This business will make you humble. While Marty and I were assembling the final appendix of our newest Wiley book, The Complete Social Media Community Manager’s Guide: Essential Tools and Tactics for Business Success, we made a massive list of everyone we could think of who was a total marketing genius.
Naturally, the list underwent several drafts. We try to balance our praise in different channels for the people we truly follow. Our process in this case was to trim some geniuses we had previously given special callouts to in various ways (like Killer Facebook Ads). They were taken from the final draft so that we could hit the projected word count for the appendices.
A Celebration Gone Wrong
Upon publication of the book in January, we sent out an email to those featured on the Must-Follow Online Marketing Geniuses list, but (much to our embarrassment) it wasn’t until later we realized that the version of the appendix from which we built the contact list was not the final version – ergo, we emailed people whose names were not in the final version that was printed in the book.
As representatives of a brand and caring a lot about friends, our responsibility is to be as flawless as possible. That said, misfired tweets or emails and typos can happen to anyone– we are, after all, only human. Sometimes they’re the end of the world. Oftentimes, they’re not. But mistakes do need to be addressed. The only thing worse than screwing up in public is pretending no one saw it happen.
We want to take this time to apologize for anyone’s feelings that may have been hurt by this oversight. Everyone on the original list of our industry inspirations, reposted below, is truly a genius.
Must-Follow Online Marketing Geniuses
Welcome to a directory of your future super-BFFs. Alright, not exactly, but this appendix boasts a giant round-up of folks who know what’s up when it comes to the Interwebz.
Not everyone on the list is a community manager—some specialize in PPC, SEO, analytics, mobile, and so on. But, like we hope this book has taught you, it’s important for social media CMs to be well-informed on all-things online marketing. Besides, these are cool people you should know anyway if you’re kicking it in this industry.
You can find almost all of them on Twitter, where they often talk shop and trade valuable resources. Reach out and say hi. They don’t bite.
- Aaron Wall – @seobook
- Adam Audette – @audette
- Addie Conner – @SocialCodeInc
- Alex Cohen – @digitalalex
- Akvile Harlow – @akvileharlow
- Amy Vernon – @amyvernon
- Andrew Goodman – @andrewgoodman
- Andrew Shotland – @localseoguide
- Andy Atkins-Krueger – @andyatkinskruge
- Andy Beal – @AndyBeal
- Ann Smarty – @seosmarty
- Annie Cushing – @AnnieCushing
- Avinash Kaushik – @avinash
- Ben Pfeiffer – @benpfeiffer
- Bill Hunt – @billhunt
- Brad Geddes – @bgtheory
- Brent D. Payne – @BrentDPayne
- Brett Tabke – @btabke
- Brian Chappell – @brianchappell
- Brian Ussery – @beussery
- Casie Gillette â€- @Casieg
- Chris Sherman – @CJSherman
- Chris “Silver” Smith – @si1very
- Chris Winfield – @chriswinfield
- Christine Churchill – @keyrelevance
- Cindy Krum – @Suzzicks
- Crispin Sheridan – @CrispinSheridan
- Dana Lookadoo – @lookadoo
- Danny Sullivan – @dannysullivan
- David Mihm – @davidmihm
- Debra Mastaler – @debramastaler
- Dennis Goedegebuure – @TheNextCorner
- Derek Edmond – @derekedmond
- Disa Johnson – @airdisa
- Elisabeth Osmeloski – @elisabethos
- Gary Vaynerchuck – @garyvee
- Greg Boser – @gregboser
- Greg Finn – @gregfinn
- Guy Kawasaki – @guykawasaki
- Heather Lloyd-Martin – @heatherlloyd
- Hollis Thomases – @hollisthomases
- Imelda Khoo – @imeldak
- Jennifer Lopez – @jennita
- Joanna Lord – @JoannaLord
- Joe Kerschbaum – @JoeKerschbaum
- John Andrews – @johnandrews
- John Thralow – @jonthralow
- Jonah Stein – @jonahstein
- Jonathan Kerr – @jonathankerr
- Jordan Kasteler – @JordanKasteler
- Julia Roy – @juliaroy
- Kalena Jordan – @kalena
- Keri Morgret – @KeriMorgret
- Kerstin Baker-Ash – @bakerash
- Kevin Spidel – @kspidel
- Lisa Barone – @lisabarone
- Lisa Buyer – @lisabuyer
- Lisa Grimm – @lulugrimm
- Liz Strauss – @lizstrauss
- Mari Smith – @MariSmith
- Matt McGee – @mattmcgee
- Matt Siltala – @Matt_Siltala
- Matt Van Wagner – @mvanwagner
- Manny Rivas – @mannyrivas
- Megan Leap – @meganleap
- Melissa Mackey – @mel66
- Merry Morud – @MerryMorud
- Michael Dorausch – @chiropractic
- Michael Gray – @graywolf
- Michael Streko – @streko
- Mona Eisley – @webmona
- Monica Wright – @monicawright
- Purna Virji – @purnavirji
- Rand Fishkin – @randfish
- Rand Hah – @littleredbook
- Renee Revetta – @ReneeRevetta
- Rhea Drysdale – @rhea
- Ric Dragon – @ricdragon
- Richard Zwicky – @rzwicky
- Ruth Burr – @ruthburr
- Sam Crocker – @SamuelCrocker
- Scott Hendison – @shendison
- Shelly Kramer – @shellykramer
- Simon Heseltine – @SimonHeseltine
- Tamar Weinberg – @tamar
- Ted Rubin – @TedRubin
- Todd Friesen – @oilman
- Todd Mintz – @toddmintz
- Will Scott – @w2scott
- William Leake – @Marketing_Bill
