10 Social Media Experts to Follow in 2023
Social media connects marketers to an unlimited audience.
This audience is flooded with a constant stream of user-generated content competing for their attention every day. This is why, as much as we would love for all of our content to go viral, social media marketing involves incremental increases in engagement that result from growing your brand’s community one person at a time.
With so many people vying for attention, building long-term social media success is a matter of implementing effective strategies. There are proven ways to grow your audience and increase the ROI of your social media campaigns.
Luckily, experts on social media are sharing them.
Of course, it’s important to remember that ultimately you are the authority on your brand’s niche. Experts don’t have all the answers, and can’t account for the specific value your brand brings to social media. However, they can provide important insights to guide your campaign strategies.
While you know your brand’s unique selling points best, social media experts can keep you up to date on trends, platform updates, and industry news.
Manage all your social media accounts in one place.
Craft, schedule, & auto-post content to all your social channels, then track analytics and manage interactions from a single, easy-to-use dashboard.
What can social media experts do to help you?
According to 66% of social media marketers, funny content is the most effective format, followed by relatable content (63%), and trendy content (59%). But, how do you become funny, trendy, and relatable? Well, one way to curate a more creative timeline is to examine how the experts on social media approach content creation.
Every expert has their own focus areas, meaning you’ll get the most out of following gurus catering to your brand-specific growth goals. For example, individual factors like which platforms you’re using, your target audience’s demographics, and the objectives you’ve set for your next campaign will all help you determine which experts will be most valuable advice to you.
Once you’ve found the right expert to follow, they can offer targeted techniques to incrementally build your brand, increase community engagement, and expand your audience. The goal is to find an expert that has the strategic tips and tricks you need to improve your metrics. So, let’s discover how these ten experts on social media are making waves in their focus areas.
Finding experts that provide tangible value
As a savvy social media professional, you might want to know a bit more about these experts’ credentials before you get acquainted with their work. These experts boast wide audiences and wield extensive influence in the marketing world. They’ve proven the efficacy of their advice through their illustrious body of work and are authorities in their areas of expertise.
Now you’re wondering what value these experts can bring to your next campaign. Well, the answer is simple. Strategic growth tactics are necessary to stand out in oversaturated social media spaces, and the production of content is just going to ramp up in the next few years.
In fact, ad spending on social media platforms is projected to reach over $268 billion in 2023. Although the average number of views for posted content spiked by 207% during the COVID-19 pandemic, only 40% of marketers have a documented content strategy.
So, now’s the time to hone in on planned approaches to posting. It’s time to meet the experts.
1. Mari Smith is known as the “Queen of Facebook”
Mari Smith earned her title by sharing her ever-evolving tips and tricks to increase organic reach for Facebook, the leading social media platform. Mari Smith co-authored Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, and authored The New Relationship Marketing. She teaches businesses to monetize their social media efforts and achieve measurable KPIs through proven social media marketing strategies.
Mari Smith’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Mari Smith:
This interview covers Mari Smith’s take on the best organic Facebook strategy for 2023. She believes in a quality-over-quantity approach and offers some tips on how to back up your posts with targeted testing.
2. Mark Schaefer is the Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing Solutions LLC
If you’re looking to build or expand the community around your brand’s social media, Mark Schaefer is your guide. Mark’s clients include start-ups and big brands like Adidas, Johnson & Johnson, Dell, Pfizer, the US Air Force, and the UK Government. Mark’s books are used at over 50 universities and can be found in 750 libraries worldwide.
Mark Schaefer’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Mark Schaefer:
Mark Schaefer is incredibly prolific, so you can find his talks all over the web. I suggest you start with this recent article on how to use curated content for your business.
3. Jane Manchun Wong keeps you updated on the latest social media features
Social media platforms are constantly implementing tiny changes that make big impacts, so it’s no surprise that changes to social media are front of mind for 53% of marketers. Jane Manchun Wong has become the go-to guru for the latest news on technical changes. She’s a researcher who discovers new features before launch by reverse-engineering apps like Facebook and Instagram to preview changes that are still being tested.
Check out one of her hot takes in this tweet:
SMS 2FA is the least secure option compared to TOTP and security keys. It’s prone to SIM swapping attacks and not even Blue subscribers should use it
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 18, 2023
Jane Manchun Wong’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Jane Manchun Wong:
This tweet about an onboarding screen for Verified Organizations exemplifies Jane Manchun Wong’s straightforward but detailed style.
4. Elise Darma can teach you everything about Instagram
Elise Darma is an Instagram expert that’s helped thousands of students grow their social media revenue streams. Her signature course is Story Vault, which has 800 strategic Story prompts and ideas to inspire you.
Elise Darma’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Elise Darma:
Trying to grow your following? Well, seeing as how reels account for 30% of users’ time, why not start by reading Elise Darma’s ultimate guide to Instagram reels? It provides a comprehensive overview of how to approach the feature.
5. Jack Appleby is the creator of the Future Social newsletter
Jack Appleby’s career spans over ten years and includes some seriously impressive roles. He’s run campaigns for Beats By Dre, Spotify, and Microsoft, on top of working as a Morning Brew Creator. Now Jack owns his own newsletter called Future Social, and it’s full of useful social media tips, tricks, and strategies.
According to this recent announcement, Jack Appleby’s social media skills have been paying off.
Jack Appleby’s popular social accounts:
Instagram
Twitter
Future Social
My favorite post from Jack Appleby:
Obviously, Twitter is undergoing a lot of changes at the moment. What’s less apparent is how to effectively navigate these changes as a marketer. Jack Appleby can help you figure it out. Start with his empathic and simple guide to the new character limit.
6. Erin On Demand helps you break out of your niche with her eBrand Membership Club
Erin started her career as a Digital Spokester and went on to work for National Geographic as a Digital Correspondent. She later started her own business called Erin On Demand, which aims to help content creators expand their community without getting stuck in a repetitive format.
Erin shares her experience as a successful social media marketer with her followers through posts like this:
Erin On Demand’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Erin On Demand:
Erin shares practical and useful tips to help brands grow their audience in this YouTube video, which exemplifies Erin’s talent at breaking down strategies.
7. Rand Fishkin is the founder of both Moz and SparkToro
Rand Fishkin has founded two audience research software companies: Moz and SparkToro. Both companies experienced sweeping success because of Rand Fishkin’s dedication to better marketing. He has a comprehensive body of work including blogs, videos, speeches, and his book Lost and Founder.
Rand Fishkin’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Rand Fishkin:
Rand Fishkin’s conveys highly nuanced ideas about the fundamentals of social media marketing in a simple and understandable way. This blog post focuses on the difference between strategies and tactics.
8. Marsha Collier is president of The Collier Company, Inc
Social media marketing can be complicated, especially for small business owners who need to build their pages from the ground up. So, if you’ve ever wanted to get a marketing guide “for dummies”, Marsha Collier has you covered. In fact, she wrote a whole book series on it. She’s sold over a million books, with her latest titles focusing on using social media for customer relations and business success.
Marsha Collier’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Marsha Collier:
Start exploring Marsha Collier’s body of work with this blog post detailing four actionable strategies to try when you’re just starting your social media marketing effort.
9. Kudzi Chikumbu is a top expert in creator marketing
Kudzi Chikumbu encourages brands to capture the younger generation’s attention through more authentic content. He’s TikTok’s Global Head of Creator Marketing and one of Fortune’s 40 under 40. And seeing as how short videos like TikToks and Reels are the most effective form of content, you’ll want to keep an eye on his inspiring TikTok page.
Kudzi Chikumbu is all about authenticity, and he walks the walk by sharing his life with his followers via his Instagram page.
Kudzi Chikumbu’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Kudzi Chikumbu:
Kudzi shares fun updates on his TikTok account. This post shows his experience at TikTok World 2022 and gives you a backstage look at the event.
10. Matt Navarra brings you the latest trends
Social media is a competitive marketing landscape, so you need to keep in step with constantly churning trends to remain relevant. Matt Navarra brings you the latest social media news with sharp commentary and insightful tips. Over his 15 year career Matt’s client list has included Google, BBC, ITV, ITN, United Nations, International Red Cross, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Mozilla, Monzo, and Pinterest.
Matt Navarra’s popular social accounts:
My favorite post from Matt Navarra:
Matt brings you the latest industry news through his Twitter updates. This post detailing the weeks news exemplifies Matt’s effort to keep his followers informed.
Perfecting your posts with expert advice
Social media marketing demands constant creativity. You probably get the chance to use all your best ideas and then some. Although, the ever-changing online landscape can be exhausting to navigate, so why not rely on experts in your niche for some inspiration when your well is running dry?
The truth is, there’s always room for improvement. Around half of Gen Z and Millennial consumers purchase products on social media, yet 59% feel that the many digital ads they see are irrelevant to their interests. Clearly, a large part of the sponsored content out there isn’t effectively communicating brand relevance.
Experts on social media can help you boost your audience’s connection to your brand’s content with actionable tips to track and manage platform changes, generate more creative content, and determine the appropriate KPIs for your campaign.
Manage your social media like an expert
Some of these social media experts make it look easy, but effectively overseeing your brand’s presence on these platforms can be excessively time-consuming. You might feel like you’re on call 24/7 trying to manage your post schedule, engage with comments, and implement new strategies.
You probably need a bit of that time back, right? Well, the right tool can handle a lot of your time-consuming tasks for you.
Experts use sophisticated digital software to help them, and you should too. Not just because it can save you hours every workday, but also because an advanced social media management platform like Loomly offers tools that can help you build your brand online.
Loomly makes it easy to manage multiple social media accounts through its intuitive user interface, which empowers marketers to craft, schedule, optimize, and analyze content from a single source. Plus, Loomly offers users support at every step along the way, meaning you’ll always have someone to reach out to.
Click here to learn more about what Loomly can do for your brand.
