The data for online use and social networks is staggering. There is clear evidence that social media today is thriving in our society.
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The number of social media bloggers is set to reach 31.7 million users by 2020, just in the United States
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Social network market leader Facebook currently has 2.2 billion monthly active users, while blogging service Tumblr estimates 794 million monthly active blog users on their site
The Benefits of Blogs
The landscape of social media is constantly changing, updating, and developing. It is the way many of us receive daily information and it is absolutely revolutionizing the way we work.
Staying up-to-date with social media trends is must for success in the digital age. One of the simplest ways to remain current is by keeping an eye on the top social media blogs. The blogs on these sites are constantly revised with all the latest happenings and they provide an inside view of what is predicted to occur in the future.
In no particular order, these professional blogs from experts in the field will benefit your social media strategies and skills.
Launched in 2007, Social Media Today was one of the first companies to manage online Business-to-Business communities. It has grown into a comprehensive site that offers strategic ways to use social media and content marketing on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and others. It was one of the first to recognize that emerging social media platforms offered advantages to corporations seeking to interact directly with, and learn from, their customers and their employees.
As an independent, online community for professionals using social media, Social Media Today has loads of guest posts. Since the authors’ backgrounds are diverse, it gives their blogs an advantage by bringing together a variety of experts and their perspectives into one central location. Their site is easy to navigate with separate sections for social media updates and social media marketing to allow quick access to the exact topics you need.
This is an excellent social media blog that every brand should be following. It’s written by Peg Fitzpatrick, a popular social media speaker, and author. Her blog posts tackles all of the popular social media websites, from Facebook to Pinterest, and how brands should be utilizing them. Her content also has a ‘fun’ tone to it, so you’ll never be bored on her site.
Peg’s abilities and knowledge are respect throughout the social media landscape. Guy Kawasaki, is a marketing specialist and successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist who was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing their Macintosh computer line. Guy teamed up with Peg Fitzpatrick to offer The Art of Social Media, an essential guide to getting the most bang for your time, effort, and money. He says of Peg, “She is the best social-media person I’ve ever met.”
SproutSocial is a helpful social media management tool, and their blog is a great reference for all types of businesses who are focused on getting the most from their social media campaigns. The topics cover all aspects of social media marketing and deliver advice and updates on building brands. Marketing specialists are impressed by the extensive research that goes into every blog and they trust the guidance provided by SproutSocial.
Jon Loomer should become every Facebook marketing department’s best friend. As a marketing coach, author, speaker, and strategist, Jon provides an environment where social media managers can learn and share strategies with their peers. There are webinars that update social media trends specifically on Facebook. Jon’s goal is to assist other businesses in maximizing the constantly changing social media tools.
This social media management platform helps drive social media results. Basically, Buffer is a Social Media Assistant. No longer do you have to manually spend time and energy to post your social media posts. Buffer is a simple app that allows automates scheduling social media blogs across a variety of popular social networks at a specific date and time. It has extra benefits such as allowing for adding links, photos, and videos. Plus, Buffer can track engagement statistics and analytics such as clicks, likes, replies, comments, shares and more. If you post on the six most popular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest), you’ll want to follow Buffer Social in 2018.
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Rebekah Radice
If you are looking to discover methods to improve your business with the help of Social Media and Digital Marketing, then this is the site for you. The blog is managed by Rebekah Radice who is a social media strategist guru for leveraging social networks and content marketing to their maximum potential.
Rebekah believes there is no better way to build brand awareness, share informative content, energize marketing, and engage with audiences than social. If you are interested in knowing the ‘how’ of social media marketing and want to explore different strategic approaches, then this blog is the place to go.
It’s impossible to list great social media blogs without naming Social Media Examiner. Founder Mike Stelzner is a leading voice on all things social media. He produces a daily 10-minute daily podcast on marketing tips that are applicable to every type of business.
The mission of the company is to help navigate the what they call the “constantly changing social media jungle.” They even have a mascot to guide you along the way. Social Media Examiner delivers valuable information on how business professionals can use social networks to their greatest advantage. Many high-profile writers contribute to the website and the blogs include expert interviews, original research, and detailed materials to improve social media marketing.
Seth Godin is the author of author of 18 best-selling marketing books. He has become an elite blogger who knows how to market brands and ideas in the digital age. This admired writer once said, “A person starting a blog today has to compete with hundreds of millions of posts. To compete, a person has to think longer, dig deeper, write more, and push their skills to the breaking point.”
Seth Godin has become one of the ultimate entrepreneurs of the Information Age. He is uniquely respected for his understanding of the Internet. Seth posts a daily blog full of insights and guidance on marketing and achieving success in the media. You’ll learn more than you thought possible if you subscribe to this blog in 2018.
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Mashable
This very popular blog provides a wide variety of news in the social media arena. The writers always know what’s trending. Mashable offers a mix of content that provides information about what is hot in technology, science, entertainment and more. While the content is more varied than some others on this list, it is the place to be if you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in social media and marketing. Mashable is found on many “top 10 social media blog lists” and is always culturally relevant.
The visual aspect of blogs is often ignored, much to the chagrin of Donna Moritz, a social media and visual marketer who manages this unique site. Socially Sorted demonstrates how important it is to create visual content for social media platforms. Pictures not only make a bigger impact than the written word, but they also do it in a shorter amount of time. Visual storytelling can achieve more reach, increase traffic, and improve sales. So, if you want to make your social media presence visually appealing, then you must follow Socially Sorted.
A Final Thought
There is no shortage of social media blogs in our world, but there is also no possible way that any one person or company can follow all of them. The solution is to focus on just a handful of bloggers that address your business and your social media strategy. Identifying a limited number of social media blogs to follow will build a library of “go-to” resources for effective online marketing. Use this list to determine the social media blogs you should follow in 2018 to grow professionally and personally.
