Best Social Media Agencies in San Francisco (2026)

Introduction

San Francisco has 12 social media agencies worth a close look in 2026, covering creator and influencer marketing, paid social for startups and consumer brands, and social work run inside integrated agencies. They were chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the strength of their client lists.

The city has a long history in creator marketing. Collectively and Linqia were both founded here in the early 2010s and now run campaigns for Fortune 500 brands, and Sway Group has worked from Marin County since 2011. Paid social is the other local strength, with firms such as Stackmatix and Web Tonic running Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn and Reddit budgets for startups and scale-ups. Several well-known social agencies serve Bay Area brands without a local office: Ignite Social Media, Avenue Z and NoGood all list offices elsewhere in 2026, so they are not included here.

Every agency here has an active office in San Francisco or the wider Bay Area in 2026. The list runs in no fixed order of merit, since the right choice depends on your channels, budget and how much of the work you want to keep in-house.

The best social media agencies in San Francisco

1. Collectively

Independent · SoMa · collectivelyinc.com

Ryan Stern and Alexa Tonner founded Collectively in San Francisco in 2013, after working together on influencer campaigns at Glam and Federated Media. It is women-led, with its headquarters on 11th Street and further offices in Los Angeles and New York. Adweek listed it among its fastest-growing and top women-led agencies in 2025, and the agency reports a Cannes Lions Gold for Dove's "r/eal reviews" in 2026.

Clients include Tiffany & Co., Nike, Dove, Delta Air Lines, Salesforce, Converse and Armani Beauty. Its offer covers creator strategy, campaign management, affiliate and commerce programmes, and reporting through its own AI tools.

2. Linqia

Independent · San Francisco · linqia.com

Linqia is an influencer marketing agency founded in San Francisco in 2012 by Nader Alizadeh, who is still chief executive, and Maria Sipka. It has further offices in Chicago, New York and Colombia, and says it has run more than 650 brand partnerships. In 2026 it won a w3 Silver for a FELIWAY campaign and was a Zenith Awards finalist for its Noodles & Company work.

Clients include Danone, Bayer, Albertsons and Instacart. Campaigns are planned with its Resonate platform, and Linqia offers a guaranteed-results model in which clients do not pay if agreed KPIs are missed. Ask exactly which KPIs that covers before signing.

3. Sway Group

Independent, with a FUSE Create stake · Mill Valley · swaygroup.com

Danielle Wiley founded Sway Group in 2011 to bring more structure to brand and creator partnerships. It is WBENC certified as a women-owned business, a member of the Worldwide Partners network, and Influencer Marketing Hub named it a top influencer marketing agency in 2025. The Canadian agency FUSE Create has taken a strategic stake.

Sway works from a network of more than 50,000 creators, with its own paid media and analytics team. Clients have included Disney, Google, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, CVS Pharmacy and Albertsons.

4. Web Tonic

Founder-led · Union Square · webtonic.io

Web Tonic is a performance marketing agency founded in 2018, headquartered on Geary Street with offices in New York, London, Toronto, Dubai, Singapore and elsewhere. Paid social and performance creative sit at the centre of its offer, and it sources and manages creators and UGC from the San Francisco office, feeding the results into paid campaigns.

Clients include Airbnb, L'Oréal, Nestlé, Huel, Fiverr and Lemonade. It is one of few agencies here to publish rates, with paid social engagements starting at $3,000 a month.

5. Stackmatix

Founder-led · San Francisco · stackmatix.com

Stackmatix is a growth marketing agency for startups and scale-ups, founded in 2018 and based on Vallejo Street, with a second office in New York. Co-founder and CEO Matt Pru previously led sales at MightyHive. Paid social is a core service, run across LinkedIn, Meta, Reddit, TikTok and X alongside search, SEO and static ad creative.

Clients include Figma, Kalshi, Spring Health, CodeRabbit and Invisible Technologies. It suits venture-backed B2B and consumer companies that want paid social tied to acquisition cost and pipeline.

6. Rainfactory

Independent · Oakland · rainfactory.com

Rainfactory was founded in 2014 and specialises in product launches, from pre-launch audience building and crowdfunding to e-commerce growth. It is based in Oakland, with San Francisco and Seattle addresses, and social media marketing is the largest single part of its work, alongside paid search and creative.

It reports more than 375 brands and over $1 billion in revenue generated for clients. Names include Onewheel, Logitech, Hydrow, Eight Sleep, Bartesian and Weber. Hardware and consumer product companies preparing a launch are the natural fit.

7. Most Likely To

Independent · San Francisco · mostlikelyto.com

Joseph Newfield founded Most Likely To in 2017, and it describes itself as an ad agency that uses creative for good. Social strategy, paid and organic social and influencer work sit alongside advertising, branding and media. It won a 2025 Addy for a public service TV campaign and several 2026 Communicator Awards Golds for environmental campaigns.

Clients include SF Environment, CleanPowerSF, the Presidio Trust, MCE and Ariel Investments, for whom it grew social followings by around 80,000. It suits public agencies and mission-led brands.

8. Karbo Communications

Founder-led · San Francisco · karbocom.com

Karbo Communications is a tech PR, content and digital marketing agency founded by Julie Karbo, who earlier worked with the tech marketing pioneer Regis McKenna. It is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in San Diego and New York, and focuses on AI, SaaS, security, fintech, greentech, infrastructure and life sciences.

Social media runs inside its digital marketing team, usually tied to launches, executive visibility and thought leadership. Clients have included Snowflake, Oracle, eBay and Logitech. It fits B2B companies that want social and PR handled by one team.

9. Landis Communications

Independent · Pacific Heights · landispr.com

Landis Communications has been based in San Francisco since 1990 and works from Scott Street. Its Search Everywhere PR approach covers traditional media, social channels and visibility in AI answers. It was a 2026 Ragan Zenith finalist for Agency of the Year and appears on PR News's Agency Elite list.

Clients include Amgen, UCSF, Whole Foods Market and Sutter Health, with a strong healthcare, nonprofit and environmental bent. The firm is NGLCC certified as an LGBT-owned business.

10. Moburst

Privately held · Financial District · moburst.com

Moburst is a mobile-first growth agency with a San Francisco office on California Street, part of a network that includes New York, London and Tel Aviv. Influencer marketing and creative production are separate units within it, set up to drive app installs and engagement as well as reach.

Clients include Samsung, Google, Uber, Reddit and Calm. It suits app-led companies that want creator campaigns measured against installs and retention.

11. Mekanism

Plus Company · San Francisco · mekanism.com

Mekanism started in San Francisco and keeps its headquarters there, with further offices in Seattle, New York, Los Angeles and three Canadian cities. Plus Company has owned it since 2022. It runs an AI production studio and full-funnel media through Mekanism Media, which makes it one of the few creative agencies here able to plan, make and buy social content in one place.

Clients include Ben & Jerry's, Amazon, McDonald's, Peloton and Dropbox. Recent awarded work includes campaigns for Frida Mom, Alaska Airlines and the NBA, with Effies, Webby honours and Cannes Lions shortlists between them.

12. Duncan Channon

Independent · San Francisco · duncanchannon.com

Duncan Channon is a 30-year-old independent agency with offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Its social team covers influencer partnerships, organic content and paid social, and plans them as part of wider campaigns with media and experiential work.

For e.l.f. Cosmetics it has run creator partnerships and the Beautyscape micro-influencer programme. Other social clients include InnovAsian, Golden Road Brewing and the Golden State Warriors.

What to look for in a San Francisco social media agency

Decide first which kind of social you need. Creator marketing specialists such as Collectively, Linqia and Sway Group are built around finding, contracting and managing creators. Paid social shops such as Stackmatix and Web Tonic focus on targeting, testing and acquisition cost. Integrated agencies run social alongside TV, outdoor and experiential work. Many Bay Area companies end up using two of these.

Match the agency to your audience. B2B and AI companies in the city often get more from LinkedIn, Reddit and executive content than from TikTok, and a PR-led firm such as Karbo or Landis may suit them. Consumer and hardware brands need short-form video, creators and a steady flow of ad variations. Ask for case studies from companies selling to people like your customers.

Agree how results will be measured. Creator agencies may report reach, engagement or earned media value. Paid social teams usually report cost per acquisition or return on ad spend. Some agencies, including Linqia, will tie fees to agreed KPIs. Settle the metrics, the attribution approach and who owns the ad accounts and creator contracts before the first campaign.

Look at how content gets made and approved. A single month can involve dozens of creator posts, ad variations and edits, each needing sign-off from brand, legal and sometimes the creator. Agencies with one place for the latest files, a clear review process and usage rights recorded against each asset make the work easier to scale.

How Fabric helps social media teams

Fabric gives a social media agency one workspace for its files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The agency setup works around one space per client, and the social content creation page shows how teams keep briefs, creator assets and edits together.

Social calendars suit Kanban boards: any folder becomes a board whose cards are the files themselves, so a post moves from draft to review to scheduled without a separate tracker. Video, raw creator footage and exports sit in Fabric's cloud drive, which streams files on demand and takes no local disk space. Uploaded videos are transcribed and searchable, so a line a creator said in a long take can be found by searching for it.

Search works by meaning across documents, images and connected apps such as Google Drive and Notion, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. Similar search surfaces assets that look like a selected image, which helps when checking a new post against a client's existing grid.

For client review, any file or folder can be published as a web page, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened it. Clients and creators can leave threaded comments through a shared link without signing up. Timestamped comments on video are coming soon. On Team plans, self-writing docs keep a page for each client up to date with decisions, deliverables and open items.

Link analytics and password protection are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best social media agency in San Francisco?

It depends on what you need. For creator marketing, Collectively and Linqia are the longest-established San Francisco specialists, and both won awards in 2026. For paid social, Stackmatix and Web Tonic focus on startup and growth-stage brands, while Mekanism and Duncan Channon run social inside wider campaigns.

How much does a social media agency in San Francisco cost?

Few agencies publish prices. Web Tonic lists paid social engagements from $3,000 a month, and Clutch lists minimum projects of $5,000 to $10,000 for several smaller shops here. Creator campaigns for national brands usually cost much more once creator fees and paid amplification are included.

Do Ignite Social Media, Avenue Z or NoGood have San Francisco offices?

Not in 2026. Ignite lists offices in Cary, North Carolina and Birmingham, Michigan. Avenue Z lists New York, Miami and Orlando, and NoGood lists New York, Miami and Dubai. All three take Bay Area clients remotely.

Should I hire an influencer agency or a paid social agency?

An influencer agency finds and manages creators and is measured mainly on content and reach. A paid social agency buys and optimises ads and is measured on cost per result. Many brands use creator content inside paid campaigns, so ask each agency how it handles usage rights and whitelisting.

Which San Francisco agencies run social as part of wider campaigns?

Mekanism and Duncan Channon both plan social alongside broadcast, outdoor and experiential work. For more integrated shops, see the best creative agencies in San Francisco.

Related lists

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

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

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for agencies · Social content creation · Content planning