Social Media Blogs You Need to Follow Now
The number of talented social media experts willing to share their skills and expertise is growing every day, so to help you focus your reading list, we have narrowed down this overwhelming selection to a group of fourteen must-read bloggers. The social media bloggers we’ve featured below can help add value to your own marketing strategies, and cover a variety of valuable topics. Whether searching for Periscope guides, Pinterest selling techniques, Instagram best-practices, or your own blog post inspiration, there’s a good chance you can find it on the following social media blogs. Paradox solved.
14 Awesome Social Media Blogs (In No Particular Order)
1. Danny Brown
Danny Brown’s site is not your typical social media blog full of tips and tricks. Instead, he dives deep into what social media and marketing mean in the greater scheme of things to us as humans. He focuses on “how we can tell better stories; be better businesses; and live better lives,” because “after all, business comes and goes; but we only get one shot at being good people, in life and in business.” And a good person in life and business he is. Brown is a founder of the 12for12k charity initiative, was featured in AdAge’s Power 150 list, named one of Canada’s Top 50 marketing blogs, and won theHive Award for Best Social Media Blog at SXSW.
A post of his that we especially like is entitled “Blog Comments, Digital Universes, and the Future of Social Conversations,” and speaks to the way blog comments have largely moved to social media in a kind of hyper-extended conversation.
2. Socialmouths
Francisco Rosales built SocialMouths as a “vehicle to deliver free advice on what takes to be successful online,” which includes blogging, social media, web traffic, content marketing, conversion and email marketing. His numerous accolades include being given the top spot in Social Media Examiner’s “Top 10 Social Media Blogs” in both 2010 and 2014, being named one of the top 50 content marketers to follow by Cision, and being included in ShortStack’s list of 15 Social Media Blogs That’ll Make You a Better Online Marketer. Along with his own content, Rosales hosts posts from other experts in the field, such as Peg Fitzpatrick who we featured as one of the top social media experts to follow on Twitter.
An especially informative post of Rosales’ is his post on “How to Make Your Blog Images Perform Better on Social Media,” which offers an incredibly thorough guide that is definitely worth bookmarking. To find these images for social media, we’ve provided a handy list here.
3. Pamorama
Pamorama’s goal is “building buzz in a connected world,” and author Pam Dyer does just that. As a social media strategist, she has helped thousands of people and companies create, manage, and measure outreach efforts through social networks. She brings this experience to her blog, where she “helps businesses optimize their brands, create customer engagement, and drive sales by using social media channels and content marketing programs.”
An example of one of Pam’s posts that is especially helpful to content marketers, is her “9 Awesome Tools for Content Marketers and Bloggers.” This post recommends tools for idea generation, content improvement tools, and other extremely helpful resources.
4. Jenn Herman
Jenn is one of the social media experts we featured in our “15 Must-Follow Social Media Experts on Twitter,” and rightfully so. Her blog, Jenn’s Trends, has helped Jenn become a globally recognized expert in social media marketing, with a focus on Instagram. She was awarded the “Top Social Media Blog” award in both 2014 and 2015, and she lends this expertise to her consistently valuable blog posts about topics ranging from Instagram caption tips to Twitter polling advice.
An example of her highly helpful posts, Jenn wrote about “How to Organize Your Content for Instagram.” Recognizing that not everyone is posting in-the-moment or instant photos to Instagram, Jenn highlights different ways you can streamline the process when you have a content schedule.
5. Rebekah Radice
Rebekah Radice’s award-winning social media blog aims to shift three areas of social marketing: perception, execution, and profitability. Radice’s expertise lends itself to advice about branding, social media, content marketing, and overall strategy, which she writes in easy-to-digest posts.
One of her most helpful posts, “47 Social Media Ideas, Formulas And Shortcuts for Instant Improvement,” is highly-actionable, meaning many of the tips she gives can be put into practice almost immediately. A quick scan through should give you some guidance and tricks to quickly enhance your social media presence.
6. Jon Loomer
Jon Loomer is a digital marketing specialist and entrepreneur, as well as a top social media blogger, with a focus on Facebook. Through his social media blog, Loomer aims to help businesses and brands “make a difference with social media,” helping with this through informative and detailed posts. With his blog a complete online resource of advanced Facebook marketing tips and tutorials, it’s a great place to go if you’re having trouble or need inspiration with any Facebook-related business.
A self-professed Facebook ads geek, his recent post on “How to Target Your Most Loyal Website Visitors With Facebook Ads” answers some frequently asked questions relevant to his area of passion.
7. Convince and Convert
Founded in 2008 by Jay Baer, one of the top social media experts featured on our listhere, Convince and Convert is a company that provides expert advisors for companies in areas of digital marketing. This group of experts share their insight and knowledge on the company’s award-winning social media blog, with daily posts covering everything content marketing and, you guessed it, social media. The authors take relevant news and trends in the realm of marketing, and translate these into easy-to-read and understand posts that provide helpful information for both new marketers and well-seasoned pros.
Jay Baer’s post on how YouTube marketing strategy is a top priority for social media marketers is especially helpful, as it highlights the fact that “66 percent of social media marketers plan to increase their YouTube marketing in the near future,” and explains why this matters for your overall strategy.
8. {grow}
Mark Schaefer runs Businessesgrow.com, with the social media blog {grow} accompanying his business Schaefer Marketing Solutions. He has appeared on countless news outlets (BBC, CNN, CBS News, and The New York Times, just to name a few) and is “often cited as one of the most influential marketing voices on the web.” His blog will provide you with the information you need when hoping to excel in the realm of social media and content marketing, from career advice to content inspiration tips.
We particularly enjoyed his coverage of the best social media books. With the abundance of marketing and business books available, it’s great to have an expert’s opinion of which ones are worth your time and effort.
9. Ohsopinteresting
Some marketers think of Pinterest as a niche platform, but that’s simply not the case.As Mashable showed, Pinterest is one of the top drivers of organic traffic to a publisher, only beaten out by Facebook. Due to this information, Cynthia Sanchez launched the Ohsopinteresting blog in 2012 and has been sharing Pinterest marketing knowledge ever since. The information provided through Ohsopinteresting helps companies and brands use Pinterest in their marketing strategies to get the most out of the platform.
Sanchez’s blog features her 100 podcast project, which saw her record an ambitious number of podcasts on the topic of Pinterest and content marketing. One of our favorites explains how to succeed on Pinterest alongside the meaning of life, which truly shows how marketers can infuse their strategies with personality and soul.
10. Seth Godin
New York-based best-selling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin is well-known in the marketing and social media world. His blog, appropriately titled “Seth’s Blog” was given the coveted number one spot on AdAge’s Power 150 in 2009, and since then he has continued to offer top-notch marketing advice through the site.
Godin doesn’t pepper his blog with unnecessary jargon or complicated metaphors, but rather offers simple and understated advice and knowledge for his readers to consider. One such post is his “Simple Questions for Writers,” which is one to bookmark and contemplate before, during, and after any writing project. I have also found that thinking about answers to the questions in this post have helped kick off writing projects when I’ve been stuck, so I highly recommend taking a look.
11. Peg Fitzpatrick
As mentioned above, Peg Fitzpatrick was featured in our 15 Must-Follow Social Media Experts on Twitter post, and is an influencer who consistently appears on lists of the sort. Fitzpatrick recently co-authored the best-selling book “The Art of Social Media” alongside Guy Kawasaki, who called her “the best social media person he’s ever met.” In other words, she’s a pretty big deal.
While all of her blog posts provide incredible information, one of Fitzpatrick’s best is her guide on “How to Harness Your Authentic Voice and Think Bigger.” It’s definitely getting harder and harder to not simply repeat other content found online, but to stand out it’s important to master your unique voice. Fitzpatrick speaks to Todd Henry, the author of the book “Louder Than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice,” and highlights the main tips to help social media and content marketers find that all-important voice.
12. Pam Moore
Pam Moore is the CEO and Founder of Marketing Nutz, a social media and branding agency. She’s worked with Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, and Huffington Post, to name a few, and shares her learnings and knowledge on her company’s blog. Many of her blog posts include recordings from her Social Zoom Factor Podcast, including this extremely helpful one on how to maximize social media at events.
This helpful post lists common questions about the social media landscape at large events and conferences and provides episode highlights and clear, easy to understand answers–what every blog should aim to do.
13. RazorSocial
As one of the most trafficked social media blogs in the world, RazorSocial’s site is a great resource for information on tools and technology in the social media and content marketing world. With blog posts written by founder Ian Cleary as well as occasionally other experts in the field, the blog aims to help those entrepreneurs who are afraid or unsure of how to make online marketing work for them.
The blog posts on RazorSocial’s blog are sorted into the categories of “Blogging and SEO,” “Social Media Tools,” “Analytics,” and “Conversion Optimization,” so readers can quickly find what they are looking for. As lovers of GIFS, we especially enjoyed Cleary’s post on “How to Create Animated GIFS For Your Blog,” which offers a step-by-step guide on the topic.
14. Socially Sorted
Australian Donna Moritz is a social media and visual marketing powerhouse, and shares this expertise as a contributor to some of the largest media outlets in the world (Forbes, Yahoo!, etc.). Her passion for all things social media really shines through on her blog, making it a pleasure to read. On her blog, she provides a fresh take on the marketing world, and accompanies her posts with visually stimulating graphics and images (her specialty is infographics).
Moritz is not shy about trying new things, and one of her most helpful posts reflects that. Emphasizing the rapidly increasing role of video in social media and content marketing today, Moritz provided “21 Periscope Tips for Winning Broadcasts,” which is incredibly helpful with navigating the relatively new platform.
What do you think? Are there any other social media experts you follow who have helped you become better a social marketer?
No comments:
Post a Comment