Wendy McAuliffe – Director
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Wendy McAuliffe has been working in the online media industry since 1999, and was an early adopter of social media. She has worked as a journalist, PR consultant, trainer, community manager and business entrepreneur.
In August 2006 until present, Wendy set up online PR consultancy Liberate Media – a respected agency of senior communications experts, taking an integrated approach to social media and traditional PR. She has worked with world renowned brands such as Napster, Associated Northcliffe Digital (part of Daily Mail & General Trust) and iCrossing.
Wendy began her career as a journalist for ZDNet, the UK’s leading online technology newswire, during which time she became a leading authority in online privacy and child protection online. This led her to a community management role at thriving teen virtual world Habbo Hotel, where she played an intrinsic role in setting up the UK offering.
Following this, Wendy moved to the digital media industry’s flagship publication New Media Age, where she was technology editor for three years, reporting on early developments in social media.
Few journalists manage to make a successful leap into PR, but Wendy made that transition in 2003, following a desire to consult with businesses in the digital space. As a consequence she has a rare insight and understanding of the complexity that underpins how, and why, people communicate. Appreciating these fundamentals is crucial to advising brands and businesses on how to make a success of the social web.
Wendy is additionally an experienced trainer in online PR and social media, as well as media training, and is a trainer for respected digital marketing training organisation Econsultancy.
When Wendy’s not working, she can be found on Bournemouth beach with her husband and daughter.
Further information:
Wendy’s ZDNet articles | NMA articles | Blog
Andy Merchant – Digital/Social media manager
Andy is an experienced social media consultant. Through an initial combination of web design and blogging, Andy began working professionally in social media in 2006, and was an early adopter of core social sites such as Twitter, various blogging platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and many others. Over the past five years he has continued to keep ahead of the curve in his knowledge of the fast-moving social media space, and in a consultancy capacity has advised a wide range of brands and businesses on how to best embrace online PR and social media.
Andy has worked on many social B2B and B2C campaigns over a period of six years, learning many related skills along the way, and he has become a specialist in the intricacies of blogger outreach, the social media news release and social tools/applications to help further advance brands’ use of social media.
When Andy’s not working, you can find him with a camera in hand, pretending to be an amateur photographer.
