Washington-born entrepreneur makes Vogue's most influential women of 2018 list

A Washington-born entrepreneur has been named in the July edition of fashion bible Vogue as one of its 25 Women Shaping 2018.
Hannah AndersonHannah Anderson
Hannah Anderson

In just a few years, Hannah Anderson, 26, has gone from creating a Harry Potter fan page on Facebook as a hobby to becoming the co-founder of a hugely successful social media marketing company which reaches audiences of millions across the world in its campaigns.

Her gamble to make the weekly commute from the North East to London in 2014 to form The Social Chain has paid off with the company, which now has offices in Manchester, Germany and the UK under the umbrella brand The Media Chain, being responsible for creative strategies for some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Apple, Amazon and ASOS.

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Hannah, who is now based in Manchester, rubs shoulders with the likes of pop star Dua Lipa, Meghan Markle, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and author JK Rowling on the list which recognises the women who are making a mark in their chosen field.

Speaking about the early days of her involvement with social media, the former St Robert of Newminster School pupil said: “I was studying for a degree in early primary education at Northumbria University. I intended to be a teacher but was fascinated by social media and how you could grow a following. I started a couple of what you might call parody accounts, one called Primary School Problems, which got a following of 100,000 in two weeks, and another for Harry Potter fans.

“I didn’t even tell my friends what I was doing, but I had this innate understanding of how to engage with people and make them feel something with a social media post.”

Spotting her accounts, businessman Dominic McGregor, who would become one of the co-founders in Social Chain, contacted her to see if she would be interested in setting up a media company together.

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Hannah finished her degree before setting up the company with her business partners, a company which has done everything from creating viral cookery videos to providing social media content for BBC’s Blue Planet.

She said: “A lot of what we did in the first instance is communicating to brands that social media is just as important, if not more so, than the adverts they place on TV and radio as social media is about engaging with your audience.

“That’s starting to shift now though as people understand the power of social media. It’s not just something that’s in front of them, it’s meaningful content that they engage with and share, giving you constant feedback.”

Speaking about the power of social media, Hannah said: “80 percent of people don’t go a day without seeing some form of social media, whether that be Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or You Tube.

“Whether that’s a good thing or not is another questions, but it’s helped create lots of opportunities for jobs.”