing things in the Brighton/Sussex area.