It’s that time of year once again. The time where we dive back into Buzzsumo to look at the top 100 digital marketing influencers for 2022. What started out as a one off blog post in 2019 has now become an annual event on the Browser Media blog as we now approach the third anniversary and our 4th edition. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what’s changed in the world of digital marketing influencers over the past 12 months.
To get a quick overview of the influencer marketing landscape and how it has evolved over the last 12 months, we have gone back to Influencer Marketing Hub’s State of Influencer Marketing report to check out their 2022 edition. As has been the case over the past few years, influencer marketing has once again gone from strength to strength and this momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Over 75% of brands expect to dedicate some sort of budget to influencer marketing in 2022, while 68% of marketers expect to increase their spend. This once again shows that influencer marketing is still a growing industry and something that all brands should be utilising.
As a result, it’s important to identify the best influencers for brands to partner with from their desired industry. Once again I have turned to Buzzsumo’s influencer reports as this is typically my starting point when it comes to influencer research.
How do Buzzsumo’s influencer reports work?
I’m starting to feel a bit like a broken record and I’ve explained these reports in every edition of our top 100 influencer lists, however, it’s important to understand where the data is coming from. If you want a more detailed overview of why Buzzsumo is the perfect tool for content marketers I have covered it on the blog previously.
Buzzsumo’s influencer reports highlight the top influencers based on multiple search options; their association with a specific search term, whether their bio includes the search term, if they have tweeted articles about a search term, or whether they have tweeted articles from a specific site. For this research, I have highlighted influencers that are associated with digital marketing. This will include influencers that have used digital marketing in their bio or those who appear on relevant Twitter lists.
These Twitter accounts are then ranked depending upon their ‘influence’ on the specific search term. Buzzsumo has previously explained that someone’s influence is measured by how much they can impact the reach of a post or article.
The influencer report search results can be further refined depending on numerous factors such as the type of influencer (companies, bloggers, influencers), whether they are journalists or not, their level of activity, and their location.
For these lists I only focus on bloggers and influencers, meaning all companies have been removed. Therefore, some of the big hitters such as Econsultancy, Moz, and Ahrefs aren’t included. However, that is the only way that the data is manipulated, all the data and the influencers included have been pulled directly from Buzzsumo. Neither myself or anyone else at Browser Media has influenced (pardon the pun) any of the positions.
Key digital marketing influencer stats for 2022
- As has been the case in all previous years, the average number of followers shows that it’s not about having the biggest audience, it’s about having the most engaged. At 83,017, the average number of followers amongst the top 100 has dropped by 7% compared to last year. Once again, I’m not saying that over 83,000 followers is a small following by any means, but the fact we see accounts with millions of followers not on this list points to the importance of having an engaged follower base.
- The way these influencers engage with other people’s content has changed very little over the past 12 months. The average reply ratio, retweet ratio, and URL share ratio have all seen very little change. Again, this points to the fact that not only is their own engagement important, it’s also important to consider how often influencers are engaging with the other accounts.
- While it doesn’t impact the state of the industry, one thing I did want to note is that Buzzsumo seems to have altered the way some influencers are listed. Neil Patel for example is now listed as a company, hence his omission from the below list. I only noticed Neil as he has been consistently in the top 3, however, it’s not unlikely that some other big influencers may have been listed as companies. For the sake of consistency, I haven’t removed these individuals, even though they aren’t companies per se as I want the data to be as impartial as possible. While large influencers missing from the list may impact the average number of followers the top 100 have, it’s unlikely that it changes the outlook on the industry.
Buzzsumo’s Top 100 Digital Marketing Influencers for 2022
- Sorav Jain – @soravjain
- Rand Fishkin – @randfish
- Eric Enge – @stonetemple
- Amber Naslund – @ambercadabra
- Mandy Edwards – @memktgservices
- Barry Schwartz – @rustybrick
- Rahul Wadhawan – @rahul_wadhawan
- J.J. De la Torre – @delatorrejj
- Douglas Karr – @douglaskarr
- AJ Ghergich – @seo
- Amit Panchal – @amithpanchal
- Robert Jones – @exodusanalytics
- Dan Knowlton – @dknowlton1
- Avinash Kaushik – @avinash
- Janet Machuka – @janetmachuka_
- Warren Whitlock – @warrenwhitlock
- Derek Edmond – @derekedmond
- Ciamhie McRory – @ciamhiemc
- Ryan Deiss – @ryandeiss
- Andrew Hutchinson – @adhutchinson
- Bill Sebald – @billsebald
- Ammar Mohammed – @ammr
- John Lincoln – @johnelincoln
- Shashi Bellamkonda – @shashib
- Gareth O’Sullivan – @_garethg
- Alex Jiménez – @ralexjimenez
- Fadhila Brahimi – @fbrahimi
- Ian Schafer – @ischafer
- Oli Gardner – @oligardner
- Andrew Grill – @andrewgrill
- AJ Kohn – @ajkohn
- Marc Cortes – @marccortes
- Duane Forrester – @duaneforrester
- Jon Henshaw – @henshaw
- Dr. Marie Haynes – @marie_haynes
- Andrew Hickey – @andrewmhickey
- Stoney deGeyter – @stoneyd
- Paddy Moogan – @paddymoogan
- Craig Campbell – @craigcampbell03
- Ned James – @ned_james2
- Jamie Riddell – @jamieriddell
- Geoff Desreumaux – @geoffdx
- Jonathan Lacoste – @lacostejonathan
- Winston Binch – @winstonbinch
- Russ Mann – @mktgmann
- Herve Kabla – @hervekabla
- Saul Colt – @saulcolt
- Grant Simmons – @simmonet
- Atef – @atef
- Alex Moss – @alexmoss
- Dan Sodergren – @dansodergren
- Minter Dial – @mdial
- Mark Silva – @marksilva
- Jerry Daykin – @jdaykin
- Jamie Turner – @askjamieturner
- Brian Hart – @brianhartpr
- Ashwini Dodani – @ashwinidodani
- DTong – @dtongsports
- Tom Bedecarre – @tombed
- Tim Ash – @tim_ash
- Erik Huberman – @erikhuberman
- Justyn Howard – @justyn
- Tom Goodwin – @tomfgoodwin
- Pete Blackshaw – @pblackshaw
- Shama Hyder – @shama
- Fili Wiese – @filiwiese
- Glen Allsopp – @viperchill
- Adam Audette – @audette
- Cammi Pham – @cammipham
- Julie Joyce – @juliejoyce
- Ed Leake – @edleake
- Matthew Kobach – @mkobach
- Casie Gillette – @casieg
- Monica Wright – @monicawright
- Dhariana Lozano – @dharilo
- Leonard Kim – @mrleonardkim
- Nathalie Nahai – @nathalienahai
- Dennis Yu – @dennisyu
- Alex Domínguez – @alex_d_b
- Franz Russo – @franzrusso
- Shane Barker – @shane_barker
- Darren Rowse – @problogger
- Gianluca Fiorelli – @gfiorelli1
- Joost de Valk – @jdevalk
- David Iwanow – @davidiwanow
- Matthew Knell – @matthewknell
- Clo Willaerts – @bnox
- Jeremy Goldman – @jeremarketer
- Vincenzo Landino – @vincenzolandino
- Dave Edelman – @davidedelman
- Scott Gulbransen – @lvgully
- Stacey MacNaught – @staceycav
- Brent Csutoras – @brentcsutoras
- Henneke Duistermaat – @henneked
- Danny Sullivan – @dannysullivan
- Larry Kim – @larrykim
- Muhammad Hisham Abu Al-Qumboz – @abualkomboz
- Rebekah Radice – @rebekahradice
- Mark Traphagen – @marktraphagen
- Jim Sterne – @jimsterne
As always, congratulations to everyone who made the top 100!
** Disclaimer – Browser Media has had no influence or impact on this list, it is solely based on Buzzsumo’s influencer reports. To ensure the data remains fair and impartial there has been no alteration from any other sources. **
