Introducing... Steven Bartlett

Et voila! shots unveils its latest feature; Introducing. Showcasing the latest and newest creative talent in and around the industry, the feature will focus on bringing some of the brightest brains and most creative ideas to your attention. And to kick-start the launch of the feature is 23-year-old Steven Bartlett, co-founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Social Chain.

Think back to when you were 23; my guess is that you probably weren't an entrepreneur looking to disrupt the current advertising model, but then again, not many people were. Since its launch in 2014, Social Chain has become famous for its guarantee to make anything trend on Twitter within a tight, 30 minute timeframe. Chatting to shots, Bartlett talks inspiration, entrepreneurship and his love of public speaking.

What does your role involve?

I’m the co-founder/CEO of Social Chain (SC). I spend most of my time speaking about our company at events but I also invest a lot of time in maintaining the company’s culture.

Office with permanent slide feature.

How did you get to where you are now?

SC started after I sold my first company, Wallpark, in 2014. I set it up after I dropped out of university and it served as a virtual wall for students to connect with other students in the same city. You could share anything from sporting event advertising to old uni textbooks.

Here, I learnt about the behaviour of young people on social media, especially on Twitter. There were also huge accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers. SC's co-founder Dom McGregor ran one of these student-orientated pages by posting funny and relatable content. He'd amassed thousands of followers in the process.

I contacted Dom and suggested that his page and thousands others could be used as conduits to connect audiences with brands. People followed and engaged with these pages because of the content, so I thought if a brand could seamlessly weave its message onto the page, the engagement and following shouldn't suffer. And so, Social Chain began.

With co-founder Dominic McGregor.

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

Every single day, there's a new challenge to focus on. I really enjoy public speaking at conferences and events.

Watch Steven life in action talking about the 30-minute trend challenge at London's Secret Sauce Conference last year.

What’s a typical working day like for you?

I don’t really have a typical working day as each day varies. I’m usually at SC's Manchester office for two days a week and the rest of my time I spend attending meetings in London or Berlin and speaking at different conferences.

Tell me something about your job or company that few people know.

We’re probably one of the biggest European media owners in terms of social media. We have over 220,000,000 people in our social media network with over 300 social media pages.

Office wall.

How is your approach unique?

Thanks to our wide social reach, we can leverage hundreds of social communities and essentially control what gets talked about online.

If you could name one person who has inspired you so far in your life, who would it be?

It’s cliché but Steve Jobs is one of my heroes. I admire him for being a visionary and being able to look past what was to help shape what would ultimately be.

What’s one thing that you strive to do in your career?

I'm worried about missing opportunities and having unfilled potential. So I strive to reach my potential in every aspect of my career.

What are the biggest challenges that you’re seeing in your industry and how do you plan on overcoming them?

In our industry, the landscape is always changing. With social media, nothing stays the same for very long so it’s important to stay informed and be responsive about the changes as that way we can tap into our client’s needs. We need to adapt accordingly, constantly think of new ideas and disrupt the way we’ve done things before.

Office basketball.

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far in your career?

That you can never really prepare yourself for anything. Prepare to be unprepared. It’s important to be agile and reactive so that you can remain at the forefront of your industry.

Office dog Louie mans the desk.