The rise of a social media ‘experiment’ in Holmfirth

But six years on and the tables have turned; the pupil is now the master, and Maybury is effectively his boss. He now jokes about when she might sack him.

“I’ve always had a bit of an entrepreneurial streak in me,” she told The Yorkshire Post. “At the florist’s, I did all the flowers for my school prom, and l made 100 quid, and that was my first taste of business.

“My goal has always been to work for myself. I’ve always enjoyed being in that world. I’m not doing it for just a comfortable life – I’m aiming for the top.”

Such an ambitious journey could hardly have got off to a better start. Worthington was himself only 20 when he set up Worthington Brown, and if he saw a kindred spirit in his protégé, the feeling was mutual.

“Neil is one of the people who has really inspired me in business and, with his knowledge of branding and creativity, I don’t think I could have learned from anyone better. I know that sounds very cheesy, but I think I’m very, very lucky to have worked with someone like that.” says Maybury, who admits she was “winging it” when she started working for him.

After less than two years with the company, she decided to branch out on her own, founding marketing and social media firm Hollywood Agency in 2016. Five successful years later, Hollywood swooped for Worthington Brown, acquiring it this November to create a combined entity with £1.2m turnover.

“Hollywood Agency’s ethos is all about youth,” says Maybury. “We’re young, we’re with it, and we get it. We’ve all grown up with social media – we’re not trying to learn it at 40 years old.

“A lot of people have learnt business first and then social media has become a really big thing, and they’ve had to learn how to apply it. But I’ve grown up living and breathing social media. I’ve always known what worked, what would cause a splash, what would be embarrassing or cringey – so really, doing it the reverse way around was a lot easier, because I was so familiar with social media already, and it was just a case of applying that business side to it.

She adds: “If you had a football team of 40-year-olds, they’d have the skills, but they probably wouldn’t be able to deliver any more – and that’s how I feel about social media.”

Even Worthington concedes that his company would probably “just have fizzled away” without the new blood brought in by the buyout.

But Maybury’s youth was not universally seen as a positive thing. Some clients were hesitant, perhaps understandably, to entrust their social media budgets to such a comparatively inexperienced operator.

“When I first started in business, I used to tell everyone I was 24, rather than 19, and now I actually am 24, so I’ve probably got to that age when I can carry it,” says Maybury.

“But I don’t advertise my age – I don’t tell people – and I think when I get into a meeting with a client and I can demonstrate my social media skills, no-one bats an eyelid.

“It did raise some concerns to start with – people would think, ‘What does she know?’ – but we soon proved them wrong when we started delivering, and we’ve got clients now that we’ve had since day one.”

Hollywood Agency already has a couple of overseas clients – a gin brand in Switzerland and a toilet valve manufacturer in California – and Maybury has international expansion in her sights. A fluent Spanish speaker, she will be scoping out the potential of a Madrid office this spring, and a London presence is also on the cards.

“Social media management in Spain is absolutely an untapped market. You speak to business owners there and they’ve never heard of the concept that another marketing agency could manage your social media for you. It’s like they’re almost three or four years behind us. So that’s something that I’d really like to tap into and explore.”

There’s also the possibility of expansion closer to home: “Organic growth is what we’ve done for five years, but after buying out Worthington Brown we really got a taste for [acquisition]. We’re constantly looking, constantly assessing agencies in the area, and we’d be open to speaking to any of them.”

Maybury may have internat-ional ambitions and a brand that plays on US glitz, but ask why she’s in the business at all and her answer is Yorkshire-blunt.

“I want to be very rich. That’s the honest answer. I’ve always admired expensive handbags and nice cars, and I think the only way to get them is not to work for someone, but to work for yourself.

“I’d love to see Hollywood Agency continue to be successful, but I’m not doing it just for a bit of fun. I really do want this to make me wealthy. I’m hoping in 10 years’ time, I’m in Dubai – in a Lamborghini Urus!”

But youthful dreams sometimes founder on the rocks of reality, so what will she do if hers come to grief – and, aged 40, there is no Dubai, no Lamborghini?

“I’ll be employing the youth!” she laughs. “But also I’ll be diversifying. Whatever’s next is going to be something new, and if we’re on the pulse and ahead of the curve, I hope we can take that forward. Social media might be a thing of the past in five years – you never know!”

CV: Erika Maybury

Erika Maybury started working in 2011, at the age of 14, for a florist and continued until she left education at 18.

She took A levels at Greenhead College in Huddersfield, studying French, Spanish, Business, Law and Marketing.

At 19, she was taken on as head of social media at Holmfirth-based design agency Worthington Brown by Neil Worthington, who co-founded the company in 1990.

Within two years she left to found marketing and social media firm Hollywood Agency in 2016.

In November 2021, Hollywood Agency bought out Worthington Brown, and she became managing director of the company that had employed her just five years before. Neil Worthington stayed on as creative director.