Top 100 Content Marketing Influencers and Brands

Every day, individuals and brands are creating and publishing as many as 27 million pieces of new content online. It’s no wonder that one of the biggest challenges content marketers face today is getting their content seen.

So what can your brand do to stand out and get a customer’s attention, and ultimately turn that engagement into sales for your business?

Onalytica asked ten of the influencers they’ve identified in their Top 100 Influencers and Brands to share their content marketing insights and top tips to help you improve your own content marketing efforts. Here’s mine:

Michael Brenner – CEO of Marketing Insider Group

“If I could ask brands and marketers to get one thing straight about content marketing it would be that “content” is not content marketing. An ebook or anything with the word “campaign” in it is not content marketing. Social media is not content marketing.

Content marketing works because the brand consistently publishes customer-centric content in order to reach, engage and convert buyers the brand would have never reached with more traditional (campaign-based) approaches. As a society we are searching for help online. And we are willing to engage with brand content that answers an important question.

We are all consuming more visual content. This will push brands to define strategies and to hire experts in the fields of design, photography, videography, data visualization, and visual storytelling. Finally, we’ll see much more Content Personalization. It’s tough to break through the noise. Brands will start to target content down to individual preferences, desires, and interests.”

What Other Content Marketing Influencers Are Saying

Joe Pulizzi – Founder of The Content Marketing Institute, Author of Content Inc., Speaker & Entrepreneur

“Content marketing is the fastest growing area of marketing for a reason – brands want attention and can’t get it without creating value “outside” the products and services they offer. It will be an interesting ride as more money moves from other sources into quality, targeted and consistent content.”

Mark Schaefer – College Educator, Marketing Consultant, and Author of Five Marketing Books including The Content Code

“We are clearly in a new phase of content marketing where great content is no longer the finish line, it is the starting line. The economic value of content that is not seen is zero. The content must move, it must be understood, and shared. Smart brands must develop a strategy around content ignition, as well as content creation.”

Steve Cartwright – Founder of FX Digital Pty Ltd, Digital Business Growth Expert

“Content is simply telling stories that attract and engage an audience and marketing is making that audience do something, together this is content marketing. Nowadays it’s much more important than ever, for every business to have a content marketing strategy. With such a strategy any business even one consisting of just one person can become an influencer within their niche, they can become an authority figure on social media, drive thousands of visitors to their website and best of all they can reap the rewards for years to come…. That’s the beauty of modern content marketing, I know, I’m an army of one.”

Rand Fishkin – Wizard of Moz, creator of Keyword Explorer, host of Whiteboard Friday, co-author of a pair of books on SEO, co-founder of Inbound.org, board member at Haiku Deck

Content is powerful. The right content, distributed the right ways, in front of the right eyeballs can build a business, spread a message, even change the world. But that reaching those right eyeballs is getting harder and harder, because in spite of the growth in content consumers, there’s a vastly greater growth rate in content creation and the noise saturating those distribution channels. For content creators, the message is clear — hitting the publish button on your amazing work is only the start of the process.

Sujan Patel – GM & Co-Founder of Web Profits, Co-Founder of ContentMarketer.io, Advisor at RealtyMogul

“Content Marketing is all about standing out from the crowd, USP and personalization. While these things are not new to the marketing world, they are just now starting to be applied to the world of content marketing. Standing out = content promotion, USP = adding a unique angle/hook & personalization = showing the reader a different journey/content based off interest. I personally am excited to see content marketers produce more promotable content that’s not the same old info and on a topic I actually care about! ”

Gerry Moran – Global Head of Social Media, Cognizant

“Storytelling is the future of content marketing. Successful brands and individuals will need to rise above the cacophony of discordant video, graphics and assorted posts to show they know how to deliver solutions — through storytelling. Each message needs to create an ‘a-ha’ moment. Each post will be required to teach. Each piece of content will connect the reader to the next step to solve for their personal challenge. Social media channels will change, hashtags and keywords will evolve, and video, graphics, and clever copywriting will always be the foundation of break-through messaging. However, the best brands, social sellers and individual will be able to mix up these ingredients to tell a story that attracts, engages and converts. Storytelling will help to simplify the complex and long buying cycles by passing on relevant content to increase conversion— which is the business impact we’re all looking for, right?”

Robert Rose – Chief Strategy Advisor for The Content Marketing Institute, Author, Speaker, Startup Advisor & Investor

“I’ve been in marketing for more than 25 years, and I truly think it’s one of the most exciting times in history to be a marketer. Traditional advertising is fundamentally evolving, direct marketing is becoming more complex, and the entire relationship with customers is shifting to creating differentiating experiential value. The ability we have, as marketers, to move beyond simply describing the value of our products and services, and into creating valuable content-driven experiences, adds an entirely new strategic purpose to our beloved practice. Let us not waste it.”

Jason A Miller – Former Global Content Marketing Leader at LinkedIn, Best Selling Author, Rock n Roll Photographer

“It’s never been a better time to be a content marketer. With the vast amount of data at our fingertips there’s really no question as to what content you should be creating for success. Once you lay that foundation then the fun begins with your content strategy: taking intelligent risks, pushing boundaries, and creating content so remarkable that it transcends a simple call to action. Playing it safe is so passé.”

Jeff Bullas – CEO at Jeffbullas.com Pty Ltd

“Behind the the simple 2 words…”content marketing” is a discipline that has become an art and a science. The art is the creative process of crafting of words, visuals, videos and audio that humans and brands use as the honeypot to attract traffic and build credibility and trust. The science is the technology that enables businesses to optimize and control their strategies at scale. This includes tools and and digital marketing automation platforms that are needed for managing the splintered media channels and networks that we are now confronted with. But many content marketers are not paying enough attention to the science of conversion and just banging out blog posts and hope they work in some way. All the traffic and the engagement from persistent content creation and marketing needs to be turned into real “ROI”. Leads and sales. Big brands often have the luxury and budget to just use content for brand awareness. But small and medium entrepreneurs need to focus much more on getting a return. If you don’t focus on that then the rest is just vanity metrics and noise”.

Mapping The Content Marketing Community

Onalytica was interested in finding out which content marketing influencers and brands were leading the discussion online. They analyzed over 410k tweets over the last twelve months, mentioning the keyword “content marketing,” and identified the top 100 most influential individuals and brand who were leading the conversation on Twitter.

Onalytica found that there was a very engaged community with discussions taken place between brands and individuals. Using their Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM), Onalytica has created the network map below, showing the #1 influencer Jeff Bullas at the center and the online conversations to and from the influencers in his network.

Top 100 Individuals

Here’s the list of the top 50 content marketing influencers Onalytica has identified, based on their analysis of all the individuals engaging on Twitter. To see the complete list, click on the download link below.

Download The Full Report

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Company	Influencer Score
1	@jeffbullas	Jeff Bullas	Jeffbullas.com	100
2	@jaybaer	Jay Baer	Convince & Convert	79.23
3	@JoePulizzi	Joe Pulizzi	Content Marketing Institute	73.99
4	@BrennerMichael	Michael Brenner	Marketing Insider Group	67.35
5	@neilpatel	Neil Patel	Crazy Egg & Hello Bar	67.24
6	@MarketingProfs	Ann Handley	MarketingProfs	67.1
7	@leeodden	Lee Odden	TopRank Marketing	56.95
8	@markwschaefer	Mark Schaefer	Schaefer Marketing Solutions	45.01
9	@FX_Digital	Steve Cartwright	FX Digital	42.29
10	@randfish	Rand Fishkin	Moz	40.11
11	@sujanpatel	Sujan Patel	Web Profits	40.08
12	@larrykim	Larry Kim	Wordstream	39.69
13	@GerryMoran	Gerry Moran	Cognizant	34.34
14	@heidicohen	HeidiCohen	Actionable Marketing Guide	32.4
15	@Robert_Rose	Robert Rose	Content Marketing Institute	31.7
16	@dougkessler	Doug Kessler	Velocity	30.22
17	@IanCleary	Ian Cleary	RazorSocial	29.45
18	@FeldmanCreative	Barry Feldman	FeldmanCreative	28.63
19	@NealSchaffer	Neal Schaffer	Maximize Your Social	28.52
20	@JasonMillerCA	Jason A Miller	Linkedin	28.37
21	@PamMktgNut	Pam Moore	Marketing Nutz	27.45
22	@Sam___Hurley	Sam Hurley	Optim-Eyez	27.2
23	@BrianHonigman	Brian Honigman	Honigman Media	26.76
24	@MariSmith	Mari Smith	marismith.com	25.61
25	@lieblink	Rebecca Lieb	rebeccalieb.com	25.49
26	@kimgarst	Kim Garst	Boom! Social	25.36
27	@PamDidner	Pam Didner	globalcontent.marketing	24.01
28	@seosmarty	Ann Smarty	myblogu.com	23.99
29	@stonetemple	Eric Enge	Stone Temple Consulting	23.66
30	@crestodina	Andy Crestodina	Orbit Media	21.69
31	@martinjonesaz	Martin Jones	Cox Communications	21.44
32	@RebekahRadice	Rebekah Radice	PostPlanner	21.34
33	@ArnieK	Arnie Kuenn	Vertical Measures	21.01
34	@GlenGilmore	Glen Gilmore #SocBiz	Gilmore Business Network	20.92
35	@TheSalesLion	Marcus Sheridan	The Sales Lion	20.6
36	@ducttape	John Jantsch	Duct Tape Marketing	20.51
37	@bryankramer	Bryan Kramer	PureMatter	20.22
38	@ShellyKramer	Shelly Kramer	v3b	20.21
39	@TedRubin	Ted Rubin	GoodXChange	19.37
40	@JuntaeDeLane	Juntae DeLane	University of Southern California	18.96
41	@DholakiyaPratik	Pratik Dholakiya	E2M	18.86
42	@ardath421	Ardath Albee	Marketing Interactions	18.8
43	@Steveology	Steve Farnsworth	The @Steveology Group	18.8
44	@Mike_Stelzner	Michael A. Stelzner	Social Media Examiner	17.49
45	@DrewDavisHere	Andrew Davis	akadrewdavis.com	17.34
46	@danielnewmanUV	Daniel Newman	Broadsuite & V2B	17.17
47	@dannysullivan	Danny Sullivan	MarketingLand	17.1
48	@ChadPollitt	Chad Pollitt	Relevance	17.08
49	@jasoncreation	Jason Burrows	The Creation Agency	17.03
50	@jeffsheehan	Jeff Sheehan	Sheehan Marketing Strategies	16.98

Top 100 Brands

Onalytica was also interested in finding out which brands were the most influential in content marketing, and below you’ll find the top 50. Download the full report to see which other brands made the top 100 list this year.

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@CMIContent	Content Marketing	100
2	@HubSpot	HubSpot	84.25
3	@Inc	Inc.	77.09
4	@Moz	Moz	72.36
5	@newscred	NewsCred	71.63
6	@B2Community	Business 2 Community	67.55
7	@hootsuite	Hootsuite	64.83
8	@copyblogger	Copyblogger	62.48
9	@SlideShare	LinkedIn SlideShare	61.86
10	@Entrepreneur	Entrepreneur	61.34
11	@toprank	TopRankMarketing.com	55.06
12	@socialmedia2day	Social Media Today	54.35
13	@contently	Contently	51.2
14	@Kissmetrics	Kissmetrics	49.52
15	@Econsultancy	Econsultancy	45.63
16	@Marketingland	Marketing Land	45.49
17	@marketo	Marketo	42.12
18	@SMExaminer	SocialMedia Examiner	41.26
19	@curata	Curata	36.14
20	@sejournal	SearchEngineJournal®	35.04
21	@semrush	SEMrush	34.48
22	@sewatch	Search Engine Watch	34.19
23	@eMarketer	eMarketer	32.65
24	@adexchanger	AdExchanger	31.36
25	@kapost	Kapost	28.92
26	@googleanalytics	Google Analytics	28.91
27	@Uberflip	Uberflip	27.99
28	@sengineland	Search Engine Land	26.89
29	@LinkedInMktg	LinkedIn Marketing	26.8
30	@ClickZ	ClickZ	26.74
31	@Adweek	Adweek	26.37
32	@addthis	AddThis	26.36
33	@CoSchedule	CoSchedule	25.33
34	@MarketingUK	Campaign: Brands	24.69
35	@Visually	Visually	24.5
36	@BuzzSumo	BuzzSumo	23.98
37	@unbounce	Unbounce	23.84
38	@mashsocialmedia	Mashable SocialMedia	23.28
39	@GrowthHackers	GrowthHackers	22.78
40	@Outbrain	Outbrain	22.05
41	@scoopit	Scoop.it	21.62
42	@Crowdfire	Crowdfire	21.27
43	@convince	Convince & Convert	20.24
44	@Skyword	Skyword	20.22
45	@PRDaily	PR Daily	19.68
46	@CMO_com	CMO.com	19.1
47	@TrackMaven	TrackMaven	19.1
48	@TheSocialMs	The Social Marketers	17.88
49	@relevance	Relevance	17.56
50	@cmswire	CMSWire.com	17.23

I hope you found the top content marketing influencers report helpful?

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