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If you’re looking to improve in your field, it’s always a good idea to look to other professionals in the industry to see where they’ve been successful and to learn about how they’ve achieved this success. Digital marketing is no different, and just because Matt Cutts is officially no longer with Google, it doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of industry experts tweeting and writing blog posts that could tremendously impact your professional education.
Below we’ve compiled a list of 5 digital marketing influencers that online marketing agencies have deemed worth checking out online:
Rand Fishkin
Rand Fishkin is a search-marketing expert, founder of Moz (an incredibly successful software company) and co-founder of Inbound.org. If you choose to follow him you’ll learn a ton about SEO best practices as well as how human behavior influences search results (if this is a topic you’re interested in, you might also want to check out this article from the Miami SEO Company). He’s known for his “whiteboard Friday’s”—engaging videos Fishkin posts on Moz which show him explaining various hot topics in the industry through his use of a digital whiteboard. Fishkin is someone you will see on a lot of lists because he has been an influencer for so long, but he deserves it!
You can find Fishkin on Twitter @randfish and read his posts/watch his videos on Moz.com.
Jeff Bullas
Jeff Bullas is known for his knowledge of social media marketing. He blogs at JeffBullas.com, he’s a best-selling author, and he’s been the keynote speaker at numerous events in the digital marketing industry. By following him you’ll have access to how-to articles with step-by-step instructions on how to apply his advice to your own company’s social media marketing strategy. He’s great at thinking outside the box and coming up with unique ideas for even the smallest budgets. He has over 301,000 followers and generally receives 6 retweets for every tweet he produces. It’s no wonder he was named number 11 on Forbes list of top 50 social media influencers. You can follow him on Twitter @JeffBullas, check out his blog (linked posted above), or look for his articles at The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Forbes, and more.
Avinash Kaushik
Avinash Kaushik is a world-renowned expert on Google Analytics, CEO of Market Motive, a best-selling author, and an active blogger. He makes even the most dense data analysis seem simple in his easy-to-apply articles. His business, Market Motive, carries on his love of teaching and learning by providing online classes and certifications in field such as SEO, social media, web analytics, and paid search advertising, among others. He has 152,000 followers who retweet his every thought approximately 13 times. He blogs at Occam’s Razor and can also be found by his Twitter handle @avinash. If you want to learn more about Google Analytics, you can also check out this article from No Risk SEO.
Ann Handley
Ann Handley has made incredible strides in the field of content marketing. In addition, she’s also a best-selling author, she co-founded the site ClickZ, she writes for numerous publications including Entrepreneur.com, and she’s the chief content officer for MarketingProfs. MarketingProfs provides tools, training, strategies, discussion forums, and more for everyone from individual marketers to large marketing teams and organizations. Her website, ClickZ, also provides articles, reports, webinars, and statistics for anyone looking to learn more about content marketing best practices. She has 381,000 followers for her Twitter handle, @marketingprofs, and can also be found at her website AnnHandley.com.
Melonie Dodaro
Melonie Dodaro is an expert on LinkedIn, an author, and CEO of Top Dog Social Media. She blogs at Top Dog on everything from LinkedIn to content marketing to how to optimize social media sites, like Facebook. In addition to blogging, Top Dog Social Media helps businesses create their own social media strategy. Melonie is a keynote speaker and prides herself on her ability to help companies see through the extra stuff present on social media in order to focus on the most important elements they need to achieve success. She can be found at the Top Dog blog, on Twitter @MelonieDodaro where she has amassed 106,000 followers, and on LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/MelonieDodaro.
Anytime you’re interested in following someone from your industry we recommend finding them on social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+ are great places to start. In addition to the social scene, most influencers have some type of blog or personal website you can access to find helpful articles, tips, and advice they provide for anyone who is interested. More and more people are also utilizing video to teach new skills and strategies, and these tutorials are generally published on their website/blog as well as on social media.
It’s also not uncommon for industry professionals to guest post on sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, Huffington Post, and The New York Times. We recommend doing some extensive online searching in order to find everything they have to offer and truly benefit from their expertise.
Who do you follow in order to stay up-to-date in your profession? Where do you go to seek out these experts? Comment in the section below!
Image Credits: twitter.com
Feature Image Credit: thenextweb.com