Best Social Media Agencies in Manchester (2026)

Introduction

The six agencies below are the Manchester social media agencies we could verify as doing active, recent work from the city in 2026. They range from SocialChain, which started in Manchester in 2013 and now runs social for global retailers, to smaller teams built around creators, PR and social commerce.

Manchester has a long track record in social. SocialChain grew out of the city’s student scene, and its alumni went on to start other influencer and creator businesses across the North. The pull of the city’s retail, food and drink, and entertainment clients keeps drawing London firms north: Jungle Creations put a full-time team on King Street as it entered 2026, and Prolific North’s 2026 Champions Awards gave the B2C PR Campaign prize to Manchester’s Smoking Gun for its social-led Philips campaign.

Every agency here has a Greater Manchester office or studio in 2026, confirmed through trade press or the firm’s own site. We chose them for recent account wins, the quality of their client lists and how clearly they work in social, creator and paid social. The list is shorter than others in this series because we left out firms we could not verify, and it runs in no order of merit.

The best social media agencies in Manchester

1. SocialChain

Part of Brave Bison · Manchester · socialchain.com

Steve Bartlett and Dominic McGregor founded SocialChain in Manchester in 2013, and it remains the best-known social agency to come out of the city. It still lists Manchester first among its hubs, which also include London, New York and Singapore, and it now operates as the social and influencer business within the Brave Bison group. In 2025 it acquired creator marketing business The Fifth from News UK.

Primark appointed SocialChain as its global social media agency in May 2025 after a competitive pitch, covering strategy, community management and reactive content. Other recent work on its site includes SharkNinja, Holland & Barrett, KFC and TikTok. In 2026 it hired Sophie Berman from Havas Play UK as head of influencer, to lead its CreatorChain division.

2. Jungle Creations

London-headquartered · King Street · jungle-creations.com

Jungle Creations is a social and influencer agency that also runs its own publishing business, Jungle Media. After a first year serving Northern clients from Manchester, it opened its King Street office full-time around the start of 2026.

Northern clients named so far include DFS and Tommee Tippee. The publishing side makes it a reasonable fit for brands that want audience reach through owned channels as well as agency-made content. Leadership sits in London, so it is worth asking how much of an account will be run by the Manchester team.

3. Smoking Gun

Independent, founder-led · Manchester · smokinggunpr.co.uk

Smoking Gun describes itself as a PR, influencer and social media agency, led by founder and CEO Rick Guttridge. Its Philips campaign “Fry & Mighty” won B2C PR Campaign at the Prolific North Champions Awards 2026. The agency is a PRCA Approved Measurement Champion and runs a planning unit, the Intention Unit, for research-led strategy and measurement.

Consumer clients include Philips, Alton Towers Resort, American Golf, Brother and Best Western Hotels, with B2B work for BWH Hotels GB, Profitroom and UA92. In April 2026 it added Manchester property consultancy Sixteen Real Estate. It suits brands that want social, influencer and press office handled by one team.

4. NewGen

Founder-led · Manchester · wearenewgen.com

NewGen, formerly Kairos Media, calls itself a social-first creative and creator agency. CEO and co-founder Mike Craddock leads the business, which works on both sides of the creator economy: publishing for creators and building social content for brands.

In March 2026 it signed Twitch streamer xQc, through Evolved Agency, to syndicate his Twitch and YouTube content to new platforms and grow audience and revenue there. Brands in gaming, entertainment and youth culture will find most of its experience relevant.

5. IF.

Independent · Altrincham · ifagency.com

IF. is a brand commerce agency with a 20-year history and a studio at The Courthouse in Altrincham. Its social offer sits alongside creator partnerships, TikTok Shop, live selling, shoppable content and paid media, so it tends to connect social activity directly to sales.

Kärcher UK appointed IF. as its organic social partner in May 2026 after a competitive pitch, starting with brand voice and content approach. Other clients include YHA, Marston’s, Freshpet, Faith in Nature and Ultimate Products. Myke Hamilton is managing partner.

6. Down at the Social

Independent · Manchester · downatthesocial.co.uk

Down at the Social (DATS) combines PR, social media and influencer marketing for challenger brands in food, drink, hospitality, retail, leisure and franchising. Daisy Whitehouse is managing director.

In June 2026 beauty tech brand ioni appointed the agency to support the launch of its MYIONI hair dryer, covering press office, social channels and a gifted influencer campaign. Current clients include Chopstix Noodle Bars, JW Lees Brewery, Bridgewater Home Care and Supersmith, and recent case studies cover Macknade and Nexo Padel.

What to look for in a Manchester social media agency

Start with where the agency’s strength sits. Some Manchester social shops grew out of PR and press office, others out of creator management or publishing, and a few out of e-commerce. Each shows up in the work: a PR-led agency will be strong on stories and reactive moments, while a commerce-led one will push towards shoppable formats and paid social.

Ask how creator work is run. Influencer and creator marketing is now part of most social briefs, and agencies differ on whether they keep a creator network, represent talent themselves or book through outside managers. Where an agency both represents creators and recommends them to brands, ask how it handles that.

Check who does the daily community management and reporting. Social accounts need people watching them every day, and the senior team in the pitch is not always the team answering comments at the weekend. Agree response times, approval rules for reactive posts and the measures that count before the work starts.

Look at how content moves between the agency and the brand. Social teams produce a high volume of short video, stills and copy, often with several rounds of feedback and legal checks. Agencies with a clear content calendar, a single place for the latest assets and a simple approval trail make an always-on relationship much easier to run.

How Fabric helps social media teams

Fabric gives social teams one workspace for raw footage, edited cuts, copy and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. The setup for social content teams is built around running several brand accounts at once, with each client’s assets, briefs and calendars kept together.

Short video piles up fast. Fabric’s cloud drive streams files on demand, so creator footage and edits take no local disk space and open without a full download. Search works by meaning across documents, images and recordings, and transcription makes the spoken content of uploaded videos searchable, with clickable timestamps that jump to the right moment.

For always-on calendars, any folder can become a Kanban board whose cards are the files themselves, which suits a draft, review, approved and scheduled pipeline. Clients and creators can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up. Commenters can also leave timestamped comments on video and draw on any video frame.

When a monthly report or campaign recap goes to a client, link analytics shows when each named recipient opened it and how long they spent with it. There is more on organising this kind of work in content planning with Fabric.

Link analytics is included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best social media agency in Manchester?

It depends on the brief. SocialChain has the largest scale and global clients such as Primark. Smoking Gun won a Prolific North Champions Award in 2026 for social-led PR, and IF. suits brands that want social tied closely to e-commerce and TikTok Shop.

Is SocialChain still based in Manchester?

Yes. SocialChain lists Manchester among its hubs in 2026 and is described in trade coverage as headquartered there. It now operates as part of the Brave Bison group, with further offices in London, New York and elsewhere.

Do Manchester social agencies handle influencer marketing as well?

Most do. SocialChain runs a dedicated creator division, Smoking Gun and Down at the Social run influencer campaigns alongside PR, and NewGen works directly with creators on publishing and growth.

Which Manchester agencies work on TikTok Shop and social commerce?

IF. in Altrincham lists TikTok Shop, live selling and shoppable content as core services. Larger agencies such as SocialChain also build commerce-led social campaigns for retail clients.

What is the difference between a social media agency and a content studio?

A social agency usually owns strategy, community management, paid social and reporting, while a content studio focuses on producing the posts, videos and series themselves. Many brands use both. For production-led partners, see the best content studios in Manchester.

Related lists

Social media agencies in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Manchester: Creative agencies · Marketing agencies · Content studios · Video production · Advertising agencies · Photography studios

Run your social team on Fabric: Fabric for agencies · Fabric for TikTok teams · Fabric for content creators