At Snipply, we found that if you’re looking to build your knowledge and skillset in digital marketing, especially social media marketing, then following industry leaders is a must. These influencers can help you stay up to date with news and trends, which, as any good marketer knows, is a must.
They’re also not only great for the insights they provide but for the practical tips and walkthroughs they share from personal experience. Many of them also tend to have entertaining and uplifting personalities that can get you over the hump when it comes to motivation and having the right mindset.
Let’s take a look at 10 must follow marketing influencers below:
Jon Loomer
Jon has a pretty incredible story, where he was in charge of content, product, marketing and more of fantasy games for the NBA, even diving into how he helped Samuel L. Jackson manage his fantasy team. He writes “I will never forget sitting on a phone call with him during our draft as he considered his picks and made fun of the selections made by George Lopez.” It was then that he was exposed to the Facebook marketing platform, becoming one of the industries forefront experts. If interested in building your Facebook marketing skillset, this is a great place to have bookmarked.
Scott Monty
Scott Monty is a C-suite coach/advisor and speaker who helps executives improve their messaging, communicate with more empathy, and become virtuous leaders. He was the first Ford Motor Company to lead digital communications and social media. A marketing guru who covers a ton of subjects, his social media articles are always on point.
Gary Vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a media and communications holding company, and the active CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency servicing Fortune 100 clients across the company’s 4 locations.
Gary started out hustling, then transitioned his father’s local liquor store into one of the first wine e-commerce platforms resulting in growing the family business from $3–60MM in sales during a 5-year period. A constant and prolific media “madman” he’s not only entertaining but is on point with a lot of advice. He’s also a great motivator, so make sure to check him out if you are feeling stuck.
Rebekah Radice
Rebekah Radice is an award-winning social media influencer, and her blog is evidence of her expertise in this industry. Her blog packages common social media topics into solution-based content that tells marketers what they need to know. She also hosts a podcast called Brand Authority, further expanding on the challenges she examines on her blog.
Brian Solis
Brian Solis has been called “one of the greatest digital analysts of our time.” Brian is also a world-renowned keynote speaker and an award-winning author of seven best-selling books including, X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, What’s the Future of Business and The End of Business as Usual. His website covers tops around the future of work, growth marketing, new media, social media, and others, and make sure to follow him on social media insight for regular insights.
Aaron Lee
Aaron Lee is a social media manager and entrepreneur hailing from Malaysia. His talent in social media management, and his sincerity in life as we know it, has seen him educate some 500,000 people globally through AskAaronLee.com, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Instagram. His work has been featured in Forbes, Inc, Success.com, The Next Web, The Huffington Post, Social Media Examiner, and numerous other publications. He even landed #5 on Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers in 2013. He needs to be on your list of who to follow if you want to learn how to leverage social media to grow your business.
Karen Freberg
Karen teaches, researches, and consults in social media with her areas of expertise including social media strategy, social media pedagogy, and social media and crisis communications. She also conducts workshops and teaches classes in Crisis + PR and in the past worked with General Motors on these topics. Karen has partnered with brands such as Hootsuite, Hubspot, and Adobe on various education projects and initiatives and has published three books (Roadmap to Teaching Social Media, Digital Media Writing for Strategic Communication, and Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative strategies and research-based applications. Karen has been blogging for over 10 years, which means she has produced a ton of useful content to help you build out your social and PR strategies.
8. Andrea Vahl
Andrea Vahl is a Social Media Speaker and Consultant who is passionate about helping businesses understand and leverage the power of social media to actually grow their business. Andrea is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies and was the Community Manager for Social Media Examiner, for over 2 years.
She was named 50 Favorite Online Influencers of 2014 on Entrepreneur.com, 21 Best Blogs That Will Help You Grow Your Business on Inc.com in 2016, and Top 30 Women in Social Media by Boom Social. She’s also the co-founder of Social Media Manager School, a course that’s helped over 1400 people learn social media and start a business. If help with social media marketing (especially Facebook) are what you are looking for, then this is the place to be.
Mari Smith
Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing. She is a Forbes’ perennial Top Social Media Power Influencer, author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Fast Company described Mari as, “A veritable engine of personal branding, a relationship marketing whiz and the Pied Piper of the Online World.” Another must follow expert in order to up your Facebook marketing and branding game.
Niel Patel
Neil Patel is the truth when it comes to SEO and content marketing. He’s a leading SEO educator, a top 10 digital influencers according to Forbes, and the founder of Kissmetrics, an advanced behavioral analytics, segmentation, and marketing campaign automation platform. If building an e-commerce brand, he’s an absolute must follow.
If you loved the list make sure to follow our blog, as we’ll be adding tons of resources and commentary over the next few weeks on everything from social media marketing to growth hacks and automation.
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