Digital marketing influencers
Who are these mythical experts who are the top influencers in digital marketing and how can they help you improve your business?
Simply put, a digital marketing influencer is an expert in online selling. Moreover, they use social media to get their message out into the world. Most of them have found a digital formula that works and has decided to share that knowledge. In part, this is a charitable urge. But, it also serves the purpose of driving more traffic to their businesses and any courses they may offer.
These individuals are not to be confused with social media influencers. Influencers are generally young people whose online popularity has been leveraged by companies who regularly send them products for review (most commonly clothes, make-up, and games).
Let’s have a look at some of the most famous digital marketers and what they offer.
Top 5 influencers in digital marketing
#1 NEIL PATEL
It seems fitting to rank Neil as number one since his SEO expertise means he’s never out of marketing expertise search listings. A New York Times bestselling author, whose books include The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking and The Advanced Guide to Content Marketing, Neil runs his own SEO marketing agency, NP Digital, and posts regularly on his popular blog. He was also recognized as a Top 100 Entrepreneur under 30 by President Obama and has been feted by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine.
#2 LILACH BULLOCK
Lilach classes herself as a business coach and digital matchmaker. She began, inauspiciously without degrees or qualifications, offering a digital PA service. She says her love of travel and commitment to being a mum directed her career aspirations into the digital realm and she was voted Mumpreneur of the Year by the UK government. After initial setbacks, she became an early adopter of the content marketing model and her articles have featured in Forbes, The Telegraph, Wired, and The Huffington Post. She also writes an inspiring blog and her clients have included IBM, Dropbox, Amazon Alexa, HootSuite, and Twitter.
#3 RYAN DEISS
Founder and CEO of hugely influential website digitalmarketer.com, Ryan is based in Austin, Texas, that cool hub of southern creativity. As well as offering all sorts of training and learning resources for digital marketers, his blog hosts new content almost daily. There’s also a useful and entertaining weekly podcast with special guests. He’s also the founder of Scalable.co, a business aiming to take entrepreneurs to the next level. He describes Scalable as “a community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs who have no idea what they’re doing, and are willing to admit it.”
#4 RAND FISHKIN
Part of Rand’s personal brand is his admirable mustache and tall hair combo. He certainly stands out in a world of button-down shirts and sensible haircuts. More importantly, his SparkToro product crawls the web to bring marketers hard to get data about their audience’s behavior. He’s a popular keynote speaker and another expert in the arcane art of SEO, having co-founded optimization tool Moz after dropping out of the University of Wisconsin. His book Lost and Founder tells his rags to riches to rags to even bigger riches with humor and honesty.
#5 ANN HANDLEY
A popular keynote speaker and an adopter of the “tiny house” movement. Ann is also the best-selling author of Everybody Writes Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content. She’s an expert in well-crafted and targeted content marketing. She also runs a marketing and training company MarketingProfs.com offering seminars on a one-to-one or corporate basis. Her blog offers marketing knowledge through better content and copywriting. In addition, her fortnightly newsletter Total Anarchy is one you won’t delete from your inbox without reading.
Influencers on Instagram
Here are some of the top gurus on Instagram:
LARRY KIM – Founder of MobileMonkey, the chatbot marketing service, was named Search Marketer of the Year four times between 2013 and 2017. His pieces on Instagram marketing for Medium.com are well worth a read.
MATT SMITH – Matt’s Later tool is the number one app for scheduling and optimizing Instagram posts. The site’s blog is a useful resource for all things social media and his articles for Entrepreneur are always entertaining.
ZACH BENSON – Zack founded Assistagram, a specialist Instagram marketing agency, to help marketers use the algorithms within Instagram to drive traffic, likes, and shares. He leverages his 220 million Instagram followers to this end and is phenomenally successful.
Influencers on Facebook
According to Hubspot’s 2020 Marketing Statistics Report, over 80 million small businesses use Facebook’s advertising tools. If you want to focus on Facebook marketing, let these experts guide you:
PAM MOORE – Founder of Marketing Nutz, Pam was ranked as a Top Ten Digital Marketing Influencer by Forbes Magazine. Her diverse client roster includes Playstation, Holiday Inn, Adobe, and the British Council.
MARI SMITH – Mari is a specialist in boosting audience reach on Facebook, given how tricky it is for Facebook users to extend their influence beyond their personal “organic” circle Forbes Magazine called her the “preeminent Facebook expert”, adding that “even Facebook asks for her help”.
PATRICK WIND is an up-and-coming trainer in the subtle art of digital marketing and has a particular focus on Facebook. He lectured at business schools and universities across Europe. He also runs the AdsAccelerator program.
Creators and disruptors
Whether you’re looking for a seasoned pro or a young disruptor, there’s a wealth of knowledge out there. More specifically, much of it is available through blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels for free. And if you wanted to reach these creators directly you can use a tool like FastPeopleFinder or PeopleFindFast to contact them.
In conclusion, we hope this brief selection has whetted your appetite to learn and grow your business. Start by seeking out the hard-won advice of digital marketing influencers far and wide. Happy hunting!
We’re curious to hear your thoughts on the top digital marketing influencers. Feel free to reach out and tell us what you think.
