Thought Leaders

It is important in any industry, no matter what level you are at, to keep learning. I am always looking around in my community to hear what others are thinking and compare notes. Thankfully many of the leaders in Social Media publish, sharing their knowledge and insights regularly. They are a joy to learn from. I put together this list so that you might benefit from their generosity as well.

There are quite a few thought leaders in social media. Identifying and selecting the best of the best is completely subjective, but I feel that the folks I’ve listed below are true stand outs in the pack. Without further adieu – the 20 best social media experts have been shared along with a bit of their backgrounds, accomplishments and key achievements (in no particular order).

Chris Brogan. Author of New York Times Bestseller, Trust Agents and president of New Marketing Labs in Boston, Chris is a true social media Guru. He has more than 108,000 followers on Twitter and 48,050 blog subscribers and I am one of them.

Gary Vaynerchuk. Famous wine aficionado, Gary is a living example of how to make social media work for your business and brand. He single-handedly transformed his family’s annual retail wine store profits from $4 million to $50 million through video posts on Wine Library TV. He has more than 850,000 followers on Twitter and 42,000 Facebook fans. Using  social media, he has democratized oenophilia.

Amy Jo Martin. Founder of digital integration and social media agency, Digital Royalty, Amy works with entertainment brands, professional athletes, sports teams and organizations to catapult them into the online here and now. She’s a social media maven to the core.

Jay Baer. Having worked with some of the biggest brands, Jay founded five companies and spent 15 years running digital marketing agencies. His highly popular blog, Convince and Convert, provides readers with social media strategic planning and consulting advice that is on the cutting edge of technology.

Felicia Day. A canadian-born actress and self-proclaimed ‘media geek’, Felicia is a social media phenomenon. She’s the producer of a YouTube web series called The Guild which garnered more than 15 million views and has appeared in the Internet musical, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It may not sound like much, but she’s an amazing expert at integrating her brand into social media. Nearly 1.7 million Twitter followers can’t be wrong.

David Meerman Scott. A marketing strategist and author, David has a knack for predicting social media trends before they occur. His best selling book, ‘The New Rules of Marketing & PR’, is being followed-up with ‘Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs’. He is an an active online social media contributor and speaker.

Guy Kawasaki. A founding partner of technology venture capitalist group Garage and co-founder of online magazine rack site, Alltop.com, Guy has written nine business and marketing books. He began with Apple and has since transformed himself into a social media leader that consistently remains ahead of the curve with his social media insight.

Mari Smith. Dubbed by Fast Company as the ‘Pied Piper of Online’, Mari is a social media business coach and strategy expert for small businesses. She is her own best case study for brand development. She regularly travels the speaker circuit sharing advice and providing social media training to thousands. I love her trademark blue shirt.

Jeremiah Owyang. A partner at Altimeter Group and columnist for Forbes CMO Network, Jeremiah  interprets news as a web strategist and reviews technology products as they are related to social media. His blog is currently ranked at #28 by AdAge Power 150. I always come away with great insights after reading his blog.

Valeria Maltoni. Listed as a Top Marketer for 2009 in AdAge, Valeria’s blog Conversation Agent is one of the top online blogs in the world. She was handpicked by Fast Company as an expert blogger to write about creating conversations between the customer and marketer and built one of the first online communities connected to a magazine.

I’ll be posting the second half of the social media expert list next week. Stay tuned.

3 Responses to “Top 20 Social Media Rockstars (part 1)”

1. Tweets that mention Top 20 Social Media Rockstars (part 1) | leilimckinley.com -- Topsy.com says:

   March 31, 2010 at 5:52 am

   [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jackie Northedge, Best Sellers. Best Sellers said: Top 20 Social Media Rockstars (part 1) | leilimckinley.com: http://bit.ly/9dBTkf [...]
2. Jay Baer says:

   March 31, 2010 at 3:22 pm

   Leili – Thanks for including me on such an incredible list of super smart social media folks. The better news is that I’ve met all of these folks (except for Felicia), and they are universally good people in real-life, which makes it a whole lot easier to root for them online. I’m not sure I belong on this list, but I’ll try to keep up!
3. Leili McKinley says:

   March 31, 2010 at 11:15 pm

   Jay,

   You absolutely do belong on this list. I have devoured every last morsel of information from your blog and will continue to do so. As you said, when people first visit your blog make them feel welcome. So a big Aloha to you. Hopefully, one of these days I will get off this island and get to meet you in person. Thank you for sharing so much incredible info and contributing to our community.

   PS If you ever decide to come my way – Maui – Let me know

   Leili
4. Caiti B says:

   April 8, 2010 at 10:57 pm

   Just a note. Felicia Day was not born in Canada. I know Canada rocks but she is from the states…