Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®

32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Mar 4th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Twitter

32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow

The social media marketing industry is bursting with innovative professionals — people who push the boundaries of existing social platforms, embrace new ones, and ditch low-performers.

With so many fine social media marketers, how do you find new innovators to follow on Twitter and learn from?

We’ve put together a list of 32 top social media marketers that includes a number of fantastic folks who may not already be on your Twitter “following” list, in addition to some industry stalwarts who those new to social media marketing would be wise to follow.

We’ve added a quote, tip, or short lesson from each to help inspire your own social media marketing efforts.


32 Top Social Media Marketing Influencers To Follow

4 Qualities Only Great B2B Marketing Agencies Possess

Alexis Hall
Alexis Hall on Mar 3rd, 2020
B2B Marketing

Northern Lights Over Lake Image

Is your agency a vendor or a partner?

In response to the shifting market and evolving role of the CMO, agency-brand partnerships are shrinking in average duration, less than three years now, compared to over seven in 1984. But strategic, strong partnerships between brands and agencies have become increasingly important as 64% of CMOs expect to feel more pressure to demonstrate tangible short term results in the next 2-3 years.

This pressure also signals a big opportunity for CMOs to demonstrate the value of marketing as a strategic function with organizations. The right agency, that can support the brand in a true partnership, can be critical in helping CMOs achieve their goals and win over the rest of the C-suite.


4 Qualities Only Great B2B Marketing Agencies Possess

B2BMX 2020 Wrap Up: B2B Marketing Evolved

B2BMX B2B Marketing Wrap Up

Over the past 10 years that our marketing agency has been focused on B2B marketing, there have been many changes: From the advent of marketing automation and social media to the growing popularity of interactive content, ABM and influencer marketing.

Staying on top of trends and best practices requires continuous innovation, education and cycles of marketing optimization. The reward for this continuous effort is staying one step ahead of the competition in the form of quality and performance.

Events play a big role in the ongoing effort to draw on the collective wisdom of the B2B marketing industry and last week TopRank Marketing wrapped up speaking and attending our 8th B2B Marketing Exchange conference. In case you missed the conference, here are a few highlights:


B2BMX 2020 Wrap Up: B2B Marketing Evolved

Digital Marketing News: B2B Content Lifecycle Study, LinkedIn’s New Featured Section, B2B Millennial Report, & Facebook Adds Story Discovery Feature

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Feb 28th, 2020
Online Marketing News

2020 February 28 Skyword Chart

Millennial buyers want better content from B2B marketers
Better B2B content is a top concern among Millennial buyers, as the demographic accounts for some 33 percent of overall B2B buyers, a portion Forrester’s newly-released report expects to grow to 44 percent by 2025. Digital Commerce 360

LinkedIn Launches New ‘Featured’ Section on Profiles to Highlight Key Achievements and Links
LinkedIn (client) began a gradual roll-out of a new “Featured” section, where users’ key achievements will appear near the top of profiles when starred from updates, the Microsoft-owned platform recently announced. Social Media Today

How the Fastest-Growing US Companies Are Using Social Media
87 percent of Inc. 500 firms used LinkedIn for social media during 2019, topping a list of how the fastest-growing U.S. firms are using social media, outlined in a recently-released UMass Dartmouth report of interest to digital marketers. MarketingProfs


Digital Marketing News: B2B Content Lifecycle Study, LinkedIn’s New Featured Section, B2B Millennial Report, & Facebook Adds Story Discovery Feature

The B2B Marketer’s Journey To Experiential Content at #B2BMX

Joshua Nite
Joshua Nite on Feb 26th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing

Ryan Brown Ceros

What makes an experience an…

B2B Marketing Experience?

Full disclosure: I am not on the design team at TopRank Marketing.

But you know what I mean. You’ve eaten dinner at dozens, if not hundreds of restaurants in your lifetime. But there are likely one or two that stick out in your memory. What makes them memorable?

That question drove an intriguing presentation at B2B Marketing Exchange, led by four expert marketers:

B2BMX Speakers 2020

Short answer: What makes experiences different and memorable is if they’re really good… or really bad. Anything in the middle tends to blur together in our recollection. Only the extremes stand out.


The B2B Marketer’s Journey To Experiential Content at #B2BMX

Award Winning B2B Influencer Marketing at B2BMX

IT Vangards

The 2020 B2B Marketing Exchange conference kicked off today with great workshops, case studies and a green light keynote from the talented Tamsen Webster.

Tamsen Webster Keynote Speaker

After the last executive marketing leadership panel, our president Susan Misukanis and I had the good fortune to attend the B2BMX Killer Content Awards.

I am very proud to say that in the B2B Influencer Marketing category, all three finalists were TopRank Marketing clients: Dell Outlet, Alcatel Lucent Enterprise and SAP.

ALE Killer Content Awards 2020

We are happy to share that Alcatel Lucent Enterprise won the 2020 Killer Content Award for best B2B Influencer Marketing campaign!

This is the second “Finny” that Jen Holtvluwer and Alison Munn have won working with TopRank Marketing. You can read the ALE case study here, which was truly an innovative B2B influencer marketing campaign, which featured the elements outlined below.


Award Winning B2B Influencer Marketing at B2BMX

The Influence of ABM in B2B Marketing: Top B2BMX Sessions & Speaker Insights

Influence ABM in B2B Marketing
2020 marks the 8th year in a row that I’ve presented at the B2B Marketing Exchange. During that time there have been many changes: within the B2B marketing industry, the strategies and technologies driving performance and in the programming at B2B events like B2BMX.

ABM in particular has experienced a rise in the B2B marketing world and evidence of that momentum is evident in the session topics, martech vendors and attendees at this year’s B2BMX conference in Scottsdale, February 24-26.

According to research from Demand Gen Report, 50% of B2B companies have been implementing ABM programs for more than a year and that number will continue to rise. With growing popularity, increasing numbers of marketers are searching for ways to incorporate ABM into their B2B marketing mix.


The Influence of ABM in B2B Marketing: Top B2BMX Sessions & Speaker Insights

Digital Marketing News: How B2B Buyers Pick Vendors, BuzzSumo’s New YouTube Insights, ABM Brings B2B Improvements, & How Brands Use Direct Messaging

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Feb 21st, 2020
Online Marketing News

2020 February 21 MarketingCharts Chart

B2B buyers consume an average of 13 content pieces before deciding on a vendor
B2B buyers say that they take in an average of 13 pieces of online content before choosing a vendor, consisting of eight vendor-made and five third-party elements, according to newly-released survey data from FocusVision, containing a number of additional insights of interest to digital marketers. Marketing Land

B2B Firms Are Failing To Integrate Sales, Marketing And Customer Success Teams: Study
Revenue growth is a top challenge for B2B brands, and some 84 percent of B2B sales and marketing professionals say that revenue responsibility rests with both sales and marketing, however 37 percent say the two functions aren’t optimally aligned — some of the findings in new survey data from Leandata and Sales Hacker. MediaPost


Digital Marketing News: How B2B Buyers Pick Vendors, BuzzSumo’s New YouTube Insights, ABM Brings B2B Improvements, & How Brands Use Direct Messaging

4 Questions to Drive More Productive Marketing Meetings

Anne Leuman
Anne Leuman on Feb 20th, 2020
B2B Marketing

Group at table conducting a meeting image.

Allow me to paint a picture.

SCENE

INTERIOR – OFFICE

The CAMERA pans to a worker, furiously typing on their computer. Headphones on. The keys CLACK with productivity until–

— A LOUD CHIME rings out.

The CAMERA zooms slowly to the computer screen. A meeting alert flashes across the monitor.

— The worker’s head hits the desk with a soft THUD.

We CUT back to the worker. Head hung in exasperation, the worker stops their typing, rises, and departs to attend their call.

END SCENE

It’s happened to all of us. Stop work. Attend meeting. Rinse and repeat.


4 Questions to Drive More Productive Marketing Meetings

24 Essential B2B Influencer Marketing Statistics

Lane Ellis
Lane Ellis on Feb 19th, 2020
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Business people throwing papers in the air image.

How important is influencer marketing to businesses in 2020?

Influencer marketing will see global brand spending of up to $15 billion by 2022 (Business Insider Intelligence), and B2B marketers who haven’t yet experienced its many benefits now have more research data than ever to make the case for starting an influencer marketing program.

Even if you’ve already developed an influencer marketing strategy, the wealth of new information coming out about its power to build trust and inspire action is growing, which is why we wanted to share 24 significant B2B influencer marketing statistics that combine to tell a compelling story that will alter your future campaigns.

Let’s jump right in with a look at some of the latest influencer marketing statistics.


24 Essential B2B Influencer Marketing Statistics

5 Key Traits of the Best B2B Influencers

Traits B2B Influencers

Marketers are still asking, what is B2B influencer marketing? Here’s a definition I’ve been using over the past 5 years or so:

B2B influencer marketing is activating internal and external subject matter experts with engaged networks to advocate and co-create content of mutual value that drives measurable business goals.

As the groundswell around influencer marketing rises and becomes a normal part of the B2B marketing mix, the volume of information and misinformation on the topic also increases.

One of the most popular questions people also ask about B2B influencer marketing focuses on what makes a good business influencer? By now we all know that popularity alone does not make someone influential. It’s certainly important, it’s just not the only thing.


5 Key Traits of the Best B2B Influencers