Happy holidays! Our gift to you is this list of our top ten social media influencers. Enjoy!
1. Gary Vaynerchuck:
If you need a kick from behind to rev up your life, Gary Vee, as he goes by, is the man for you. He is frank and more than anything else, He is constantly engaging with his audience and even if you don’t find his advice to your liking, you can take a page out of his book when it comes to the way he treats his audience. On top of this, it’s clear that his passion is at the forefront of his persona. People are often drawn to him for his drive and success hungry dedication to teaching other on how to better their lives. His entrepreneurial spirit, which led him to blowing up the way he has, is still one of the biggest things that draw people to him.
2. Kelli Carlson:
Carlson is a self-proclaimed “#Collaboration Girl”. She is an Engagement Leader with the Wells Fargo Innovation Group, has written a ton of great content, and is a professional yoga instructor! She’s definitely a more typical person to keep your eye on and try to learn from if you are interested in growing within the marketing industry.
3. Gemma Craven:
Gemma Craven is head of mobile and social at McCann, making her one of the top go to people for a greater understanding of social content and strategy development. Her social media is filled with articles, which is essentially a perfect filter for what content you should really pay particular attention to. My favorite thing about her other than her apparent social skill set? She’s real. In a different way than Gary Vee, yes, but she lets her personality come through. Her feed is not just recycles articles she likes, but you see plenty of her as a real person as well.
Managing Director, Global Brand, and Agency Strategy for Twitter, Maheu is hella His voice is clear and fresh, even though he has been in the industry for about ten years, it is evident he is still enthralled with the industry. He came from Bluefin Labs, a TV analytics company, then Twitter bought them out (for $90 million) and brought JP on. His unique skillset is prevalent in both his social presence and Twitter’s. His background even before that is extremely impressive, including his position at Publicis Modem as the global CEO.
5. Kunar Patel:
Her history can be stated as such, “I advise Twitter’s biggest advertisers on content strategy. I was the first brand strategist at Percolate and used to cover mobile, technology and marketing for Ad Age.” This can be found on her about.me/kunur page. She’s an account executive at Twitter but is careful to make her own digital presence just that, her own. She shares great content and pictures of her life with her family. Patel’s twitter is refreshing, funny, and heartfelt. I’m particularly fond of her because I love learning about this industry but I also want to learn about it from real people. Her feed is filled with great material that you will actually want and need to learn about without any click bait type dangling.
6. Stacy Minero:
Minero is a social QUEEN! Her feed is always flowing with a steady stream of new content that you can tell is of genuine interest to her. Her feed is a great mix of her life at Twitter, her dog, and the marketing subjects she wants to personally share. Her particular social presence feels more relaxed to me, like in spite of her 5,000+ followers, you could just reach out and be friends with her. She is also a person of diverse interests, so no matter who you are, you could probably find at least part of her feed with something for you.
7. Savo Mauro:
This particular account is far more clear cut. His social media presence is centered around his pure, unadulterated love for ads. However, going beyond that, he has developed his own site called Ad Stasher, which is just what it sounds like: a site with awesome advertisements. Because AdStasher does not have its own twitter, Mauro often promotes it on his own feed. However, you get more from following him instead of just checking the site because you also get Mauro’s own opinions, extra content, and more; a very unique mix.
8. Lucy Aitken:
Now, if you really want to learn something, Lucy is your girl. She is knee deep in this industry and loves Reading her twitter makes me fall in love with marketing all over again. She will motivate you to keep trudging through the difficult clients and encourage you to fix the problems that need fixing. Not only that, but it is clear that she is always trying to learn and promote learning. What I found additionally intriguing about her is her background. She’s a case study editor for Warc, which is an online service offering “advertising best practices, evidence, and insights from the world’s leading brands.” Meaning she is at the forefront of change in the advertising industry, making her a great person to follow.
9. ban.do
Now, if all of this other stuff I have said and the people I have talked about up to this point have seemed nothing but dry and boring to you, look to the @shopbando team. Jen Gotch, Alli Labelle, Meghan Alfono, Annie Pontarelli, and the rest of their wonderful staff are extremely inspirational to me. I follow them on nearly all my social accounts and find myself waiting around for a new Instagram story or tweet. But, that’s just me. My point is to make sure your social feeds are filled to the brim with those that motivate and inspire you. Get rid of the social contacts you’re holding onto from your old hometown for no real reason. Unfollow the people you have muted because you’re afraid to hurt their feelings. Really think about who you are following and why. Are they beneficial to you? Do they make you want to be better? Make your social presence yours because in the end it is what you are going to be looking at and engaging with. Make social media a tool to your advantage, because that’s exactly what it’s capable of.
10. Now, lastly, I am going to do a shameless StrataBlue plug. But, I really do love our social. After all, that’s what we do! We scour the internet for all of the best content just for you, our beloved audience.
Well, that’s our list! Look for all of the above on Twitter and/or Instagram, and let us know who we think we should add!
