Influencers have become one of the most sought-after target groups of social media users for marketers looking to gain visibility and engagement in a crowded, noisy social space. Building positive relationships with trusted influencers can mean access to a much larger audience, not to mention the kind of earned media that simply can’t be bought.

But in the world of social media marketing, which spans industries, countries and demographics, it can be tough to narrow down a single list of influencers relevant across the board. That’s why you’ll need at least two lists.

Identifying Your Influencers

The first list should be brand-specific. These are the people who are your brand ambassadors - those who blog about your products, recommend your services to their friends, and generally engage with your company because they feel passionately about it. If you’re running a social promotion of any kind, identifying and engaging with your brand ambassadors and loyal fans can yield 16 times higher engagement rates than paid media and owned alternatives, according to a SocialChorus report entitled The Value of the Power Middle in Social Marketing. Finding those valuable people can be accomplished with tools like Klout, Traackr, Little Bird and others that tap into a variety of key criteria to determine visibility and share of voice on various social channels.

The second list you’ll need is broader and includes the people you can learn from in a social media space that is constantly shifting. These are the people who not only follow the trends but who also help to shape them. These people have more than just a high score on Klout or a large number of followers on Twitter or Facebook. The most helpful, informative and entertaining social media influencers have both high influence scores and top-notch skills in content creation, aggregation and dissemination, the willingness to engage with their fans and the personality and charisma to keep you coming back for more.

To get this list started, you could follow those on Forbes’s Top 50 Social Media Influencers list, or, more broadly, Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in the World. But if you’re looking for a handful of social media mavericks you can learn from every day by way of their generous posts, enlightening content and engagement with their followers, these are a few of our faves:

Mari Smith

Facebook marketing expert, speaker and author
Klout score: 74

Not only does Mari offer useful tips and strategies through her blog, e-newsletter and all the major social channels (where she’s very likely to engage with you directly), she also attracts some of the best guest posters around to fill out her content mix.

Gary Vaynerchuck

Entrepreneur, tech investor, and author of Jab, Jab Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy, Social World
Klout score: 85

Garyvee, as he is known on Twitter, practices what he preaches as he covers many angles online, including the personal, building up followers through genuine interactions.  

Jay Baer

President of Convince & Convert, social media marketing consultant and speaker, NY Times best selling author
Klout score: 82

With his blog ranked as the world’s top content marketing resource, it’s no surprise Jay is also a best-selling author and in-demand speaker worldwide. But if you can’t see him in person, you can still benefit from the informative presentations he generously posts to his Slideshare channel channel.

Ekaterina Walter


Co-founder and CMO @Branderati, Author of Think Like Zuck
Klout score: 79

Whether it’s on her personal blog, through her influencer consultancy Branderati or her guest posts on Forbes, Ekaterina is constantly sharing what she knows, and as a former integrated marketer and social media leader at Intel, she knows a lot about influencer marketing.

Mathew Ingram

Senior writer at Gigaom.com
Klout score: 81

A prolific writer and power social media user, Mathew is always on the bleeding edge of the latest digital media innovations, which he isn’t afraid of debating publicly. He’s got personality and he questions everything, which in this day and age, is a golden combination.

Ann Handley

Head of content at MarketingProfs.com
Klout score: 74

The Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, Ann is also co-author of Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business. She is also a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine and contributor to numerous publications. Clearly she’s got content well covered.

Looking to engage your influencers with a social promotion that gets them buzzing about your brand? Our social promotions platform makes it easy to generate leads and engage with your brand ambassadors across social channels. Contact us for more details.