The 50 Most Influential People in Small Business Marketing

Small businesses drive the U.S. economy, and marketing drives a company’s growth, with 77% of small businesses using social media to promote and grow their business. So we wanted to know who’s behind the ideas and trends driving small business marketing?

We scoured all sorts of social media and influencer tools, checked best-seller lists, and the lists of top influencers in marketing, business, and small business. Here’s the final roundup.

We’ve listed these influencers in order of the number of Twitter followers they have. Note: The size of someone’s Twitter following might not necessarily be the final word on how influential they are, but it’s as good a measurement as any. We’ve also included each influencer’s Moz Followerwonk social authority score, just for comparison.

A word to the wise: All influencer lists are a bit arbitrary. How influential someone is depends on how influential they are to you.

1. Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee)

1.47M followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 90
Twitter bio: Family 1st! CEO of @Vaynermedia. Vlogger and Podcaster. Investor in Twitter, Snapchat, Uber, Venmo. 4X NYTimes best-selling author. Mentor on @planetoftheApps. @NYJETS fan.

2. John Rampton (@johnrampton)

1.42M followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 80
Twitter bio: Entrepreneur and connector. Founder of @Due. I blog about my successes and epic failures for @Entrepreneur, @TechCrunch and @Mashable. #fintech

3. Lolly Daskal (@LollyDaskal)

1.2M followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 84
Twitter bio: Dedicated to bringing Heart Based Leadership to organizations & individuals. Coach. Consultant. Speaker. Columnist. Best Selling Author: The Leadership Gap.

4. Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog)

605K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 72
Twitter bio: Author, blogger, a lifetime of projects. This is a retweet of my blog.

5. John Daymond (@TheSharkDaymond)

575K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 82
Twitter bio: We are connected. Check out my new co-working space @BlueprintandCo.

6. Mari Smith (@MariSmith)

530K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 74
Twitter bio: Social Media Thought Leader. Top Facebook Marketing Expert. Globe-trotting Speaker. Author. ‘Mari like Ferrari.’ http://fb.com/marismith.

7. Grant Cardone (@GrantCardone)

402K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 84
Twitter bio: Best Selling #Author 19 BusinessProgram #CEO #Father #Husband; CEO Cardone RealEstateAcquisitions; 500M in RE HOLDINGS. http://CardoneAcquisitions.com

8. Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs)

396K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 73
Twitter bio: Head of Content at MarketingProfs; author of the WSJ bestseller Everybody Writes. I’m waging a war on mediocrity in content marketing. http://www.annhandley.com

9. Glen Gilmore (@GlenGilmore)

321K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 78
Twitter bio: TIME “man of action;” FORBES Top 20 Social Media; Speaker. Author. Lawyer. Rutgers Adjunct. Top 100 #DigitalMarketing #IoT #AI #AR

10. Pam Moore (@PamMktgNut)

297K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 70
Twitter bio: CEO Marketing Nutz; #Speaker; Trainer; Strategist; Love God, Family, Friends, Beach & Life! #Forbes Top 10 #SocialMedia #Influencer; http://pammarketingnut.com.

11. Brian D. Evans (@BrianDEvans)

287K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 83
Twitter bio: Inc 500 Entrepreneur. Founder/CEO @Influencive. Unorthodox problem solver. I help brands create massive impact online. #Blockchain. Writer at Inc., Forbes, etc.

12. Jay Baer (@jaybaer)

239K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 69
Twitter bio: Keynote speaker & emcee. NY Times best-selling author. President: marketing & social media customer service consultancy @Convince; http://convinceandconvert.com.

13. Bryan Kramer (@bryankramer)

203K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 73
Twitter bio: “The Zen Master of Marketing” Forbes. #TEDTalk & Keynote Speaker, Author- Shareology & Human to Human #H2H, CEO @PureMatter & H2H Companies, @Forbes Contributor.

14. Brian Moran (@brianmoran)

201K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 69
Twitter bio: Helping #entrepreneurs & marketers navigate the small-to-midsize business marketplace. Ex @WSJ, @Inc. & @Entrepreneur.

15. Matthew Toren (@matthewtoren)

200K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 66
Twitter bio: Entrepreneur, Investor & Influencer. Columnist @Entrepreneur; Best Selling #SmallBusiness Author. Founder @YoungEnt, @Kidpreneurs @BizWarriors, @i_SmallBusiness

16. Sam Hurley (@Sam___Hurley)

168K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 84
Twitter bio: The Guy Who Went From ‘Nobody’ to #1 Marketing Influencer in 15 Months (Without a Website). Featured in: @entrepreneur @inc @fastcompany @Forbes @TheNextWeb.

17. Doug and Polly White (@letgotogrow)

151K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 50
Twitter bio: Columnists @entrepreneur and @RTDNEWS. #SmallBusiness Growth Experts. #Speakers #Scale

18. John Paul Aguiar (@JohnAguiar)

146K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 63
Twitter bio: I Help Bloggers, Entrepreneurs With Blog Marketing, Twitter Marketing, Social Media. Kidney Transplant Rec – #2 Top Influencers in Marketing 2016 by BuzzSumo.

19. Chris Guillebeau (@chrisguillebeau)

145K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 65
Twitter bio: Writer, traveler, entrepreneur. Visited every country in the world; still traveling. Host of #SideHustleSchool – new episode every day!

20. Anita Campbell (@smallbiztrends)

140K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 67
Twitter bio: Tweets from the Small Business Trends family of publications and its CEO, Anita Campbell.

21. Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel)

118K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 86
Twitter bio: #Influencer #ThoughtLeader Helping #B2B clients w #SocialMediaMarketing in #Enterprise, #IoT, #Telecom, #Security#Cloud, #DigitalHealth http://evirahealth.com

22. John Jantsch (@ducttape)

116K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 62
Twitter bio: Small business marketing consultant, speaker and author of Duct Tape Marketing, Duct Tape Selling, The Referral Engine and The Commitment Engine.

23. Gail Gardner (@GrowMap)

112K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 67
Twitter bio: Small Business Marketing Strategist. Send me a connection request on LinkedIn or Skype (username growmap).

24. Tod Krauss (@TodKrauss)

102K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 48
Twitter bio: #SocialMedia #StrategicMarketing promotion, Twitter #Advertising & account management for #Business niche growth. #Marketing #SEO #Branding #SmallBiz

25. Gene Marks (@genemarks)

83.6K followers
Followerwonk Social Authority: 69
Twitter bio: CPA and owner of small biz http://marksgroup.net who writes every day on small biz for the Washington Post and weekly for Forbes, Inc., HuffPo, Entrepreneur.