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04 January 2011 / 242 ReTweets

15 Top New Social Media Blogs to Follow in 2011

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Blogs are awesome.  I assume you agree with this because you’re reading my blog as well.  A lot of you may have started becoming avid readers and to follow blogs, like myself, with the advent of social media.  In the last two years I have seen some social media blogs become famous while others, despite still publishing great content, haven’t gotten the recognition that they deserve.  I always engage in debates with other bloggers as to why some get more popular than others, but I’ll leave that topic for another blog post…

If you’re looking for new voices to follow in the world of social media blogs in 2011, I have compiled a list of those bloggers that I hope will have a breakout year in terms of recognition this year.  You may already be avid readers of some of these blogs, but I have gone out of my way to find great social media-related blogs that are NOT popular according to these guidelines:

  1. NOT in the top 50 of the AdAge Power 150
  2. NOT in the top 50,000 worldwide Internet ranking according to Alexa.com
  3. NOT having over 50,000 Twitter followers

What I have found are 15 blogs with truly unique voices that cover a wide range of social media-related topics.  I hope you’ll check some of these blogs out and expand your knowledge of social media into the future through diversity of voice.  And please excuse the title because although some of these blogs have been published for more than 5 years and thus are not necessarily “new,” my hope is that you will discover new ones you might not have known about.

Blogs I recommend to follow are listed below in their AdAge ranking in ascending order as of the time of writing this post.

1. Scott Monty : The Social Media Marketing Blog – Yes, I was also surprised that this now household name in the realm of social media marketing, Scott Monty, was not higher up in the rankings.  For those newbies, Scott heads up social media over at that American car company called Ford.  His blog posts come from someone at the front line of managing corporate social strategy, and thus offer great perspective on the latest happenings in social media marketing backed by recent data or events.  A good example is his recent post on corporate blogging We’ll Always Have Blogging.

2. Olivier Blanchard : The BrandBuilder Blog – Olivier blogs about branding with a great deal of social media mixed in.  He is as much a straight-shooter as his blog posts are insightful.  And he is a man on a mission to change the social media industry for good.  Check out an excerpt from his recent blog post A Simple Question to get a taste of what he’s about:

If I cannot somehow find a way to make a dent in the monuments to bullshit, stupidity and utter ineptitude currently dominating the social media “thought leadership” space in the next year, if I cannot convince digital agencies, big brands and their recruiting firms to favor competence over incompetence and actual results over spin, I will go find something else to do, and watch – from afar – this whole inbred guru-driven experiment burn into the glorious pile of rubble it was destined to be from the start.

His blog posts, like Stating the Obvious, are the kind that will drive you to want to comment even if you don’t have time to do so.  Powerful blog to watch, and heed, in 2011.

3. Gini Dietrich : Spin Sucks – You gotta love the name of this blog.  And Gini’s writing is not much different: In your face, critical, but with a sprinkling of humor that always keeps the reader at the edge of their seat.  Gini comes from the world of PR, so her posts on the intersection of public relations and social media are her gems.  Check out PR Pros: Stop Treating Bloggers Like Second-Class Media for a taste of her unique brand of medicine.

4. Jacob Morgan : Social Media Globetrotter – I had a chance to meet Jacob in real life at a Cool Twitter Conference we both presented at in San Francisco and have been following him ever since.  He is one of the leaders in the emerging field of social CRM.  Check out his post on The Many Faces of Social CRM for his advice on the subject.

5. Mark Schaefer : {Grow} – Mark and I actually recently met on Twitter and realized that 1) we were probably long-lost cousins and 2) each of us were spelling our name wrong.  It was actually a nonprofit link to the United Way that got the conversation started, but I have been impressed with not only this amazing Slideshare presentation of his speech on social media for non-profits that he shared with me shortly thereafter, but also his posts like this one that challenge our thinking about social media head on: Three new SM myths that MUST STOP NOW.  I can’t wait to see what blog posts Mark creates for us in 2011!

6. Todd Defren : PR-Squared – Todd is both a thought leader in the realm of public relations (he created the “social media newsroom“) as well as social media (he co-founded the Social Media Club).  His blog posts tend to be short, sweet, and to the point, but he is always bang on with his analysis and advice.  Check out this post which I have been thinking about blogging about as well with the same conclusion as Todd: How Many Twitter Handles?

7. Jay Deragon : The Relationship Economy – Jay provides an intellectual approach to look at social media through the perspective of social technology disrupting business.  Always insightful, my favorite post of his covers a similar topic to when I blogged about 5 Reasons Why Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Really a Social Media Strategy: Social Strategists Aren’t Thinking Strategically!

8. Ari Herzog - If you read my tweets or blog comments you’ll see that Ari is no stranger to my content and vice-versa.  But have you discovered Ari yet?  While Ari blogs about social media marketing strategy, he is also a publicly elected official in Massachusetts and is a thought leader on the topic of social media for government.  Always engaging and critical where need be, Ari blogs directly from the heart, as if each blog post is truly a conversation he is having with us.  He beat me to the punch on this recent blog post of his: Why I Deleted My FourSquare Account.  I deleted mine, too, Ari.

9. Dan Zarrella – Hopefully Dan’s name will ring a bell to you, but if it doesn’t you might know him as the “Social Media Scientist” who works at Hubspot.  Dan takes a scientific, data-centric, and analytical approach to analyzing social media that is uniquely insightful.  Dan recently shared his Top 6 SM Science Presentations which you should definitely check out.

10. Francisco Rosales : Social Mouths – Francisco has emerged out of my native base of Southern California as one of our leading social media bloggers.  His posts are always extremely practical and filled with lots of visuals to help out those who are at all levels of understanding vis a vis social marketing.  The conversational tone of his posts is also refreshing.  Check out one of his recent popular posts here: How To Build Your Facebook Landing Page (If You’re Not A Programmer).

11. Dave Fleet – Dave has been blogging since we were all in social media diapers in 2005, so he is not by any means “new.”  You may have already seen his numerous blogs regarding Corporate Social Media Policies.  He is also one of the most under-appreciated bloggers on social media that provides unique perspective from the realm of communications and public relations.  I think you’ll find his writing style both extremely personable and refreshing.  Check his post on Facebook Strategies: Content over Creative for a great example of his work.

12. Amber Naslund & Tamsen S. McMahon : Brass Tack Thinking – You probably know Amber for her role as Vice President of Social Strategy over at Radian6.  What you might not know is that she has been blogging with her communications strategist peer Tamsen for almost 3 years now.  Professional and analytical in prose, their blog posts add an insightful much-needed human aspect to our understanding of the social web.  A recent blog post that resonated with me: Is This Real Life? In Defense of Our Virtual Connections.

13. B. L. Ochman : What’s Next Blog – This blog covers a wide range of social media topics with a definite Internet Marketing angle.  What I like about BL’s writing is that it is extremely personable, and she often shares case studies both from the reported media as well as her own life to illustrate her points.  Check out her recent Social CRM – Thank you Ben & Jerry’s: a brand that’s social, for real, (and MediaTemple, for trying) to get the gist of her style.

14. Kyle Lacy – Kyle has a great blog with postings that cover a wide range of subjects similar to my own blog.  He has some great posts on LinkedIn and personal branding in addition to the usual social marketing repertoire.  He also is host to some great guest bloggers.  Start with 21 Ways to Build Trust and Sales Leads in SM for a taste of his advice.

15. Joe Pulizzi : Junta42: Content Marketing Revolution – I had a chance to hear and meet Joe at an Online Marketing Summit last year (make sure you catch him at the Blogging Success Summit 2011!) where he started his workshop by saying he was not a social media expert and asking those who were to raise their hands.  Instantly I knew that Joe was different, down-to-earth, and for real.  More importantly, Joe has been the most consistent evangelizer for the strategic importance of content marketing and even founded an organization dedicated to our greater understanding of this important topic: Content Marketing Institute.  There’s no better place to start learning about Joe and content marketing than at his recent Top 5 Content Marketing Posts of 2010 entry.

Now it’s your turn: Any other “under-the-radar” blogger that you would add to this list for us to follow?  Please chime in by commenting and sharing a link with us!  Just make sure that they fall within my guidelines and they provide a unique and insightful voice on our understanding of the social web.  Thanks!

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