Battenhall

Helping clients and internal teams to implement innovation-related work, such as new and niche social media platform campaigns, and experiments that break new ground in the industry.

Senior Consultant, Innovation

Helping clients develop and roll-out their communications strategy, with a particular focus on social media/community management.

Senior Consultant

Concourse

•	Promoted to new role; helped oversee the redesign of the company website.
•	Defining marketing strategy and creating full marketing plans for the company, repositioning it as a leader in sustainability within the industry
•	Handling all social media strategy and content creation
•	Managing virtual event participation (online trade shows and webinars) and handling press requests

Marketing Manager

•	Managing marketing activations and permanent visibility projects for FMCG clients in travel retail
•	Liaising with retailers to build relationships and ensure full and timely implementation of programmes
•	Working on briefs for internal team and external parties when necessary on behalf of clients
•	Implementing toolkits and brand guidelines within activations and permanent furniture

Client Project Manager

JING Tea

•	Responsible for all trade marketing initiatives in the hospitality sector
•	Liaising with customers and distributors to support marketing activities and campaigns, from the development of bespoke menus to masterclasses and events
•	Agreeing, implementing and evaluating the brand’s participation at relevant industry trade events 
•	Establishing and overseeing partnerships with industry associations and potential brand partners
•	Developing proposals for tenders, head office deals and other prospective customers
•	Managing a Trade Marketing Assistant

Trade Marketing Manager

Beam Suntory

* Brand development in the travel retail/duty free segment for spirits brands such as Bowmore, Laphroaig, Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Courvoisier, Yamazaki and Hibiki
* Responsibility over customers' marketing budgets
* Managing and implementing promotional activities at airports
* Identifying local opportunities through networking and influencing
* Training staff on brand and category knowledge

Customer Marketing Manager

Freelance Writer and Blogger

* Writing freelance features for a range of publications
* Corporate translation work

Freelance Journalist 

CUBICLE 7 ENTERTAINMENT LTD

* Developing the publisher's presence within social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter
* Managing PR opportunities and establishing contacts within key specialist media outlets and blogs 
* Producing content for the company's website
* Attending trade shows and events
* Short-term contract

Social Media and Marketing Manager

William Grant & Sons

* Brand development in the travel retail/duty free segment for spirits brands such as Glenfiddich, Hendrick's, The Balvenie, Tullamore DEW and Monkey Shoulder 
* Implementing promotional activities at airports
* Identifying local opportunities through networking and influencing
* Managing POS production, order and budgeting
* Attending trade shows and events, liaising with stakeholders of all levels from senior executives to shop staff
* Training staff on brand and category knowledge, being the team expert on spirits

Promotion and Merchandising Executive

Metropolis Business Media

* Redeveloping DFNIonline.com, liaising directly with the IT and design teams
* Responsible for increasing traffic on DFNIonline.com from around 3,500 unique visitors in November 2007 to over 23,000 in November 2012, and for establishing the magazine’s social media presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
* Establishing key contacts with industry stakeholders that led to exclusive interviews and breaking news stories, including retailers and luxury brands
* Liaising with and managing freelance contributors and their output on a regular basis
* Travelling to events, conferences and to chase stories in four continents

Deputy Editor

Sportstranslations

* Translating copy on sports ranging from football to rallying
* Translating official communications from entities such as FIFA to local federations
* Working languages: German, English, French and Spanish to Portuguese

Translator (freelancer)

Revista Paradoxo

* Writing film reviews, culture and entertainment features and interviews for Brazilian weekly webzine Revista Paradoxo.

UK correspondent (freelancer)

At Battenhall, I help clients and internal teams to implement innovation-related work, such as new and niche social media platform campaigns, and experiments that break new ground in the industry. I have over 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, and project management, with a focus on social media and community management.

I am a CIM Member and a lifelong learner, always eager to explore new trends, tools, and strategies in the digital space. I have a passion for sustainability and social impact, and I enjoy working with clients and colleagues who share this vision. I am also a proud geek, a dog lover, and a Wordle enthusiast.

Fun fact: I once slept through an earthquake in Japan.

I’m in a lot of networking groups, and a common theme at the moment is how tough the job market is right now.

Freelancers, full timers, it doesn’t matter – many people are struggling to find a new role after redundancy, or to get regular client work if they work for themselves.

There’s also a spate of what looks like phantom roles being advertised on LinkedIn, which get hundreds of applications only to reappear after a month or two.  

So today I’m doing something a bit different: using my platform (small but perfectly formed!) to help connect job seekers with anyone who’s hiring. 

The rules are simple: if you’re looking for work, comment saying what you do or what your ideal job is. If you’re hiring, let us know what positions you have open, and the best way to apply to them. 

Hopefully this way we can all do a little bit to give someone who may be struggling a boost before the festive period.  

And if you feel like sharing a similar post to your own feed to continue the virtuous circle, please do! 

PS: I know being out of work is no laughing matter (I’ve been through redundancy twice), but the meme is relevant and hopefully will resonate with some!

Nicole Mezzasalma

Senior Consultant @ Battenhall | Social Media, Innovation and General Geekery | MCIM | MarketingKind Member

Meme of man riding a bicycle in three acts:
First, he’s riding with a caption “looking for a new job”
Then he’s losing his balance and the caption reads “spend all day on applications”
Finally, he’s fallen on the ground and the caption says “no response”.

Are we in danger of outsourcing our thinking and creativity to AI, and if so, what can we do about it?

That was one of the many excellent questions asked at the AI in Marketing event I spoke at today, and it stuck with me.

The person who asked the question (hi Jordan Coleman-Smith!) mentioned a company where they imposed limits on how much of certain types of work employees could use AI for, so they didn't lose the ability to do that work themselves.

In a recent Pew Research poll in the US (from September), 53% of respondents said they're afraid AI will worsen people's ability to think creatively.

And it is a real danger; in a podcast I was listening to today on my way to the event, a lecturer mentioned that students were now using ChatGPT to summarise their readings rather than reading the texts in full, essentially handing their learning over to the machines. 

Where do we draw the line? Or do we even need to do it? I mentioned today the example of the calculator, which was considered a form of cheating when first invented, but is now a perennial and universally-used tool even in schools.  Is it just a matter of time before we fully embrace AI and stop thinking about it as cheating?

I don't have the answers, just the questions. But this is the sort of thing I think about when it comes to AI implementation, and I'd love to hear/read some of your views too. 

(Photo stolen from Magalí Mas D'Amato!)

A panel of women discuss AI in social media in a room full of other women.

I'm a big believer in the power of sharing knowledge, which is one of the reasons I enjoy attending and speaking at events so much.

So I was incredibly honoured when the lovely team at SocialDay ® asked me to be a part of their Programme Committee for Social Media Fest 2026, helping to define the topics and speakers at the event.

I have been attending the event for a few years now, and am excited to have a say in shaping the agenda for what will undoubtedly be another stellar experience.

That said, if you'd love to speak at Social Media Fest 2026, submissions are now open and you don't need previous experience to apply! Just make sure you make a compelling case and have an interesting topic which will still be relevant in six months' time. 

(And if you use AI to complete your entry, I may notice it, so do it at your own peril – unless you're speaking about AI, in which case that is encouraged.) 🤣

Keen to take the stage? Let us know here: https://lnkd.in/eF_3aFJK

An infographic introducing three of the Social Media Fest Committee members: a blonde lady called Ruth Lee, a brunette woman called Nicole Mezzasalma, and a white man wearing glasses called Marcus Foley.

If you could see anyone speak on stage at a social media event, who would it be and why?

And if there are any topics you'd love to hear about, what would they be?

As part of my role as a member of the Social Media Fest steering committee for 2026, that's the question we've been asking: who'd be on our speaker wish list, and what themes shouldn't we miss.

I have thoughts on this (of course), but I want to hear yours. So hit me with your suggestions: content creators who are killing it, brands that you're jealous of, burning questions you need an answer to – I want all of it.

Feel free to tag anyone you think is brilliant and should be on stage talking about it too!

A photo of a large event from the back of the audience but focusing on a stage, where three women and a man sit on a panel about AI in social media.

My LinkedIn feed this week has been dominated by two things: gender swapping and fake apologies.

The first one I already covered in a different post, so today we'll focus on the second bit. 

You may have seen on other social media platforms a newish trend to post fake apology letters – essentially a way to humblebrag about your products or services. The format is the same: an "official apology" statement which actually lists the benefits of your brand instead.

My favourite so far was seeing a brand issuing an apology for not being able to avoid the temptation of jumping onto the apology trend – so meta! 🤣

However, not everyone is a fan of this trend (I'm personally one of them), and some organisations have missed the mark when trying to look cool (see the UK's Department of Education).

Which brings me nicely to Battenhall's annual Year Ahead of Social report, because this year one of the things we flagged is trend fatigue, and how brands need to switch things up as consumers are more switched on than ever, and ready to pounce on inauthentic or bandwagonny (is that even a word?) behaviour.

We called it "The End of the Trend", which of course doesn't mean trends will stop existing, but it does highlight that copying everyone else is not how you stand out in a crowded social space. Kudos to Molly and John for a very thought-provoking piece!

You can of course read the full report right now and for free here: https://lnkd.in/eFTnc_Qm

screenshot of a report that reads "End of the Trend – Molly Redmond and John Iglesias explore how and why trend fatigue is reshaping content marketing"

includes pictures of a smiley white woman with curly hair and a man with light hair wearing a turtleneck jumper.

LinkedIn has quietly responded to the questions about how someone’s gender may influence your visibility.

In an engineering blog posted this week, the platform categorically states that demographic information such as gender, race or age is not used by their AI systems to determine the visibility of any content, profiles or posts. 

They also addressed why different but similar posts get different levels of engagement, and the answer here is a bit less clear. 

Essentially, hundreds of signals including your position, industry, network and activity are used to determine what content appears on anyone’s feed.

“A side-by-side snapshot of your own feed updates that are not perfectly representative, or equal in reach, doesn’t automatically imply unfair treatment or bias,” the blog adds.

It also says competition due to an increased volume of posts in recent years also has an impact. 

Since posting about the gender swap experiments on LinkedIn earlier this week, I have seen many more of these that seem to confirm that changing your gender does not have a significant impact on reach. 

The question then becomes: what content has been used to trained the LinkedIn LLM and algorithm, and how is the platform tracking whether there is bias in any way, shape or form due to the AI?

And on the competition point, what is LinkedIn doing to differentiate AI slop from truly original content, if anything? We know there are plenty of creators with big followings – thus imbued with implied trust and authority – who use AI, pods and other automations, which are technically against the terms of service…

Too much for a Saturday morning, maybe? When else do we have time for a long read and a long think? 😅

Here’s the full blog for reference:

Open article: Putting members first: testing and measuring how content appears in your Feed by linkedin.com

Putting members first: testing and measuring how content appears in your Feed

Older adults (early Gen X and Boomers, if you care about that sort of thing) are watching more influencer content than ever on social media.

New research from Ampere Analysis shows 55 to 64 year olds are increasingly getting into influencer videos on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. In the US, 54% of adults in that age group reported watching influencer content at least weekly in Q3 2025 (up from 44% in the first quarter of 2020). In the UK, the proportion within that cohort rose to 38% from 30% in that same time period.

Interestingly, adults aged 55-64 delivered the highest growth in YouTube’s monthly viewing between Q1 2020 and Q3 2025, up by 25% in the US and 14% in the UK. 

Among all internet users from the US and the UK, 70% watch influencer videos at least once a week, up 18% since the first quarter of 2020.

While the research doesn't specify what types of influencers this older group follows, I'd imagine it will be very varied – but likely these will include peers, older creators, and business influencers as well as those focused on niche interests (ie Critical Role for TTRPG fans).

All of this to say: if your brand is only focusing on Gen Z influencers, you may be missing a trick, depending on who your target audience is.

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