50 Top Content Marketing Influencers #CMWorld 2016

Without question, the Content Marketing World conference is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to all things content. This is where I should segue into a Death Star reference and something about a love child between Joe or Robert and Princess Leia. Or was it Chewbacca? I kid.

What I'm not kidding about is that there are over 150 speakers at Content Marketing World that have spent numerous hours researching, planning and crafting presentations as well as practicing and coordinating their travel and stay at the event. When you think about it, the cumulative amount of content created amongst all those speakers isn't just formidable, it's outright impressive.

As you may know, I'm very interested in influence when it comes to marketing and events create an ideal opportunity to identify, qualify and rank the social influence of the speakers that have worked so hard to deliver useful information to attendees. That's exactly what I've done with this post and the 2016 Content Marketing World speakers.

Keep in mind, this is not a popularity list of marketers or a subjective list of personal favorites. It is a researched group of those who are most influential for “content marketing” based on social media and blog content on the web.

To create this list of 50 content marketing influencers, we used our client, Traackr's, influencer marketing platform and their filtering methodology that combines topical relevance, resonance of that topic amongst the influencer's community and overall reach. Traackr pulls data from crawlable RSS feeds, Twitter, public Facebook and LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Google+.

"Content Marketing" is a huge topic and we could have easily added many more than 50, especially people like Stephanie Losee, Joe Chernov, Ahava Leibtag, Rand Fishkin, Ann Marinovich, Justin Levy, Jeannine Rossignol, Todd Wheatland, Kristina Halvorson and keynote speakers John von Brachel and Lars from LEGO. But, ironically, there are only 50 spots in a list of 50!

In the end, this list is a good mix of the smart brand, agency, vendor and industry content marketing talent you can expect to meet this week in Cleveland.  Enjoy!

Michael Brenner @brennermichael

CEO, Marketing Insider Group, Author

Presenting: A Content Formula for Complex B2B Organizations and How B2B Executives Need to Strategize in the World of Content

Juntae DeLane @juntaedelane

Senior Digital Brand Manager, University of Southern California and founder of the Digital Branding Institute

Presenting: Using Content Marketing with No Budget or Resources to Build Your Digital Brand

Joe Pulizzi @joepulizzi

Founder, Content Marketing Institute, Author

Presenting: Welcome to the Content Marketing Revolution and Content Inc: Startups to Small Businesses

Pam Didner @pamdidner

Consultant, Author, Adjunct Instructor, West Virginia University

Presenting: How to Build a Global Content Marketing Team and The Step-by-Step Guide to Create Global Content Marketing Strategy

Ian Cleary @IanCleary

Founder and CEO of RazorSocial

Presenting: Tools and Technology for Building a Content Conversion Funnel

Carla Johnson @carlajohnson

Marketing and Customer Experience Consultant, Type A Communications, Author

Presenting: My Employee Said What?!?! Creating a Content Strategy For Employees, The Most Vital and Ignored Audience and How B2B Executives Need to Strategize in the World of Content

Andy Crestodina @crestodina

Strategic Director, Orbit Media Studios, Inc., Author

Presenting: Keynote: Content's Fortune and Glory: How to Make Friends, Rank High and Get Famous Online and Web Design vs. Analytics Setup: 5 Little Design Decisions That Cause Big Analytics Problems

Lee Odden @leeodden

CEO, TopRank Marketing, Author

Presenting: How to Improve the ROI of Your Content Agency Investment and How B2B Executives Need to Strategize in the World of Content

Jay Baer @jaybaer

President of Convince & Convert, Author

Presenting: How to Use Customer Service and Community to Create Killer Content and Evolution and Opportunities in Business Podcasting - Q&A

Pawan Deshpande @TweetsFromPawan

CEO, Curata

Presenting: Ridiculously Awesome Curation Hacks to Goose Your ROI Like Crazy

Arnie Kuenn @arniek

CEO, Vertical Measures, Author

Presenting: How to Get 77% More Traffic from Your Existing Content

Chad Pollitt @chadpollitt

Adjunct Instructor, Rutgers University, VP of Audience & Co-founder Relevance, Author

Presenting: Paid and Unpaid Content Promotion and Distribution Methods That Actually Work

John Jantsch @ducttape

President, Duct Tape Marketing, Best-Selling Author

Presenting: Workshop: Content Inc.: Startups to Small Businesses

Robert Rose @robert_rose

Chief Strategy Advisor, Content Marketing Institute, Author

Presenting: Opening Keynote Q/A Interview: Content Marketing and Change Management - Making it Real, The Biggest Challenges and Opportunities in Content Marketing: A Q/A with Leading Technology Marketers, and Content Marketing is Broken - Here's How to Fix It and Tie It to Real Business Results

Brian Carter @briancarter

CEO / Digital Marketing Consultant, The Carter Group, Author

Presenting: Facebook Advertising Lead Generation and Content That Sells

Bryan Kramer @bryankramer

President + CEO PureMatter, Author

Presenting: How to Create and Manage an Influencer Marketing Program

Marcus Sheridan @TheSalesLion

President, The Sales Lion

Presenting: The 7 Keys to Owning the Digital Age and Dominating Your Niche: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond and How to Tear Down Sales and Marketing Silos: The Secret to Developing a Culture of Content Across the Entire Organization

Jennifer Goforth Gregory @byjengregory

Freelance Content Marketing Writer and Strategist

Presenting: Hunting the Unicorn: Five Ways to Rope in Highly Qualified Freelancers

Gini Dietrich @ginidietrich

CEO, Arment Dietrich, Inc., Author

Presenting: Email Drop Campaigns That Work and Use PR to Fuel Your Content Marketing Efforts

Matt Heinz @heinzmarketing

President, Heinz Marketing Inc

Presenting: 50 Essential Content Marketing Hacks: New Tools, Tricks, Shortcuts, Best Practices and More to Convert Readers Into Customers

Russell Sparkman @fusionspark

Co-founder, CEO, Fusionspark Media, Inc.

Presenting: First, Find Your Mission: How to Use Brand Purpose to Drive Content Marketing Strategy

Ann Handley @marketingprofs

Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs, Author

Presenting: Keynote: A Look Back at the Best Marketing of 2017 and How to Level-Up Your Writing and Make it Ludicrously Spectacular

Mari Smith @marismith

Consultant, Facebook Small Business Training, Author

Presenting: Social Video: How Companies Are Succeeding with Videos on Facebook

Jay Acunzo @jayacunzo

VP of Platform, NextView Ventures

Presenting: The Content Talent Crunch: How Marketing Leaders Approach Hiring A New Breed of Marketer, and Unthinkable: How the World's Most Creative Content Marketers Do What Others Wouldn't Dare, and This Session Disappears in 10 Seconds: A Fireside Chat and Q/A on Snapchat

Cassio Politi @tractobr

Diretor de content marketing, Tracto

Presenting: How Small Differences in Buyer Personas' Behavior Impact the Global Strategy

AJ Huisman @ajhuisman

Founder, Y Content

Presenting: How to Turn Highly Billable Professionals Into Extremely Productive Content Marketing Rockstars That Get Bottom Line Results

Jonathan Crossfield @kimota

Editorial Director\u2014Telstra Smarter Business Ideas, Bauer Media Australia

Presenting: Social Media and Your Audience: The Proper Approach to Social Communications

Doug Kessler @dougkessler

Creative Director & Co-Founder, Velocity Partners

Presenting: What Great Content Looks Like: The Power of Insight

Jeff Herrmann @jefflherrmann

Chief Strategy Officer, Fathom: A Digital Marketing & Analytics Agency

Presenting: Social Selling 101: 3 Methods to Enable a Social Savvy Sales Force

Ardath Albee @ardath421

CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist, Marketing Interactions, Author

Presenting: How to use Content to Maximize the B2B Buying Process and B2B Demand Generation - It's Bigger Than You Think

Bernie Borges @bernieborges

Executive Producer: Social Business Engine, Find and Convert, Author

Presenting: Opportunities for B2B Brands in Live Video

Andrew Davis @drewdavishere

CEO, Monumental Shift, Author

Presenting: Killer Content: How Brilliant Brands Create Less Content and Deliver Bigger Success and Content Marketing ROI Simplified

Colleen Jones @leenjones

CEO, Content Science

Presenting: Leveraging Content Intelligence: Lessons Learned at American Cancer Society

Tom Webster @webby2001

Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, Edison Research

Presenting: The Forgotten Discipline of (Content) Marketing - What To Do When You've Written All the "Helpful" Content

John Hall @johnhall

CEO, Influence & Co.

Presenting: The New Jedi Mind Trick: How to Dominate Your Industry By Building Your Authority and Leveraging Influencer RelationshipsThe New Jedi Mind Trick: How to Dominate Your Industry By Building Your Authority and Leveraging Influencer Relationships

Buddy Scalera @buddyscalera

Senior Director Content Strategy, Global Health Science, The Medicines Company

Presenting: Creating A Visual Content Strategy that Scales

Deana Goldasich @goldasich

CEO, Well Planned Web, LLC

Presenting: Getting Executive Buy-In For Content Marketing

David Beebe @davidbeebe

Vice President, Global Creative and Content Marketing, Marriott International

Presenting: Between the Sheets of Marriott's M Live

Rebecca Lieb @lieblink

Analyst, Advisor, Principal at Conglomotron, Author

Presenting: Contextual Content From Websites to Wearables to Wherever and Mobile Moments: Where Content Meets People, Places and Things

Jeff Julian @jjulian

Chief Marketing Officer, AJi, Author

Presenting: A Journey Through your First Agile Marketing Effort

Susan Borst @susanborst

Sr. Director of Industry Initiatives, IAB

Presenting: Great Content: Now What Are you Going to Do With It? Let's Talk Native Advertising

Cameron Conaway @cameronconaway

Content Marketing Manager, Flow

Presenting: Journalism, Content Marketing and the Shared Wor(l)ds Between

Ian Altman @ianaltman

CEO, Keynote Speaker, Sales Advisor, Grow My Revenue, Author

Presenting: The Right Content to Accelerate Sales

Travis Wright @teedubya

CMO, CCP.Digital, Author

Presenting: How to Develop and Execute a Social Business Strategy

Paul Roetzer @paulroetzer

CEO PR 20/20, Author

Presenting: Content Marketing in the Machine Age: 25+ Tools and Techniques to Make Your Content More Automate and Intelligent

Mathew Sweezey @msweezey

Principal of Marketing Insights, Salesforce

Presenting: How to Improve the Value of Your Email Through Marketing Automation

Jesper Laursen @jesperlaursen

CEO, Native Advertising Institute

Presenting: Panel: Great Content. Now What Are You Going To Do With It? Let's Talk Native Advertising

Amanda Todorovich @amandatodo

Content Marketing Director, Cleveland Clinic

Presenting: Team Building: How to Staff, Structure and Budget A Content Marketing Team

Mitch Joel @mitchjoel

President, Mirum Agency, Author

Presenting: Keynote: Content is Dead: Focus on the Network Effect and Evolution and Opportunities in Business Podcasting -A Q/A

Tami Cannizzaro @tamicann

Vice President, Head of North America Marketing, Oracle

Presenting: The New Rules of Global Customer Engagement: How to Build Momentum for Your Brand Around the World Through Content Marketing

I'm pretty sure people that attend conferences don't realize the aggregate volume of effort that goes into an event like Content Marketing World and the CMI staff do a great job, which is self-evident given their growth and the recent acquisition. Hats off to Joe, Pam, Robert, Cathy and the CMI team for all their hard work in making Content Marketing World the death star of content marketing. See what I did there?

In addition to sharing this list of 50 content marketing influencers, I've pulled together the top 10 most popular content marketing articles from this blog from 2016. Enjoy!

1. 6 Bad Content Marketing Habits


2. How Social Media & Content Marketing Work Together


3. SEO Tips and Tactics for Content Marketing


4. Using Long-Form Content on Social Media as a Content Marketing Tactic


5. 8 Ways to Build Credibility & Trust with Content Marketing


6. What is a Content Marketing Strategy?


7. 4 Elements of Successful Content Marketing on LinkedIn


8. How to Be the Best Answer: Content Marketing Best Practices


9. 38 B2B Content Marketing Case Studies for 2016


10. Content Marketing: Integrity, Storytelling & Creativity

On the topic of Content Marketing World - I'm presenting on Thursday at 12:05pm in Room 1 on How to Improve the ROI of your content marketing agency investment. Unlike breakout sessions, pre-registration is not required for lunch and learns. It's first-come, first served, so you should get there early if possible to get a seat.

The post 50 Top Content Marketing Influencers #CMWorld 2016 appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.