Manchester,  January 14th, 2021.

Born in Manchester but now disrupting worldwide, Social Republic is a global social media agency that develops ambitious famous brands and brands with the ambition to be famous.

It has a team of over 400 social media experts that are innovative, driven and relentlessly creative, working on a wide array of social media platforms from Twitter to SnapChat.  

Rob Illidge is the founder and CEO of Social Republic, which he started in 2014 after a successful career in digital marketing.

In an interview with TIA, he described life on Manchester, where he’s based, and the expansion seen by the agency over the years. He looked at some recent work examples and reflected on the importance of innovation. 

Please tell us about your background and why Manchester is a great place to work?

Having secured my first social media role in 2008, and the lure of being closer to my beloved football team, Manchester United, I left my hometown of Preston and moved to Manchester, eventually working in-house for legal, technology, and FinTech brands. I felt like I needed to leave the nest and get lost in, what I thought then, was a never-ending city.

Frustrated by the lack of transparency offered by agencies, I handed in my resignation at a global finance company and founded Social Republic, an alternative to traditional social media agencies, developing a ‘new way’ to approach social campaigns.

Having worked for brands for over eight years I felt like I had become an adopted Mancunian, and the perfect place to start Social Republic, and I’ve never looked back.

Manchester is a fantastic city to work in, where there is a growing start-up and tech scene.

But what brings the city to life is the people. Residents of Manchester or ‘mancunians’ make the city what it is. They’re friendly, sociable, and always looking to help each other. That’s the feeling you get throughout the business community.

With a diverse range of businesses here, there’s almost a one degree of separation.

The weather may not be the best, but we don’t let that beat us. We’re good friends with the rain and it always offers a talking point.

Manchester is known as the unofficial ‘second city’ of England, not Birmingham, and has famously used the worker bee as it’s symbol since it was incorporated in the city’s coat of arms in 1842, representing the hard work of individuals during the Industrial Revolution.

Over 63,000 of the 2.5m residents are registered as self-employed, the equivalent of one in every 14 workers, thriving from the bustling coffee shops adorned with images of the seminal Manchester bands The Smiths and Joy Division, who shot to fame as part of the city’s fabled music scene of the 1980s.

Manchester is no ordinary city; the nightclubs, rich in pop history, are housed in the very same mills that defined a generation. Pride runs through the city’s veins. Some say that on the sixth day God created Manchester, others simply say, “We do things differently here”.

This worker bee spirit encouraged me to create an agency that offered an alternative to traditional agencies, that very same “new way”.

How did you find yourself leading Social Republic?

My journey and relationship with social media started in 2006, studying at a Connecticut University where I became one of the first Britons to access Facebook ( once a badge of honor) thanks to my American university email address.

I instantly saw the potential opportunities available to businesses on the platform. Frustrated by the lack of transparency offered by agencies, I left my secure, full-time position, and with nothing more than a plan and a list of names, inspired by a cold calling scene from Will Smith’s Pursuit of Happyness, I got to work.

I didn’t have time to think about the consequences of leaving my full-time role. Rent was due and there was only $60 in my bank account. Failure was certainly not an option.

The list I had consisted of people I barely knew at the top, and those I loved at the bottom. I spent the entire day calling those people trying to secure work for an agency that didn’t exist. When you are approaching 5pm, and the people you are calling have known you for years, that’s when you throw pride and ego right out of the window. Thanks to my experience, knowledge and determination; I caught a break.

With one client secured, I quickly built a website that had the look and feel of an established agency while also appealing to freelance talent looking for interesting, unique, and challenging work.

My plan was to secure one client so I had the basics covered financially, then I could repeat the process and work on building a network of freelancers that would be assigned accordingly. I was fortunate to have made a considerable amount of connections during my career and leveraged these to obtain new projects.

Over the last five years, I have built on my initial success to develop an agency that develops UK and global brands across a multitude of sectors.

Having worked in the industry for over ten years, I believe there has been a major shift in the way that brands approach campaigns and further expect specialist teams, and that Social Republic delivers this solution.

Taking into account the COVID-19 situation, and that Social Republic is an agency with a range of team members and two offices, how does communication flow through the organisation these days?

Like many agencies and brands, our global teams are working remotely. As a social media agency, we thrive working online. With access to remote working technology, we are always able to communicate despite not being face-to-face. With regular online meetings and creative catch-up sessions everyone teams are always up-to-date with client campaigns and our vision.

I believe it is more important than ever for staff to understand where you aim to take the business, how they are part of that journey and how they can develop. Online task setting and project management tools ensure that teams stay on track with campaign progress, whilst also remaining motivated and productive.

As Social Republic also has a presence in the US, which are the main goals and projects you are looking forward to implementing there and which impact are you expecting to have?

Social Republic’s relationship with the US started organically in 2018, through referrals from clients based with global offices, and following requests from a significant number of freelance social media experts who wished to work on client campaigns.

Opening an office outside of the UK has always been a dream of ours, and New York is the perfect home.

We have seen a noticeable increase in enquiries from US based brands who wish to develop their social media campaigns, working with an experienced and flexible agency. Our team in the city that never sleeps will allow us to develop brands and build our offering as we sleep on this side of the pond.

As someone who lived and studied in the United States, I understand the culture, determination and appetite for success of American businesses.

Of all the projects you/your agency has produced, which one are you most proud of?

The last twelve months have been somewhat unique for everyone around the world. We have continued to grow; thanks to our incredibly unique teams who are able to adapt quickly, whilst staying on top of trends. Whilst we have worked on countless innovative campaigns, it was difficult not to mention celebrating 150 years of an organisation.

As a trusted agency of the British Red Cross (BRC), we were commissioned to develop creative campaigns to celebrate their 150th birthday, of which needed to reach as many people as possible and drive volunteer sign ups.

Our creative teams focussed on producing nostalgic and historical content to engage older (30-65) Facebook and Instagram users across the UK, whilst guiding paid ad campaigns.

Account managers from Social Republic managed both BRC and external agencies to ensure content was optimised for each network and delivered at the right time, on-time. Over a three month campaign we reached over 1.5m users and increased volunteer sign ups by 27%.

In your opinion, what ingredients are key to create and implement a successful social media project?

Creativity.
Research.
Determination.
Organisation.
Teamwork.

A fundamental aspect of business is encouraging innovation. What steps have you put in place to guarantee this happens in the agency?

It’s imperative for a social media agency to have it’s finger on the pulse of an industry that evolves on a daily basis. We remain innovative and in-touch with emerging technologies, changes to platforms and algorithms in a number of ways, including:

Maintaining daily contact with social networks. Attending relevant events hosted by agency partner staff at social networks. Utilising daily updates from social media focussed news pages. Delivering our School of Social content dedicated to marketing managers. Weekly team calls to discuss new trends and feature updates.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received and from who?

My dad always says (on running a business) “If it were easy, everybody would do it.”

Another piece of advice I always refer to is that from Matthew McConaughey during his 2014 Oscars acceptance speech, during which he said: “And to my hero. That’s who I chase. When I was 15 years old I had a very important person in my life come and ask me ‘Who’s your hero?’

I said, ‘I thought about it and it’s me in ten years. So I turned 25 ten years later and that same person comes to me and goes, ‘Are you a hero?’ I said, ‘Not even close!’ She said why and I said, ‘My hero is me at 35.’ You see, every day, and every week, and every month, and every year of my life, my hero is always ten years away. I’m never going to be my hero. I’m not going to obtain that and that’s fine with me because it keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.

Can you name a fun-fact people would be surprised to learn about you.

During 2020, I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (all 19,340ft) in Tanzania, raising over $4000 for The Mara Rianda Primary School, who provide support and education to children in Kenya.

Thanks Rob!

Learn more about Social Republic

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