A review of the Top 10 Best Social Media blogs, their follower numbers and Alexa ranking. Helping business owners find the right influencers for their audience.
How do you choose the top social media blogs or influencers?
One of the most influential blogs is Social Media Examiner, which publishes a list each year of best social media blogs. To get on this list you must qualify through their rules. Lists are a great idea, but how can you tell if they are the influencers you should be following? I have my own list of favorites, so I decided to compare them against the 2013 and 2014 Social Media Examiner lists.
My criteria is
Number of followers in each social media channel. Also did they make this easy to confirm? (If there isn't data in the charts below – then it wasn't listed on their site or other avenues that you could connect with them on.)
Klout score – though not everyone has one, it is one of the measures of engagement that is easily checked.
Alexa ranking, international plus U.S., page rank, time on site, and bounce rate
Here are the results:
Social Media Examiners Top 10 Best Social Media Blogs: The 2014 Winners!
- Jon Loomer http://www.jonloomer.com/
- Razor Social http://www.razorsocial.com/blog/
- Social Mouths http://socialmouths.com/blog/
- Post Planner http://www.postplanner.com/blog/
- Dustin TV http://dustn.tv/
- Danny Brown http://dannybrown.me/blog/
- Boom Social with Kim Garst http://kimgarst.com/blog/
- Jenn Herman http://jennstrends.com/
- Melanie Dodaro http://topdogsocialmedia.com/blog/
- Simply Measured http://simplymeasured.com/blog/
Social Media Examiners Top 10 Best Social Media Blogs: The 2013 Winners!
- Social Fresh http://socialfresh.com/
- Boom Social with Kim Garst http://kimgarst.com/blog/
- Jeff Bullas http://www.jeffbullas.com/
- Danny Brown http://dannybrown.me/
- Heidi Cohen http://heidicohen.com/
- Jon Loomer http://www.jonloomer.com/
- Light House Insights http://lighthouseinsights.in/
- Razor Social http://www.razorsocial.com/
- Pushing Social http://pushingsocial.com/
- 60 Second Marketer http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/
My List of the 10 Best Social Media Influencers and their blogs.
- Social Media Examiner http://socialmediaexaminer.com
- Amy Porterfield http://www.amyporterfield.com/
- Mari Smith http://www.marismith.com/
- Melanie Dodaro http://topdogsocialmedia.com/blog/
- Moz http://moz.com/blog
- Boom Social with Kim Garst http://kimgarst.com/blog/
- Social Fresh http://socialfresh.com/
- Edmond S. Lee http://edmundslee.com/
- Social Media Today http://www.socialmediatoday.com/
- Pam Moore http://www.pammarketingnut.com/
And a couple of BONUS ones for business owners that want a real advantage:
- Heyo http://heyo.com/
- Keri Jaehnig https://ideagirlmedia.com/
- Maximize Social Business http://maximizesocialbusiness.com/
- Jeff Bullas http://www.jeffbullas.com/
So how did they compare?
It is safe to say that no two lists will ever show 100% success on all channels. But that lists like Social Media Examiners can introduce you to Influencers you may not have heard of.
What this exercise confirmed about selecting influencers is:
– That they do not excel at every channel.
– They are not all on every social media channel.
– They have the most followers where they focus their efforts.
– Those with the most engagement on Social Media may have more followers. But more followers doesn't always convert into better Alexa rankings.
These are things that any business can put into practice.
– Select the right social media channel for your business – and the right one is wherever your customers are.
– Find the influencers that have a great understanding of working that channel to learn from.
– And start using social media to market to those clients like the experts do.
– BUT be sure you know what your goal is for social media and track your metrics for those goals.
- If you want your email list to grow then focus on the activities that draw them back to your offer or blog.
- If you want to increase social proof then focus on engagement and followers
So what tools do you use to find out where your customers are and who to follow on social media? Comment below and let me know.
Related links of interest to this article:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5th-annual-top-10-social-media-blog-contest-nomination/
http://blog.crazyegg.com/2013/06/04/dont-like-klout/
http://innetwork.net/2013/02/klout-alexa-other-social-scoring/