H+A Marketing + PR invests €250,000 in expanding social media services creating 6 new positions

Leading communications agency H+A Marketing + PR today announced that it will create six new jobs in its expanded social media division this year on the back of an explosion of interest and business from clients. 

The expansion will see investment of more than €250,000 into the company’s growing social media services in 2013 and 2014. The investment will go towards hiring new people with an additional six new roles to be recruited this year, as well as further investment in monitoring and training tools to enhance H+A’s services in this fast-moving space.

Already employing 38 people in its Cork and Galway offices, the agency specialises in fully integrated communications and handles a broad mix of services including marketing, PR, advertising, media planning, graphic design, web and increasingly social media management on behalf of local, national and international clients. Clients include laya healthcare, Unilever Food Solutions, Kraft Foods Ireland, Ford, Barry Group and 48 Mobile.

Experienced marketeer and social media specialist Dara O’Donovan will head up H+A’s newly expanded social media division. Speaking at the announcement, Dara said that social media is the biggest growth engine in H+A’s business, “I’m delighted to be part of this innovative new team, set up as a direct response to the explosion we’ve seen in social media. Our team is an uber-savvy group of digital natives who live, eat and breathe social media for our clients. It’s our mission to capture online conversations, build buzz, drive talkability and ultimately, turn fans into fanatics. We’re excited about working with a diverse mix of new brands this year and helping them unlock their potential in this space,” said Dara.

A graduate of UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Dara has helped define and mould  H+A’s expert social media offering by consistently pushing the use of social media as an everyday marketing device. She has won new clients and continues to boost the popularity of existing ones including Ford Ireland and national retail franchise Costcutter and Carry Out off-licences.

One client who praises the services of H+A’s social media team is Laya Healthcare, the second biggest health insurer in the market. In the ten months since launching its new brand, H+A Marketing + PR has worked to build a 7,360-strong vibrant and dynamic online community for the health insurer whose posts regularly reach tens of thousands of Irish Facebook users. “We have seen a huge jump in brand recognition and perception since joining forces with H+A Marketing + PR,” said brand manager at Laya Healthcare Laurie O’Connor. “Dara and the social media team have played a central role in our success and we will continue to work together in driving strategic and creative online campaigns.”

Community managers Cian O’Regan and Sean Lucey will provide key support in the development of the H+A Social Media Department. Cian, who co-organised World Social Media Day 2012 and was twice nominated at the Irish Web Awards, specialises in new fan and follower growth while Sean, a graduate in MSc in Marketing, Consumption and Society oversees the monitoring of all social media platforms for clients, their competitors and industries.

H+A’s social media team delivers social media strategy, creativity, content and community management on Facebook and Twitter and perhaps most crucially, measurement: either as part of an existing traditional PR programme or a stand-alone campaign.