Here at 24 fingers towers, we’re proudly Brentwood through and through. What does that mean? Well it’s not just Sugar Hut and stilletoes, community matters. A lot. We love helping those in the local area to thrive in business, enjoy the borough, and smash it on social. That’s why we’re super pleased to announce a new team member whose focus in the last few years has been exactly that. Drumroll… local community champion and social media manager Villene Hyam has joined Brentwoood social media agency 24 fingers. Boooom.

If you’ve been keeping up with social media locally, you might have noticed a few of Villene’s social media campaigns, including Do Good In Brentwood, Refill Brentwood and the Brentwood Art Trail, which 24 fingers were proud to sponsor this year. Before immersing herself in the world of social media and using her skills to bring people together on her doorstep, Villene spent 12 years at the BBC. And no, she wasn’t an extra in W1A. She moved from being a super-duper organised PA, to managing an audience feedback team dealing with happy (and mainly unhappy) BBC viewers. She spent years talking to people who loved/loathed Top Gear, and wanted more/less of Strictly Come Dancing. Seven!

Moving into the world of social media led her to launch Do Good In Brentwood, a community campaign encouraging kindness in the local area. High five to that. As a keen environmentalist, she became a volunteer for Refill Brentwood, signing up tons of Refill stations and encouraging followers to reduce their single use plastic intake. This summer she organised the Brentwood Art Trail for the first time, taking the event digital and bringing a whole community of local artists together, dahling.

In her free time, she attempts to keep up with two crazy sons (her words, not ours), tries to shop local, eats plenty of chocolate and spends far too much time on social media. Obvs.

Here are some of Villene’s top tips on social…

Engagement is key. In real life, there’s not much worse than asking a question and then walking away before you’ve heard the answer. Or never bothering to engage in conversations with other people, so get out there and build some connections. And don’t forget to keep on top of those notifications by replying to comments.

Go down that rabbit hole! But set a time limit. You can learn so much about the industry and what’s a-changing on the platforms from delving around on social media. But stay on task or, before you know it, you’ll be looking at telescopic garden shears/remote control helicopter [insert other useless item you never knew you needed].

If you can’t do it, find someone who can. The most successful businesses delegate tasks, so if you’re struggling with video editing, creating images for social, or just getting together a hashtag strategy, ask the experts. Funny enough, here’s one we prepared earlier. If you haven’t already, grab your free guide to the most popular hashtags over the last 30 days here.