Meet the Team – Luke
In order to run a successful social media agency, you need a team of talented individuals constantly pulling together in the right direction to make things happen. We are proud of our team of strategists, creatives, influencers, community managers and marketers, and we’d like for you to get to know them a little bit more. Who else to start a meet the team series at OST Marketing in that case, than with our CEO, Founder, and resident cheese-hater, Luke Brynley-Jones.
What is your role at OST?
I’m the founder and Managing Director. I’m also the person who, when others are off, changes light-bulbs, washes mugs, and hoovers the office.
Could you talk us through a normal day for you?
I don’t think there is such a thing as a ‘normal’ day, especially in 2020. But… as we’re all working from home now, I’m usually at my desk by 8 am.
One of my main focuses is OST’s growth plan, so at the moment I’m building our overseas team and capabilities. As part of this, we’ve just signed a partnership deal with an agency in China, so we can now offer our clients localised social media on WeChat, among others.
I also lead our sales and marketing. There are always proposals to do, pitches to plan, and prospects to meet. I tend to host our webinars, roundtables, and virtual events so I’m usually preparing for one of those.
I usually have 3-5 hours of calls every day. In between them, I snatch 15 min slots to take my dog (a red fox Lab) for brisk walks across the fields outside. After logging all my time, I try to sign off around 6.30 pm.
What’s your favourite social channel and why?
I’m a big fan of LinkedIn. The new features they’ve launched in recent years have made it an essential marketing tool for B2B companies.
We’re using LinkedIn for ABM for our clients. But my favourite has to be Twitter. I love the anarchic nature and humour of Twitter, but it’s also the only platform with open data, so it enables social media monitoring and analysis. This makes it much more insightful for me.
“One of the things that stop brands from succeeding on social media is their lack of confidence to be interesting, to push boundaries or take a stand. By rising above the usual back and forth of partisan marketing, Burger King’s posts are both eye-catching and heart-warming.” Luke Brynley-Jones
Do you have a favourite social media ads campaign?
I have lots, but recently I’ve enjoyed Burger King’s “Order from McDonald’s” campaign. One of the things that stop brands from succeeding on social media is their lack of confidence to be interesting, to push boundaries or take a stand. By rising above the usual back and forth of partisan marketing, Burger King’s posts are both eye-catching and heart-warming. During these extraordinary times, this is exactly what you should want your social media to be.
Who influences you on social media and why?
There’s a small network of individuals whose opinions I trust on social media. They are mostly personal friends and colleagues without large followings. Katy Howell (@Katyhowell) and Matt Morrison (@mediaczar) tend to cut through the bullshit pretty well. David Schneider (@davidschneider) is hilarious and also a very savvy social media user.
What are your passions/hobbies/interests?
I shouldn’t, but I still play football every week. Aside from this, I read, voraciously, almost every day. I’m also into growing things – I have an allotment – and retain a grim fascination with politics. I once stood as a local councillor and I regularly stay up all night to watch US elections.
What future social media and/or developments in marketing are you excited about? …
I like what LinkedIn is doing with Events. Given how important events are to B2B companies, it’s logical that you should be able to create an event on LinkedIn and promote it easily to your network. At OST we’re also exploring AR/VR experiences to integrate closely with social media – so you can create a virtual demo, for example, that users can share their experience of. That’s genuinely exciting stuff.
Why did you choose a career in social media?
The short answer is: I didn’t. Having done law at university, I switched tracks to work in charities. This got me interested in how communities develop and how the Internet, which was just emerging, could facilitate useful user interaction. I co-founded etribes.com as a social media consultancy in 1999 and here I am.
If you weren’t at OST you would be…
Weirdly, given my tech-sided career, I’d probably be a market gardener or a writer. I spend much of my free time trying to grow things or reading.
Tell us one random fact about yourself?
I don’t like cheese. Somewhat ironic for the founder of OST, which means “cheese” in several Scandinavian languages.
Evidence that Luke does indeed grow his own veg
