About us

About us

Global. Inclusive. Trusted. Passionate.

We’re a global team of social media pioneers & analytical thinkers, powered by human values.

“I set up what was then called Emoderation in 2002, before even the launch of Myspace, having left a role running a web team at the BBC. I could see there was an opportunity to help brands initially protect themselves online and soon after to actually use the web to connect better with their consumers. I began gathering some other geeky, and rather lovely (primarily karaoke-loving) people to work with me and soon we made quite a name for ourselves, particularly in the child safety and brand protection arena. We helped a lot of brands through some tough times, and have learnt a lot about how to manage crisis, which is why I also created Polpeo, our nifty sister company that creates very life-like and quite terrifying real-time crisis simulations.

Fast forward a few years and the explosion of social, add some fantastic, global Fortune 500 clients, throw in a name change to better reflect our reality today, and there you have it… The Social Element. There are more than 300 of us all over the world today, all waking up with the same focused ambition: to help our clients create those really genuine human connections and have as much of a good time as we possibly can whilst we’re doing it!”

Our history

1999

Tamara Littleton

To understand the philosophy at The Social Element, we need to look no further than our CEO and Founder, Tamara Littleton.

Back in 1999 Tamara was running the team of webmasters responsible for everything on BBC Online. Remember – this pre-dates YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. From her work supporting the early Communities team, Tamara was the first to recognise both the risk within these forums and virtual worlds and the opportunity for brands to directly connect with consumers.

With this vision and knowledge, Tamara left the BBC and shortly after set up what was then, Emoderation, in 2002.

2002

Emoderation

Starting with just herself and one moderator, Tamara’s first clients included such global giants as GE and Chevron, and soon we gained a reputation as leading within both the online brand protection arena and the child safety arena.

Tamara has since gathered a talented band of fellow pioneers to create a home for the leading experts in social media marketing and moderation from across the globe. With core groups located in HQs in London and in North America, we have built a global business, with a massively connected workforce of 350 across several continents, cultures, and nationalities; a place where we use our collective intelligence and our love of social to constantly develop new ways to help our clients flourish.

2013

Launch of Polpeo

Recognising the overwhelming social response that can happen during a crisis and the increasing overlap between social media and PR, we also co-founded our social media crisis simulation platform, Polpeo.

Our technology simulates a crisis breaking and unfolding on social and digital media, and our live team mimic the public response so that brands can prepare for a crisis in a realistic and secure environment.

crisis management

2017

The Social Element

By 2017, we had become the largest independent social media agency with the biggest global reach of anyone in this space, and as a result felt we needed a name that better reflected the breadth of our offering; so we rebranded as The Social Element.

Today we partner with the world’s leading agencies and brands across FMCG, Travel, Financial Services, Retail, and Entertainment, at the same time, working hard to keep the culture, love, and family feel of a small business. This is what makes us unique to work with. We’re constantly being told by our clients that we’re flexible, friendly, and always going above and beyond for them. If you fancy working with a social media agency that can give you a bit of that, we’d love to hear from you.

1999

Tamara Littleton

To understand the philosophy at The Social Element, we need to look no further than our CEO and Founder, Tamara Littleton.

Back in 1999 Tamara was running the team of webmasters responsible for everything on BBC Online. Remember – this pre-dates YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. From her work supporting the early Communities team, Tamara was the first to recognise both the risk within these forums and virtual worlds and the opportunity for brands to directly connect with consumers.

With this vision and knowledge, Tamara left the BBC and shortly after set up what was then, Emoderation, in 2002.

2002

Emoderation

Starting with just herself and one moderator, Tamara’s first clients included such global giants as GE and Chevron, and soon we gained a reputation as leading within both the online brand protection arena and the child safety arena.

Tamara has since gathered a talented band of fellow pioneers to create a home for the leading experts in social from across the globe. With core groups located in HQs in London and in North America, we have built a global business, with a massively connected workforce of 350 across several continents, cultures, and nationalities; a place where we use our collective intelligence and our love of social to constantly develop new ways to help our clients flourish.

2013

Launch of Polpeo

Recognising the overwhelming social response that can happen during a crisis and the increasing overlap between social media and PR, we also co-founded our social media crisis simulation platform, Polpeo.

Our technology simulates a crisis breaking and unfolding on social and digital media, and our live team mimic the public response so that brands can prepare for a crisis in a realistic and secure environment.

crisis management

2017

The Social Element

By 2017, we had become the largest independent social media agency with the biggest global reach of anyone in this space, and as a result felt we needed a name that better reflected the breadth of our offering; so we rebranded as The Social Element.

Today we partner with the world’s leading agencies and brands across FMCG, Travel, Financial Services, Retail, and Entertainment, at the same time, working hard to keep the culture, love, and family feel of a small business. This is what makes us unique to work with. We’re constantly being told by our clients that we’re flexible, friendly, and always going above and beyond for them. If you fancy working with an agency that can give you a bit of that, we’d love to hear from you.

A Real Living Wage Employer

We are proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer.  This means that everyone working in the UK will earn a real Living Wage.

The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.  It is calculated each year and is announced by the Living Wage Foundation as part of Living Wage Week.

The Living Wage movement has benefited hundreds of thousands of families by enabling them to earn a wage they can live on. You can hear some of their stories here.

Real Living Wage