I wrote in my bio that I was/am still learning all that I can in about using Social Media Management to get ahead in any and all of our various projects. The way that I learn, is by following who I believe to be some of the smartest people in the industry. This new weekly, maybe bi-weekly, section of the blog will cover some of the more interesting topics that they are posting.
Let’s start with my blogroll:
- Chris Brogan- What I get from Chris, is the value of building a community around your Social Media Management game plan. In the header of his blog, it says “Community and Social Media,” community comes first, and this is something that I have taken a strong liking to. If you can’t build value for your chosen community, then you are doing it wrong. Chris blogs, vlogs, writes books, and works with media of any kind to publish his thoughs about all kinds of new media, he keeps it fresh and interesting.
- Johnny B. Truant- This blog is a combo of both inspiration and motivation, and online business help, and its AWESOME. Johnny is a rather open writer, taking the Third Tribe mantra “It’s okay take off the businessy mask, and just be yourself” to a whole new level. I think that’s what I love about his blog, the lack of “professionalism” in the presence of amazing content.
- Dan Zarella- The self-proclaimed Social Media Scientist, who writes good stuff and gathers great data. I follow him mainly for the latter, the data findings that he publishes are interesting reads and can be very helpful when starting to develop a Social Media Management plan. Much of his data focuses on Twitter, which is a weak point for me, so I use his knowledge to help bolster my weak points.
- Seth Godin- What started as a marketing blog, has developed into inspirational posts with a marketing/entrepreneurial twist. Seth posts often about the fears and challenges that we all face when trying to start new ventures. I also recently had a chance to see him speak at the St. Regis in Monarch Beach, and he is even more inspirational in person. If you were there, or you have seen his recent presentations, say it with me “I am a Genius!”
- Darren Rowse- The “ProBlogger.” Darren’s blog doesn’t help my ideas on Social Media Management, he helps to keep me blogging, and eventually monetizing my blog. He’s been doing it so long, that it would be stupid not to follow his advice, so I bought his “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” and started working with it (I got to day 5, and have been busy since, I should probably open it back up.)
- Glen Allsop- ViperChill is a “Viral Marketing” blog, or at least that’s what Glen would like to rank for. Glen only posts about once a week, but his posts are so content rich you quickly forget about that. I follow ViperChill for a couple reasons, the most important of which is learning how to drive traffic to my Social Media Management projects. How do I know that he is good at what he does? He is in his early 20′s (like myself), and is earning five figures a month (not like me at all). I want a piece of that pie, and he is open to sharing how to get it.
So that is a bit about who I am learning from, but it is far from all I read. In the coming SMC sections, you’ll keep finding out more about who I read, and what I think of whats going on in Social Media, so stay tuned.
To anyone out there, you’ve seen my blogroll, and can see a little about what I like to read, do you have someone that you would recommend that I read? Someone who is changing and shaping the Social Media Marketing game? Let me know in the comments…
