Posts Tagged ‘express and echo’

0904.13

Why vote for Optix Solutions in the Express and Echo Business Awards?

Posted by Amanda in Company News

eeBizAwardsLogo2013Hello and thank you for dropping by to find out more about our entry and why we hope you will vote for us.

We’re very proud to have been shortlisted for Employer of the Year, in the Express and Echo Business Awards 2013. The winner will be decided by a public vote via Twitter. We felt it would help you decide whether to vote for us if you knew a little more about why we have entered.

James and I started Optix Solutions 13 years ago whilst studying at The University of Exeter, and have worked long and hard to create a company we can be proud of.  We both understand that our staff are our company, if they are not happy and positive, our company will not succeed.

We’ve been fortunate to have had mentors along the way who have advised and supported us, helping James and I to become considerate and constructive employers.

In our entry we were asked questions about the changes we had made for our employees, how they were implemented and an overview of the impact of these changes. We were also asked about how we engage our employees in the goals and values of Optix. Below we have condensed our responses, we’re sure you wouldn’t want to wade through all 2000 words of our entry!

  • We have investigated and implemented ways to make our staff happy, empowering them to have a voice in an environment of mutual trust
  • We have sought to find ways to make our staff fulfilled in their roles, without stifling their need for development and progression
  • We nurture our staff to develop strong relationships with our clients, we know at any time 70% of our staff are going to be engaging with clients
  • We have shared our company’s vision, defined clear job roles and responsibilities and scheduled regular meetings and updates for everyone to keep abreast of our achievements and goals.
  • It’s not all work, work, work! To further encourage a ‘friendly’ working environment, we have fortnightly Team Lunches, when everyone gets away from their desk and out of the office, to enjoy lunch on the Company. We also have a monthly performance related cash bonus, calculated upon the success of the company and shared equally with everyone.

But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what our employees had to say about working for us

Nick “Flexibility and freedom to use my initiative and be creative. Forward thinking company and some great clients with innovative ideas”

Tom “The team is the best I have worked with. Being part of a company that has been around for ten years and is still going from strength to strength even in the current situation is reassuring, as is being part of a team that is achieving this growth. The constantly adapting and refining of the approach to our work is refreshing and effective. Working with experts in each of the fields we work in is super awesome. Perks are rad”

Kris “We are all genuinely challenged to be the best we can be, and our Directors actively encourage us to be a part of the company. You’re not just allowed to have your say, you’re listened to. If something doesn’t work or could be done better for a client, you have the power to change it. When we do well we are rewarded and when we make mistakes we’re encouraged to learn from them”

Rich “We throw a wicked xmas party! This is because everyone is laid back, friendly and has a good sense of humour. We have a good and exciting client list, diverse range of sites to work on”

Charlie “There is always someone willing to help you. Everyone enjoys successes together, creating a team environment. You are encouraged to learn and grow outside of your specific role – this creates real job satisfaction”

Dan “My input is taken on board and I am my own man. When working in other organisations it has been all too easy to blend into the background and not be a leader. Here at Optix I am encouraged to take control of my own destiny and make things happen. With that comes responsibility, but without great responsibility you cannot have great power! Even Spiderman knows that”

All we need now is your vote to help us win an award that Team Optix think is well deserved. Please hit the button below to tweet your vote

Thank you

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0211.11

An interview with @MarcAstley, Editor of Exeter’s Express and Echo Newspaper

Posted by Amanda in News, Social Media

Over the coming months we will be publishing a series of 60 second interviews, starting with Marc Astley, Editor of Exeter’s Express and Echo Newspaper.

Name and Role

Marc Astley, Editor for Express and Echo News and Media Ltd/Mid Devon Gazette series

What do you do

As well as being responsible for the content of the Express & Echo and Mid Devon Gazette, I am also one of the directors of the parent company South West Media Group Ltd. The editing role involves, of course, deciding upon content but also setting the tone and upholding the principles and integrity of the titles. I also directly manage the editorial teams and budgets.In my director’s role I take a bigger picture view of the business conducted by the group of newspapers in our stable with my fellow editors from the Western Morning News, Plymouth Herald, Torquay Herald Express and the group’s managing director, Andrew Blair.

What’s been your biggest challenge this year

Without a shadow of a doubt the move from daily to weekly. This has not only been a huge project to manage but also meant having to say goodbye to some close colleagues.However, like any transition on this scale, it has also led to a change in culture and created new opportunities. For instance, we are now using social media a lot more to reach our readers on the days we are no longer publishing. The team have fully embraced Twitter, in particular, and have picked up stories through their tweets.

You mentioned that you and your team have embraced Social Media, specifically Twitter, tell us more

A big concern for us when going weekly was not having a daily dialogue with our readers. Twitter allows us to do that but crucially makes it easier for them to contact individual reporters instantly. So far we have our local government reporter @AnneByrne signed up, as well as our health reporter Tom Bevan @tombev81; our news editor @RobSims1; education reporter @FranMcElhone; Exeter City writer Jon Lewis @Echo_Jon and Exeter Chiefs reporter Nic Warren @EchoSportNick. There is of course me, the editor @MarcAstley! Watch this space as there’s more to come.

How else have you found that Social Media has supported your new weekly publication

Twitter has proven to be a tremendous resource for finding new columnists. I wanted to recruit a team of specialists who had skills that were beyond the remit of my journalists but also who could write their own stuff. I turned to Twitter and those that I have engaged with via this platform. As a result we now have on board @katheacrediton - the lovely ladies from Kathea Boutique;  @banksy6 - local businessman and entrepreneur Alastair Banks; @home_restyler - interior designer  Katey Korzenietz; @ExeterArchitect - architect Rob Hilton; @Marc­_Millon - wine expert Marc Millon; @erbcoach -  life coach Emma Ranson Bellamy; @SouthwestMakeup - make up expert Eve Ashby;  @mark­_tyler - media observer Mark Tyler and @ccbentos - Exeter Chiefs player Chris Bentley.

Hashtags for certain stories have also helped enormously. My favourite hashtag is #HelloEcho, which was set up by the highly entertaining and witty James Barisic @jamesmb who I did not know at the time and still haven’t met.

#HelloEcho was used to welcome the new weekly title into the world and for people to tweet their comments, which were all very positive. It has now become the forum to discuss any Echo-related issues. I am very fond of it and very grateful to James.

 Many thanks to Marc for sparing the time to answer our questions. It’s great to hear how useful Twitter has been, and continues to be, for him and his team.

We’d be interested to hear how you’ve embraced Social Media in your line of work. Please leave your comments or if you’d like to be included in our interview series drop us a line.

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1310.11

To Tweet or not to Tweet, that is the question

Posted by Amanda in Company News, Social Media

Just in case you missed it, here’s our Director Alastair Banks’ latest post for the Express and Echo…

A very good day to you lovely people of Exeter. Hope you’ve all been enjoying the new weekly format for the paper – personally I’m a huge fan (and I’m not saying that just because I write for it now)…loving Mr Astley’s work – well done guys. 

So I’m back again for useful hints, tips and advice on the scary world of online commerce (my goal is to make it less scary for you). 

Today I’m going to focus on my friend Twitter. Those of you who know me, know I’m a big fan of it and have helped the likes of Exeter University, Olives Et Al and numerous other companies to define strategies for success on the social media sites, Twitter being just one of those. 

Twitter has been around for a good few years now (in fact it celebrated it’s 5th birthday this year!). However in the UK it’s really only been used heavily for the last few years and is still only being found by the masses now. 

Firstly, here are the basics: 

1). It’s what’s known as a micro-blogging platform. You only have 140 characters to do your business. 

2). It works on the premise of the question ‘What are you doing right now?’. Not everyone uses it in this way but it’s a good start. 

If you’ve been using Twitter for a while I have a question for you – Do you think it feels a little like being in a pub and everyone shouting at you? Yeah I do to, but it has fantastic uses for business and individuals when used effectively so I hope to give you some ideas on that today. 

If you’re not signed up, what are you doing? Go get yourself an account now – goto Twitter.com and signup a profile. Use a name which means something – Your name or your business name or perhaps a mixture of both. Fill out the bio properly (you only get 160 chars here so be concise), using some key terms within it that describe you or your business. Make sure you include a link back to your website so people can find out more about you and finally upload a decent picture of yourself. My preference is for a good mug shot, not some picture of you riding a horse across the glades which means we can hardly make you out, or putting up a logo which means nothing (I’m focusing on personal accounts here – not business by the way). 

Once you have your account, here are a few things you can do to start getting the most from Twitter. 

1). Look for people to follow – Google people you know followed by the word ‘twitter’ to see if they have profiles eg: ‘Alastair Banks Twitter’. Follow them and then see who they follow. There is a good chance this will lead you to other people you didn’t even realise were on there. Following someone will send them an email saying you’ve done so and give them the chance to follow you back. 

2). Goto search.twitter.com and do a search on the term ‘exeter’ – This will show you everyone ‘tweeting’ (Don’t worry you’ll soon pick the lingo up) with the word Exeter in. This might highlight other people who look interesting or are worth following.

3). While you’re using search.twitter.com you can go into the advanced settings and select tweets from a certain area – set it to Exeter and find people tweeting nearby. 

4). If you’re into sport why not follow our successful two sporting clubs – The Exeter Chiefs and  Exeter City FC both of who are active on Twitter. You can find them here:

          http://www.twitter.com/exeterchiefs
          http://www.twitter.com/officialecfc   

5). Be sociable – Don’t just broadcast a message about your new offer or how great your company is or what you’ve just eaten for breakfast (unless you’ve just eaten at the Royal Clarence and want to tell everyone it’s fantastic of course). Engage with people, see what they are talking about, respond to questions from them, help them out where possible. Reciprocity is big on social sites.

6). Add some value – As above, try and add some value to others lives. Link people to articles of interest (even better if you’ve written them on your own blog as that will help your traffic). Tell people something they didn’t know about your industry or perhaps a hobby of yours. 

7). How much to tweet – Anything less than once or twice a day is probably not going to see you add much value to anyone including yourself, anything more than 10-15 is probably overkill but that’s just my opinion and others may differ. I can tell you that if you are continually appearing in others streams with inane waffle, they will soon turn off. 

8). Follow ‘Hashtags’ – A Hashtag is a way of following a conversation on Twitter. Anyone who tweets about a certain topic might add a hashtag into their 140 chars to allow others to follow a chain of tweets on that topic. The Echo now have a hashtag of their own for you to follow: #helloecho which was started by the fantastic @jamesmb (That’s James’ handle by the way).  

9).   Oh and make sure you follow the Echo team – editor Marc Astley @marcastley; features writer Catherine Fraser @MrsCFraser; business editor Gordon Richardson @gordorichardson; news reporter Anne Byrne @AnneByrne; news editor Rob Sims @Robsims1; news reporter Fran McElhone @FranMcElhone; sports reporter Jon Lewis @Echo_Jon; sports reporter Nick Warren @EchoSportNick; production editor Ed Oldfield @Ed_Oldfield; news updates @Thisis_Exeter.

 So there’s my starter for ten. Watch others and see how they do it, take time to learn. 

Until next time, have a great month, 

Alastair
@banksy6 on Twitter

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