Kim Townend

Social Media Consultant & Strategist

Who I am

About Me

I’m Kim Townend and I’ve been working in social media since it didn’t even have a name.

As well as having an inside out knowledge of all the social platforms, my 11+ years of freelance experience have allowed me to develop a wide variety of other skills.

First and foremost, I am a strategist. I identify what the problem what the problem we need to solve is, and then figure out the smartest/fastest/most efficient/creative way to do that and deliver the desired results.

Alongside this, I’ve delivery-managed many projects I’ve worked on, I’ve been hired for digital transformation projects within agencies, to write content strategy for eCommerce sites and been a community manager for more brands/broadcasters/agencies/gov depts than I can remember.

I like writing good, simple, strategy that gets my clients the results they want, using the right platform for them to talk to their customers, not the biggest or the one that’s hottest this week. Creative thinking and a love of efficiency have served me well in this pursuit.

I’ve worked across the board, from copywriting at start-ups to creating and running a social media team for GOV.UK (where I also authored the GDS social media playbook) I’ve been Head of Social Media both at agencies and client side.

I’ve been involved in my share of award-winning projects, but I’m more concerned with doing good work with smart people on interesting projects. If this sounds good to you, then please, get in touch!

Recommendations

  • It was brilliant working with Kim on our Social Media Strategy. Kim understood all our requirements and produced a realistic and actionable document that we could roll out effectively. It was such a pleasure working with Kim who is clearly an expert in all things digital.
    Director of Communications - Concern Worldwide UK
  • "Kim’s knowledge and passion for her subject we found to be invaluable across a wide range of social TV projects. Kim does not only have a thorough understanding of the theory, but critically for us, she was able to quickly and robustly turn her considerable knowledge into practical application. Kim’s unique straight-talking combination of strategic skill, creative flair and popular culture nouse, adds value to any project she turns her hand to."
    Head of Planning, Red Bee Creative
  • "Kim is great. My first favorite thing about working with Kim is that she actually knows what she's talking about, and she'll give it to you straight. She gets it, and she can explain it; a quality that is rare among the social set. My next favorite thing about Kim is that she's cool. Which is a skill that people rarely talk about, but it's pivotal in the social realm. No one wants to follow or talk to a person or brand who is "not cool." Kim doesn't have that problem. And don't even get me started on her content curation skills… seriously. All in all, Kim has done stellar work building and engaging a global community for Owen's Illinois, the largest manufacturer of glass packaging. In short, she's the real deal. I highly suggest hiring her immediately, and hope to work with her again!"
    Senior Brand Strategist, Doremus
  • "Unfortunately there are many bullsh****rs still in the social space. Kim is definitely not one of them. At the coalface of social user behaviour, she knows what's happenings and can translate this into brand action. A lot of fun to have in the studio too!"
    Founding Partner, The Upside
  • " Thank you so much for everything you've done, all the insights have been brilliant and very useful. And it's been a pleasure to work with you.'
    The Game Is Now
  • "If you want someone who lives at the cutting edge of social media, then Kim is the woman for you."
    Digital Director, Government Digital Service
  • "Wow! Wish I'd come up with that" That's often my first impression of Kim's work and thinking. Having been lucky enough to work with Kim on a near daily basis for over a year, I've been consistently impressed. Kim's been great at both improving our approach in social as well as actually managing and engaging a loyal and passionate community across Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Pinterest. Beyond an impressive work ethic and her encyclopedic knowledge of culture and the social sphere, Kim is genuinely intrigued by the internet. It's this curiosity and her thorough likability that makes her such a pleasure to work with.
    Group Communications Planning Director, BBDO
  • "Kim was a dream come true after a series of meetings with fairly useless social media strategists. Kim gave us a super in-depth breakdown of what we should and shouldn't be doing and, despite not having much experience within the jewellery industry, she gave us a better idea of our competitors and where we were going wrong than even some BD's we'd met in the past. Thanks for your thorough, no bullshit advice Kim - forever in your debt!"
    Head of Marketing, Laura Lee Jewellery
  • "Kim delivered a session on Social Media for Bellyfeel and Christine Pyke Media on their Turbo Charging Social Media, Social TV and Storytelling course at MediaCityUK. She made an instant impression on the participants with her in-depth knowledge, warmth, humour and ability to get complex issues across. She backed up information with relevant case studies which were tangible. She is an excellent communicator and I would recommend her for training and course and session delivery as well as guest speaker."
    CEO, Christine Pyke Media