The business landscape of 2021 includes a wealth of B2B influencers who are shaping the future of marketing for 2022 and beyond.
To honor and celebrate our industry’s B2B marketing subject matter experts, including many who happen to be speaking at this week’s MarketingProfs B2B Forum virtual event, we’re thrilled to publish our annual list of some of the world’s leading B2B marketing influencers.
Each year MarketingProfs B2B Forum is filled to the brim with the latest insightful B2B marketing tactics and strategies presented by a powerhouse lineup of exceptional B2B influencers, and this year is no different.
MPB2B will take place October 13 – 14, 2021 and features a stellar group of B2B marketing professionals the programming team at MPB2B has carefully assembled, in an updated virtual format designed to bring you all the freshest industry knowledge without any of the screen fatigue.
In the spirit of helping B2B marketing professionals learn more and connect with new voices, we’ve compiled our latest list of B2B marketing influencers — many who will be speaking at #MPB2B — to follow and learn from in 2022 and beyond.
List Methodology — Relevance Rules: Our starting point for this year’s list is a focus on the increasing value of resonance in today’s B2B marketing landscape, highlighting influencers with audiences that actively engage with their content centered around the practice of B2B marketing.
Today’s B2B marketing influencers face greater expectations for sharing content than ever, and the experts on our list all rate especially well when it comes to audience engagement and resonance.
Using a variety of ranking signals, we’ve identified and validated the credentials of a powerful group of B2B marketing experts, utilizing influencer marketing platform Traackr along with other metrics.
Our list this year highlights the increasing importance of resonance over mere follower numbers, as audience size itself is not a predictor of a successful outcome, and we’ve also placed increased importance on the degree to which each influencer’s social activity drives engagement on the topic of B2B marketing among their audience.
A variety of criteria go into such a ranking, including:
- Audience resonance
- Topical relevance of the content each influencer publishes
- Network engagement with on-topic content
Online data for these rankings is pulled not only from Twitter, but also from blogs, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, SlideShare, and several other platforms — an important item to know, as many lists rely entirely on Twitter and don’t take into account relevant influencer activity from additional platforms in the social media universe.
Many thanks go out to each of these generous B2B marketing influencers who provide top-notch B2B marketing best practices, tips, and advice during this year unlike any other.
In our list for 2021 you’ll likely see a few familiar faces, along with many new B2B marketing industry influencers, together forming a refreshing mix of professionals to follow and learn from into 2022 and beyond.
If you’d like to follow all 50 top B2B marketers in one shot, we’ve made a handy Twitter list for you. Enjoy!
Ann Handley @MarketingProfs
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: KICKOFF KEYNOTE
Michael J. Barber @michaeljbarber
Brand Consultant and Marketing Strategist
Andy Crestodina @crestodina
Co-Founder & CMO, Orbit Media Studios
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: Start Here: The (Non-Obvious) Prioritized Framework for Digital Marketing
David Meerman Scott @dmscott
Limited Partner and Strategic Advisor, Stage 2 Capital, also Entrepreneur, Advisor, Keynote Speaker and WSJ Bestselling Author at Freshspot Marketing
Melanie Deziel @mdeziel
Chief Content Officer, StoryFuel
Margaret Molloy @MargaretMolloy
Global Chief Marketing Officer, Siegel+Gale
Jason Miller @JasonMillerCA
Director of Marketing, CreativeX
David Berkowitz @dberkowitz
Marketing Consultant, Serial Marketer
Joe Pulizzi @JoePulizzi
Joe Pulizzi, Founder of the Content Marketing Institute, Co-Founder of the Orange Effect Foundation and Founder, The Tilt
Stefan Doering @MrStefanDoe
Brand Strategy Lead, PwC
Lee Odden @LeeOdden
CEO, Co-Founder at TopRank Marketing
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: The State of B2B Influencer Marketing
Mark Schaefer @markwschaefer
Executive Director, Schaefer Marketing Solutions
Christopher Penn @cspenn
Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist, Trust Insights
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: What, Why, and How: Analytics Foundations of B2B Marketing
Justin Levy @justinlevy
Director, Social and Influencer Marketing, Demandbase
Larry Kim @larrykim
Founder, MobileMonkey
Amisha Gandhi @AmishaGandhi
SVP, Marketing, Tipalti
Ashley Faus @ashleyfaus
Content Strategy Lead, Software Teams, Atlassian
Tom Webster @webby2001
Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Edison Research
Dave Gerhardt @davegerhardt
Chief Brand Officer, Drift
Cara Hogan @CaraHogan27
VP of Enterprise Marketing, Tomorrow.io
Mary Ellen Slayter @MESlayter
CEO, Rep Cap
Jay McBain @jmcbain
Principal Analyst – Channels, Partnerships & Ecosystems, Forrester
Juntae DeLane @JuntaeDeLane
Founder & Chief Strategist, Digital Delane
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: Five Ways to Readjust Your Digital Marketing Plans for 2022
Jay Baer @jaybaer
Founder, Convince & Convert
Justin Keller @justinkeller
Vice President of Marketing, Terminus
Peter Isaacson @peisaacson
Chief Marketing Officer, Replicant
Pam Didner @PamDidner
Sales Enablement & Content Marketing Keynote Speaker, Relentless Pursuit
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: KEYNOTE with Pam Didner: It’s Time to Crush Your Campaign Plan
Joel Harrison @joel_b2beditor
Editor-in-Chief, B2B Marketing
Justin Rondeau @Jtrondeau
Head of Growth & Acquisition, Teamwork
Scott Monty @ScottMonty
Communications Executive, Chameleon Collective
Ashley Zeckman @azeckman
Vice President, Inprela Communications
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: The SCHITT’s Method for More Successful B2B Influencer Marketing
Chris Moody @cnmoody
Senior Directory, Analyst, Gartner
Corinne Sklar @csklar
Chief Marketing Officer, IBM iX
Jeannie Walters @jeanniecw
CEO and Chief Customer Experience Investigator, Experience Investigators
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: Three Universal Truths about Customer Experience
Jen Spencer @jenspencer
Chief Revenue Officer, SmartBug Media
John Jantsch @ducttape
Founder & President, Duct Tape Marketing
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: Rethinking the Customer Journey
Justin Gray @Jgraymatter
CEO & Founder, LeadMD
Kathleen Booth @WorkMommyWork
Chief Marketing Officer, clean.io
Maureen Blandford @MaureenB2B
Managing Director, B2B Unleashed
Melissa Ariana Case @startabuzz
Director of Content & Communications, ControlUp
Oli Gardner @oligardner
Co-Founder, Unbounce
#MPB2B Speaker, Presenting: KEYNOTE with Oli Gardner: The Marketing IQ Manifesto
Charlie Riley @Charlieriley
VP of Growth, Havoc Shield
Joe Chernov @jchernov
Chief Marketing Officer, Pendo.io
Matthew T Grant @MattTGrant
Director, Content Marketing, LeanIX
Gemma Davies @gdavies2
Senior Director, Head of Global ABM & CXO Engagement, Service Now
Gopi Kallayil @GopiKallayil
Chief Evangelist, Digital Transformation and Strategy, Google
Kelvin Gee @kgee
Head of Strategic Client Marketing, Central Programs, Oracle
Masha Finkelstein @masha3003
Marketing Technology Innovation and Best Practices, Intuit
Sangram Vajre @sangramvajre
Chief Evangelist & Co-Founder, Terminus
Tyrona Heath @tyrona
Director, Market Engagement, The B2B Institute, LinkedIn
BONUS: In addition to this list of 50 B2B marketing über-smarties, here is a list of some of our most insightful articles about B2B content marketing from the past 12 months:
- Inside B2B Influence: Brian Solis of Salesforce on the Future of Influence in B2B Marketing
- Top 25 B2B Content Marketing Influencers and Experts To Follow
- Inside B2B Influence: Sarita Rao of AT&T on Growing B2B Executive Influence with Social Media
- Equilibrium: 10 Tips to Balance Creativity and Process in B2B Content Marketing
- How Influencers & Best Answer Content Help B2B Marketers Dominate in Search
- 5 Tips for Promoting B2B Content Co-Created with Influencers
And here are the previous B2B marketing influencer lists we’ve published:
- B2B Marketing Influencers to Follow in 2020
- B2B Marketing Influencers to Follow in 2019
- B2B Marketing Influencers to Follow in 2018
- B2B Marketing Influencers to Follow in 2017
Thank you to influencer marketing platform Traackr for the use of their software to make this list possible, and to all of the top-notch influencers on the list.
Be sure to connect with TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden at the virtual #MPB2B conference,as he presents “The State of B2B Influencer Marketing” on Thursday, October 14 at 11:50 a.m. Eastern, and stay tuned for more B2B marketing industry coverage here on TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog.
