How we built this UK agency shortlist
There is no single “best” agency for every brand. A strong partner for a national consumer launch may be a poor fit for a regulated B2B team or a business that needs dependable day-to-day community management. This guide introduces 12 UK agencies with different strengths and gives you a way to compare them.
Disclosure: This is Giraffe Social’s editorial shortlist, and we include ourselves. It is not an independent ranking or an award. The descriptions are based on publicly available positioning and our judgement at this update. Services, teams and client rosters change; check each agency’s current site and ask for recent examples.
This page is for comparing a range of providers. If you want to assess Giraffe Social directly, our UK social media agency page explains our services, approach and client work.
What to check before you shortlist
- Relevant work: ask for a case study with a similar audience, buying cycle or compliance challenge, and what the agency actually did.
- Delivery team: meet the people who will plan, create, manage and report on your account.
- Commercial clarity: separate strategy, production, management, creator fees and paid media spend.
- Measurement: agree which audience or business result matters and how the plan will change when results disappoint.
- Ownership: confirm who owns accounts, content, data, creator rights and working files.
For more context, see our social media marketing guide. If creator partnerships are in scope, the Advertising Standards Authority’s social media ad guidance is a useful question to raise in the pitch.
Want to increase conversions?boost engagement?make more sales?grow an audience?become a thought leader?boost employee advocacy?build brand advocates?generate leads?grow your network?
The shortlist: 12 UK social media agencies
1. Giraffe Social
Best fit: Established brands looking for social strategy, content, community management and paid or creator campaigns from a specialist team. We are particularly experienced working with industries like healthcare, finance, technology, education and professional firms.
Why we included ourselves: Giraffe Social has worked with established UK and international brands since 2012. Our human-first approach starts with the audience and the people and expertise inside each business. This is our own shortlist, so assess that claim against the same evidence you request from every firm here.
The credentials: Worked with hundreds of brands for well over a decade. Brands include: SAP, Kahoot!, NHS, Air France, L&C Mortgages, Brother, Eden Springs and many more.
What we do: Giraffe Social specialises in social strategy and delivery; our services span organic social, paid social, influencers and creative. Our human-first approach shows up especially in our services like executive comms, employee advocacy and employer brand social.
2. Born Social
Website: bornsocial.com
Right, full disclosure time again – Born Social are actually one of our partner agencies, so we’re probably slightly biased naming them as one of the best social media marketing agencies here. But even if we weren’t, they’d still deserve a spot on this list.
What makes them different: They’re one of the biggest social media agencies in the UK, known for large brand campaigns. Think massive global campaigns and household name brands.
The credentials: Part of the Croud Group with offices in London and New York, they’ve worked with brands like L’Oreal, Greenpeace, Wagamama, Nando’s, Tinder, Kopparberg, and Guinness.
What they do: Full-service global team building social-first brands for “the brands of tomorrow,” bringing brand and performance closer together.
Why it matters: Their combination of scale capabilities with genuine creative thinking and strong ethics means they’re not just pushing out content at volume – they’re building comprehensive social-first strategies for brands that need to make a serious impact.
3. We Are Social
Website: wearesocial.com
We Are Social are the kind of agency that makes the rest of us feel a bit inadequate, if we’re being honest. They’re absolutely massive – an international business with teams across multiple markets.
What makes them different: They describe a socially led creative approach backed by international social media and influencer marketing work. Their global reach makes them a consideration for brands that need a consistent campaign across several markets.
The credentials: With offices across four continents, they’ve worked with brands like BAFTA, Adidas, Lucozade, Carlsberg, Pandora, and Activision. Their research expertise helps them understand online communities, cultures, and subcultures at a deep level.
What they do: Full-service marketing, creative, media, and technical disciplines, plus specialized arms for sports marketing, future strategy, influencer connections, and social-first production across all platforms.
Why it matters: Their global infrastructure and cultural understanding means they can create content that actually sparks conversation and drives action across multiple markets. When you need serious scale and cultural relevance, they’ve got the resources to deliver.
4. Seed
Website: theseedgroup.co.uk
Seed have carved out a proper niche for themselves in the food and drink space, and frankly, it’s quite clever. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, they’ve gone deep on one sector and become the go-to agency for brands that want to make people hungry.
What makes them different: They’re specialists in social media marketing for food and drink brands, with a dedicated team of digital marketing specialists and content creators. Plus, they’ve got an in-house content production studio specifically designed for food content – which is exactly what you need when you’re trying to make a sandwich look irresistible on Instagram.
The credentials: They’ve worked with brands like Henry Westons Cider, Ribera, GU dessert, and Naturya. Their team includes chefs, food stylists, photographers, graphic designers, and content creators who understand the unique challenges of making food look good on social media.
What they do: Full marketing services from strategy to execution, plus their standout content production studio. They handle everything from commercial still imagery and videography to recipe development and food styling, alongside traditional social media management and paid social.
Why it matters: When you’re in the food and drink space, having an agency that understands the sector inside out makes a massive difference. They know how to make your product look appetizing, understand food trends, and have the specialized equipment and expertise to create content that actually drives appetite appeal.
5. The Goat Agency
Website: thegoatagency.com
The Goat Agency are proper influencer marketing specialists, and they’re not shy about telling you they’re “the world’s leading” agency in the space. Bold claim, but when you’ve got an international operation, you’ve at least got the scale to back it up. – and that’s why they make our list of the best social media marketing agencies in the UK.
What makes them different: They’ve been at the forefront of creator and influencer marketing since 2015, building what they call the world’s leading social and influencer marketing agency. Ask how they assess creator fit, audience quality and usage rights for your brief.
The credentials: With main hubs in the UK, USA, and Asia-Pacific, they’ve worked with brands like Audi, Olay, Superdrug, Fireball, TRIP, and Wayfair. Their team has cultivated deep understanding of social communities, online creators, and culture across all major platforms.
What they do: Full-funnel influencer campaigns, channel planning, paid social, content production (with their own fully-equipped studio), and social commerce strategies including in-app shopping on TikTok and Instagram.
Why it matters: When influencer marketing is your main play, having an agency that lives and breathes the creator economy makes sense. Their global reach and platform expertise mean they can “hook and hold” attention online across multiple markets and social platforms simultaneously.
6. Spin
Website: wearespin.co.uk
If your brand’s vibe is all about being flashy, fast-moving, and hyper-tuned to trends, Spin might be the right match. They’re a creative-led team focused on making brands feel relevant in fast-scrolling feeds.
What makes them different:
Spin are the kind of agency that thrives on cultural speed. They’re all about crafting content that jumps out of the feed, following trends, tapping into algorithms, and keeping your social presence looking sharp.
The credentials:
With clients like Bill’s, People’s Postcode Lottery, Lovehoney, Wowcher, and Grosvenor Casinos, they’ve worked across industries where performance and visibility matter – and they’ve carved out a niche helping those brands stay top-of-mind and top-of-feed.
What they do:
From global social strategy to content production and paid media, Spin offer the full suite. Their work leans heavy on bold visuals and content designed to catch the eye and drive action.
Why it matters:
For brands looking to keep pace with trends and move quickly, Spin bring energy and execution. They’re particularly strong on aesthetic content and performance-focused campaigns. If your goal is to create high-impact visuals and stay culturally relevant, they’re a great fit.
7. Komodo
Website: https://wearekomodo.com/
Komodo describe themselves as a global social and influencer marketing agency that “never does normal” – and they’ve certainly built a reputation for high-energy, visually-led campaigns that aim to create noise at scale.
What makes them different:
They blend influencer marketing with content creation and paid social, often working at the intersection of entertainment, fashion, and lifestyle. Their campaigns are designed for immediacy – built to grab attention quickly and spark conversation across platforms.
The credentials:
Founded by four friends in 2017, Komodo has since grown into a global agency working with brands like Maybelline New York, Puma, Patron Tequila, Turo, and Michael Kors. Their work tends to lean toward bold brand moments, creative partnerships, and viral traction.
What they do:
Komodo offers a full suite of social media services – from strategy and management to influencer activations and creative production. Their strength lies in designing highly stylised, visually-driven content that plays well in fast-moving consumer sectors.
Why it matters:
For brands operating in trend-led industries, Komodo’s blend of cultural fluency and global reach can deliver strong results. Their campaigns feel fresh, fast-paced, and plugged into the current zeitgeist – making them a natural fit for high-impact launches or lifestyle-driven storytelling.
8. Our Own Brand (OOB)
Website: https://ourownbrand.co
Founded in 2018, OOB blends social, branding and culture to help lifestyle brands stay ahead of the curve. They describe themselves as trend-driven and culturally embedded – and their work reflects that fast-moving, visually-led energy.
What makes them different:
OOB work across social and brand building. From visual identity and websites to influencer campaigns and scroll-stopping content, they offer a mix of services that bring a brand’s personality to life across multiple touchpoints. It’s creative-first, culture-led, and designed for impact.
The credentials:
With clients like Ann Summers, Sonos, O’Neill, and Genie Drinks, their portfolio leans towards bold consumer brands in fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle. Their campaigns tend to be highly visual, emotionally charged, and made to resonate with younger, digitally native audiences.
What they do:
Their offering spans content creation, influencer marketing, trend analysis, paid social, community management, and digital production. Alongside that, they build full brand identities and digital experiences combining creative direction with strategic insight.
Why it matters:
OOB are a good fit for brands looking for creative firepower and cultural fluency. Their work is expressive, current, and highly polished – particularly suited to sectors where brand perception and aesthetic are front and centre. For companies seeking a bold brand refresh alongside social, OOB’s multi-disciplinary approach offers a tightly integrated solution.
9. Socially Powerful
Website: sociallypowerful.com
Socially Powerful aren’t just in the business of social media – they’re in the business of results. Since 2017, they’ve grown into a global agency with offices across the UK, US, Europe, China, and Dubai, offering influencer marketing and social campaigns engineered for maximum reach and measurable ROI.
What makes them different:
They take a performance-first approach to social – promising a performance-focused proposition. From paid social and social commerce to community building and content production, everything they do is geared toward attention, reach, and tangible marketing impact. Their in-house tech platform, Aria, gives clients access to live influencer and campaign reporting.
The credentials:
They’ve worked with global brands including TikTok (where they delivered a campaign that generated over 32 million views), and are particularly active in sectors like e-commerce, tech, lifestyle, and consumer products. Their campaigns are often fast-paced, data-led, and built for virality.
What they do:
Socially Powerful’s services cover influencer marketing, creative content, paid ads, social commerce, social strategy, and video creation. They focus on platform-specific strategy and performance, underpinned by live performance data and proprietary tools.
Why it matters:
For brands seeking rapid results, international reach, and a clear ROI on their social investment, Socially Powerful make a compelling case. Their emphasis on data, tools, and guaranteed performance gives them a strong edge in high-volume consumer campaigns. It’s a model built for scale, driven by numbers, and powered by speed – which suits some brands more than others.
10. Little Media Agency
Website: littlemediaagency.com
Based in Birmingham, Little Media Agency is a creative studio focused on helping businesses improve their online presence through consistent, engaging content. They describe themselves as experienced social media experts – and their work reflects a practical, hands-on approach to digital marketing.
What makes them different:
Little Media prioritise regular, branded content designed to keep your business visible and active online. Their approach is rooted in the fundamentals – growing reach, building engagement, and staying front-of-mind with your audience.
The credentials:
They’ve worked with businesses across the UK and internationally, primarily in small to mid-sized markets. Their focus is on steady growth and long-term presence, rather than headline-grabbing campaigns or large-scale influencer work.
What they do:
Their core offering includes social media management, paid social advertising, and branded content creation – including graphics, animations, and video. They also provide social media training and workshops, helping internal teams build confidence and capability in-house.
Why it matters:
For businesses looking for dependable, straightforward support – especially those early in their social media journey – Little Media offers a solid foundation. Their work is focused more on consistency than complexity, and their training services make them a good fit for teams who want to upskill rather than fully outsource.
11. Disrupt
Website: disruptmarketing.co
London-based agency Disrupt lives and breathes socials, saying it’s in their DNA. Their focus on data-driven, human-focused activations across influencer, social and content marketing services is designed to command attention and inspire action.
What makes them different: Although influencer marketing is the foundation of what Disrupt do, they have built an ecosystem that carries this audience knowledge and meaningful relationships with creators into their other services. The insight that decides which creators to work with is the same insight that shapes the paid ad copy, the content that gets produced, and how social calendars are run. The result is a joined-up social presence built on evidence, not four separate areas working towards separate goals.
The credentials: With clients such as Netflix, WizzAir and Vinted, Disrupt work internationally with enterprise-level campaigns. Their campaigns feel authentic and high energy, hinge on powerful storytelling to “disrupt” audience feeds and make them pay attention to what they have to say.
What they do: Their primary focus is on influencer marketing, strongly supported by other services such as social media marketing, paid social and content creation. Their recent acquisition of the qualitative research platform Imagen Insights helps build real audience research into how they pick creators and shape campaigns across four services.
Why it matters: For businesses looking for audience research-led social and influencer campaigns, we can’t think of many that compete on this level. Having a data-backed understanding of what a business’s audience needs and responds to is the difference between creating yet another campaign that gets lost in the noise and one that demands attention.
12. Abe
Website: www.abetheagency.com
Abe’s “Customer Generation” methodology is founded on the idea that paid social isn’t only good for brand awareness. They use their in-house AI and industry-leading expertise to prove that, when done properly, paid social campaigns convert.
What makes them different: They don’t dabble in a bit of this and a bit of that. They are experts in paid social, and paid social is all they do. They’re laser-focused on delivering genuine financial value to their clients, not just focusing on metrics like clicks and impressions. They use financial modelling before any ads go live and measure campaign success on pipeline closed-won revenue. Backing this up is Stratos, their in-house AI, pulling in data from tools like SEMrush, LinkedIn, and Salesforce to give strategists a real-time, full-funnel view, so decisions aren’t made on gut feel or partial data.
The credentials: Abe say they’ve managed over $120 million in ad spend and cut per-lead costs by an average of 45% for clients. Being a primarily remote-based agency, Abe have worked with 150+ B2B brands including TigerConnect, Impelix, Arctic Wolf, and Skillable.
What they do: They advertise services offering paid social across LinkedIn, Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, and X, all using their trademark seven-step “Customer Generation” process. Their strongest specialism is sponsored campaigns on LinkedIn, including conversation ads, document ads and sponsored content.
Why it matters: For B2B brands who’ve tried paid social and only got vanity metrics back, Abe’s pitch is that the problem is due to a lack of pipeline tracking and campaign strategy. Money is being wasted going after the wrong audience and chasing follower numbers, that is never going to turn into actual customers and revenue. Ask them how they would connect campaign reporting to your sales pipeline.
How to compare the finalists
Start with the job the agency must do. For ongoing channels and community, ask how research, content production, replies and reporting work together. For customer acquisition, ask who owns the ad account, how creative is tested and how the team judges lead or sales quality. For influencer work, ask about creator selection, contracts, disclosure, usage rights and measures beyond impressions.
Do not compare a broad retainer with a narrow campaign quote as though they cover the same work. Ask each firm to set out what is included, what it would need from your team and what it would recommend doing first. Our social media management, paid social and influencer marketing pages show how those different jobs can be scoped.
Questions for the final pitch
Give two or three agencies the same brief, budget range and success measures. Ask for a relevant case study, the named delivery team, a breakdown of fees and production costs, and a working plan for the first 90 days. Find out which accounts and assets you will own if you change partner. Speak to references, then judge how well the team understands your constraints as well as its campaign concepts.
This shortlist is a starting point for that conversation. Verify each agency’s current services, team and terms directly before choosing a partner.
Editor’s note — 18 September 2026: The shortlist’s internal links and display were reviewed; each agency’s own site remains linked for comparison and outreach. Agency details should be checked directly before choosing a partner.
