45% of digital marketers consider influence marketing as one of the best marketing techniques to generate revenue. Are you looking to adopt influence marketing to boost your business? Learn the dos and don'ts from the best digital marketing influencers in the industry. Digital marketing influencers help you transform your business by keeping up with the ever-evolving landscape and understanding the latest digital marketing strategies for business growth.
List of top 18 influencers with huge followings
With their extensive and willingness to share their unique knowledge, marketing digital influencers are a true asset to the global digital marketing community. Here is a list of the top 10 digital marketing influencers you should follow to boost your knowledge.
1. Ryan Dice
Popular: Creating customer value optimization
Follow Ryan: twitter • DigitalMarketer Podcast • Blog
Ryan Deiss is the CEO and Founder of DigitalMarketer.com and creator of the “Customer Value Optimization” strategy that has driven measurable results for just about every business.
Ryan launched his first web-based business in his college dorm room in 1999. He has launched over 40 different businesses in a variety of industries including health and beauty, home improvement, survival and preparedness, investing and finance, and more. Ryan continues his journey, inspiring young minds with today's most effective marketing techniques.
2. Neil Patel
Known for: Search Engine Optimization and Quicksprout
Follow Neil: twitter • YouTube • Podcasts • Blogs
A leader in SEO education, Neil Patel is listed in the top 10 online marketers by Forbes. He has helped companies like Amazon, HP, GM, and NBC grow by learning the best content marketing and optimization strategies from this marketing digital influencer. Former President Obama and the United Nations named him one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30. He is the co-founder of Hello Bar, Crazy Egg, Ubersuggest, and KISSmetrics, and his blog is a treasure trove of valuable information.
3. Gary Vaynerchuk
Popular: VaynerMedia
Follow Gary: twitter • YouTube • Podcast • Website
If you want to learn from the best, Gary Vaynerchuk is the perfect choice. He is a renowned expert who began his digital marketing journey at a young age and rose to popularity in the late 90s. He was one of the first influencers to make it big on YouTube. As a best-selling marketing author, speaker, angel investor, and owner of VaynerMedia digital marketing agency, Gary is one of the top 5 digital marketing influencers.
4. Ann Handley
Known for: Marketing Professional
Follow Anne: Facebook • twitter • LinkedIn.
Named one of the most influential women in social media by Forbes magazine, Anne is a Partner at MarketingProfs, which creates valuable training programs, free resources, and online events for marketing professionals. As the world's first appointed Chief Content Officer, Anne Handley has contributed significantly to our current knowledge of content marketing.
Her bestselling works include ‘Everybody Writes’ and ‘Content Rules.’ As a digital marketing pioneer, she inspires business owners to achieve real results in achievable ways.
5. Larry Kim
Well-known companies: MobileMonkey Inc. and WordStream
Follow Larry: twitter • blog
He is the CEO of MobileMonkey Inc. and WordStream, two of the biggest names in digital marketing. MobileMonkey powers Facebook Messenger and WordStream is a leading keyword research provider. Ranked the 8th most popular author on Medium, Larry is one of the top marketing experts in Facebook, Google Ads, and startups.
6. Rand Fishkin
Popular: Moz & SparkToro
Follow Rand: twitter • Youtube
Rand Fishkin is a well-known figure among digital marketing influencers. He is the co-founder and former CEO of MOZ, one of the leading SEO tools. He started his journey as an influencer in 2003 with a blog. The blog gained popularity and he turned into a consulting company and later released a software. Rand Fishkin left MOZ in 2018 to found SparkToro. This software and data business helps professionals understand their target audience and deliver quality content to them.
7. Lilac Block
Well-known companies: Relac Block Limited
Follow Lilach on Facebook • twitter • LinkedIn
Professional speaker and online lead generation expert, Lilach Bullock is a marketing digital influencer to follow to stay up to date on the latest in the lead generation space. She was featured in Forbes' list of “Top 20 Female Social Media Influencers.” Lilach Bullock has proven herself time and time again as one of the most prominent voices in website conversion, content marketing, sales funnels, and digital coaching.
8. Justin Howard
Well-known company: Sprout Social Inc.
Follow Justyn on Facebook • twitter • LinkedIn.
Justyn Howard, CEO of SproutSocial, has simplified social media management with easy-to-use tools and helped over 24,000 brands and agencies promote their business more effectively across various social media channels. One of the best things about learning from Justyn Howard is that you get to learn about new advancements in the social media industry. Justyn has been involved in building great social media management software to help users get real value out of social media. He has provided his audience with valuable ways to transform their social business.
9. Pam Moore
Famous for: Social Media Marketing
Follow Pam: twitter • Podcasts • Websites
Pam is one of the top digital marketing influencers who has taken the social media industry by storm. Her strengths lie in conversion optimization and social media marketing. She has coached beginners to professionals with the best strategies and techniques on enhancing social media content, brand development, social media optimization, and more. Her strong marketing and business development skills have helped her gain over 1 million followers.
10. Eric Siu
Famous Company: Single Grain LLC
Follow Eric: Facebook | twitter | LinkedIn.
Eric Siu is the co-host of the Marketing School podcast with Neil Patel. His extensive experience working with top brands like Amazon, UBER, and Nordstrom helps him create custom digital strategies to optimize your business and accelerate growth. Interestingly, if your business has an annual revenue of more than $5 million, you can connect with him on LinkedIn. He will help you develop the best marketing strategy for free.
11. Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey is an internet marketing expert and highly sought-after speaker who has worked for some of the world's leading companies, including Google, Experian, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Disney, ESPN, and ABC. For 20 years, Matt has taught online marketing at over 1,000 companies, conferences, and workshops. Matt makes online marketing easy to understand by breaking down complex information and presenting it in an entertaining way. Matt is the author of Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day, SOS! A CEO's guide to Digital Media, and Teach New Dogs Old Tricks. Matt is also a certified online marketing instructor with the Direct Marketing Association and a digital marketing instructor with Simplilearn.
12. Brad Geddes
If pay-per-click (PPC) is what interests you most about digital marketing, then Brad Geddes is definitely worth following. Geddes is a self-confessed PPC geek and the author of Advanced Google AdWords. He's also the founder of AdAlysis.com, which provides software to automate testing and action on AdWords ads. Geddes is also the founder of bg Theory, where you can learn all things PPC. As an official AdWords seminar leader, Geddes offers online training through Simplilearn as well as traveling the world to deliver on-site AdWords workshops.
13. Jay Bear
Digital marketing pioneer Jay Baer is a marketing consultant, speaker, and founder of Convince & Convert, one of the Internet's most highly rated digital marketing blogs and strategy consulting firms. With a unique focus on customer experience, Baer has consulted with over 700 companies, including Nike, Caterpillar, the United Nations, and 35 of the Fortune 500 companies. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hug Your Haters, Youtility, and The NOW Revolution. Baer is a highly sought-after speaker at events, inspiring and motivating digital marketers to persuade and convert.
14. Marcia Collier
Marcia Collier is the author of The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide: How to Connect with Your Customers to Sell More and over 40 “…for Dummies” books, including four books on eBay best practices and books on Twitter, Facebook and Social Media for Marketing. She is one of the world's leading ecommerce experts and educators and a popular speaker.
15. Brian Eisenberg
An early pioneer of online marketing, Brian Eisenberg is an internationally recognized authority on digital marketing. He is well known for helping marketers around the world improve conversion rates, churn out compelling content, and improve customer experiences. Eisenberg has been recognized as one of the Top 10 User Experience Gurus by members of eConsultancy and a Retail Influencer by LinkedIn. Eisenberg is also an IBM Futurist, was named one of the inaugural iMedia Top 25 Marketers, and is a recipient of the Marketing Edge Rising Star Award. He is the author of bestselling books such as Call to Action and Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It.
16. Madalyn Scholar
If Twitter plays an important role in your digital marketing, you need to be following Madalyn Sklar. A Twitter marketing expert, Sklar has 23 years of digital marketing experience, 14 of those in social media marketing. The Huffington Post named Sklar one of the 50 women entrepreneurs to follow. She hosts weekly #TwitterSmarter Twitter chats, bringing together hundreds of people for hour-long conversations about Twitter marketing. In just three years, #TwitterSmarter has reached 6 billion impressions. Sklar also hosts weekly #SocialROI chats, interviews digital marketing experts on the #TwitterSmarter podcast, and co-hosts the weekly Communities That Convert podcast.
17. Mari Smith
If Facebook is your game, Mari Smith is the name for you. Smith has been at the forefront of Facebook marketing since the beginning. With her distinctive blue branding and ever-bright smile, she has helped everyone from beginners to seasoned digital marketers get the most out of Facebook through her books, The New Relationship Marketing and Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Often referred to as the “Queen of Facebook,” Smith is a regular top social media power influencer on Forbes, and IBM named her one of the seven women shaping digital marketing. The fact that even Facebook has turned to her for help shows that Smith is the go-to expert for Facebook marketing.
18. Joanna Wiebe
Digital marketing is nothing without content, so we spoke with Joanna Wiebe, the original conversion copywriter and co-founder of Copy Hackers. Wiebe has consulted on optimized copy for companies like Tesco, Crazy Egg, Buffer, Wistia, Shopify, MadMimi, Intuit, BT, MetaLab, and more. She's also a popular speaker who teaches conversion copywriting in over 50 states around the world.
You can always find lists of influencers under 30, but the highest paid influencers and influencers for big brands aren't necessarily the most established, which is why they aren't on this list. We want to feature influencers who have proven that they and their methods can stand the test of time and won't fade away when the next big thing comes along. Choose from these 18 digital marketing influencers and you'll gain insight into best practices that can lead to better ROI for your business.