From social media freelancer to CEO working with 10,000 customers

Rik Courtney, a Doncaster based entrepreneur who started his self-employment journey as a solo social media marketing freelancer in 2010 is now a well-known figure in the social media marketing industry as a public speaker and CEO of one of the UK’s fastest-growing and first of its kind in the UK, social media marketing consultancy, Be More Social. 

Since founding Be More Social over ten years ago, Rik Courtney has been on a mission to help small businesses in the UK get positive results through social media marketing. His unique approach has made an impact on business owners, resulting in exponential growth for Be More Social in recent years. This boom in business has been driven further by the pandemic – a time when many businesses realised the importance of marketing and social media as a tool to stay connected with customers in a remote world. 

Rik Courtney, CEO of Be More Social commented “I set up Be More Social in 2010, it was just me initially running a social media agency service, where I’d do the work required for my clients. However, as the social media marketing industry began to explode, I realised that there was so much more I could do to help businesses create impact with their social media efforts, which is when Be More Social pivoted from an agency model to a consultancy”.

“Our goal as a business is to work with one percent of the 5.9 million small businesses in the UK, which amounts to 59,000 customers. ”

The business currently has bases in Doncaster and London, however, a recent surge in demand and client referrals has led Rik to devise ambitious plans to expand the franchise further and work with overseas businesses, which he hopes to achieve in the next year.

Rik added, “Although our key goal is to educate and inspire clients, so they have the confidence to take control of their social media marketing, we still also offer the option of creating tailor-made content for clients, as we understand not all businesses have the time or confidence to take full control”. 

The consultancy approach sees Rik and his team, who have over 25 years of marketing expertise and 14 years specialising in social media, provide clients with expert advice and tools on how to achieve success on social media without external agencies doing the work for them. The team educates clients on all aspects of social media marketing from content, advertising to social listening and much more and develops bespoke strategies designed to get real tangible results.