Content Marketing | 15 min

34 Content Marketing Blogs You Need to Bookmark

Edyta Kowal
, CMO at Prowly
@edyta_kowal

Education is key to understanding content marketing and its nuances. Over time, I’ve found that these blogs are the best sources for that education.

We all work hard to immerse ourselves in the industry so that we can better understand our target community. But still, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 55 percent of B2B marketers feel unclear within their organizations what an effective or successful content marketing program looks like.

Well, endless education is the key to understanding content marketing and its nuances. When I first started at Prowly last year, my hard content marketing knowledge was fairly limited. Over time, I’ve found that these blogs are the best sources for that education:

 

Scroll down for the list of content marketing blogs I love, catalogued into five useful, I hope, categories:

1. Content Marketing & Strategy
2. Marketing Technology
3. Social Media Content Marketing
4. Analysts & Research
5. SEO

Content Marketing & Strategy

Seth Godin’s Blog – the godfather of modern marketing — or, at least, the type of modern marketing we all want to be doing. Best-selling author and marketing expert writes on marketing, leadership, change and spreading new ideas. Best quote from his last interview with Contently: “In a world of zero marginal cost, being trusted is the single most urgent way to build a business”.

@ThisIsSethsBlog has 555K followers

Spin Sucks – publishes daily content advice in four categories: social media, communications, entrepreneur and marketing. For who? For the professional development of PR and marketing professionals. With Spin Sucks, you will learn how to build a PR program that increases awareness for your company or brand, get on the first page of Google search results consistently, generate real leads for the business and use the PESO model to integrate a full communications program.
There are already 46,895 Spin Sucks Fans.

{grow} – “You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.” – underlines Mark Schaefer, an influencer and creator of this blog. {grow} is a community that will help you reach this goal. It will also stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. It’s focused on marketing technology and strategy. Oh, Mark lately published an audio book about content marketing code. Some loved it so much they bought the hard copy too:

@markwschaefer has 139K followers.

Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Guide – provides you with actionable marketing insights and tips on social media, content marketing and mobile – including the ever expanding world of connected devices and the Internet of Things. Whether you’re an experienced marketer or a marketing newbie, Heidi Cohen simplifies the complex concepts behind today’s evolving integrated marketing challenges into an easy-to-understand and consume format that facilitates readers’ grasp of new topics.

 

@heidicohen has 31.5K followers

Duct Tape Marketing – provides advice for small businesses on how to improve marketing strategy through content marketing tactics. “We all teach something – like it or not, know it or not – but how conscious are we of the act.” – writes John Jantsch, called the World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert. On his web, you can listen to some of the industry’s biggest influencers talk with him about business success, marketing and opportunity. If you have more time, you can choose something interesting from his library of free eBooks and webinars, which covers everything from earning referrals to managing time and being more productive. But from my perspective, the coolest thing is that every week they share software and tools that can help you run your business.


@ducttape has 114K followers

The Influential Marketing Blog – non-obvious marketing insights from Rohit Bhargava, trend curator, the founder of the Influential Marketing Group and an expert in helping brands and leaders be more influential. He is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author of five best-selling business books and teaches marketing and pitching at Georgetown University.

Over 34.1K followers

Content Marketing Institute – founded by Joe Pulizzi, the leading evangelist for content marketing (you will find posts written by him here. Their mission is to advance the practice of content marketing. While the site is full of practical, how-to guidance, you’ll also find insight and advice from the experts and an active community for discussing the latest news, information and advances that are moving the industry forward.

@CMIContent has 187K followers

Barry Feldman’s The Point – chock full of consultant Barry Feldman’s knowledge of effective digital marketing, social media, content strategy, influencer marketing, copywriting, and more, including rock’n’roll. More than 10K marketers already gather useful tips and tactics to increase traffic, leads and sales from this blog. Ready to join them?


36.9K followers

eContent – delivers essential research, reporting, news and analysis of content related issues. Essential reading for executives and professionals involved in content creation, management, acquisitions, organization, and distribution in both commercial and enterprise environments. Also covers the latest tools and features the EContent 100 List of Companies that Matter Most in the Digital Content Industry, and the EContent Trendsetting Products List.

@econtentmag has 4,263 followers

HubSpot – offers insights and advice for marketers regarding inbound marketing, sales and social media, as well as opinion articles. You should consider subscribing to their daily roundup of the “greatest marketing posts.” Personally, I especially love blog posts by Lindsay Kolowich (@lkolo25). Check out one of the latest about the future of social video: a brief look into what’s next [infographic]. If you’re looking for marketing ideas, this is a jackpot.

@hubspot has 700K followers

@lkolo25 has 4,644 followers

KISSmetrics – a blog about analytics, online marketing and testing. It explores the art of conversion through a variety of channels, including social media, content marketing, and site traffic. Articles are well-thought out, with a clear purpose, and aim to offer marketers a list of takeaways they can readily apply. Every day, there is something new and valuable to discover, isn’t there? This blog gives you the knowledge you need to make better decisions.


Curata – provides marketers an opportunity to learn and share best practices and tips across all facets of the content marketing supply chain: strategy, creation, promotion and analytics. They offer a weekly newsletter and have already over 50K peers.

@curata has 3.2K followers

Marketo – helping marketers master the art and science of digital marketing by driving technology innovation and expertise for tomorrow. Provides information in six various categories: marketing automation, social media, content marketing, e-mail marketing, modern marketing, and lead management.

@marketo has 132K followers

MarketingProfs – trusted by 600K professionals globally, MarketingProfs offers real world education for modern marketers and provides consistent insights into the marketing world through a variety of topics: content, non-profit, customer behavior, ROI, PR, sales, and more. The Twitter account is run by Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs).

356K followers

Convince and Convert – led by Jay Baer (@jaybaer) – a hype-free digital marketing and customer service strategist, speaker, New York Times best-selling author and technology investor. He founded Convince & Convert in 2008, and it is his fifth multi-million-dollar venture. The blog educates content marketers about online strategies to improve customer engagement and lead quality. But, in my opinion, the most valuable here are podcasts: Social Media Pros (one of the most popular marketing podcasts in the world, recently named the best podcast at the Content Marketing Awards), Content Pros Podcast, Business of Story (where the world’s best storytellers from business, Hollywood, and beyond teach you how to use stories to communicate and connect with your customers), Influence Pros Podcast, Marketing Marvels (features short demos of remarkable software platforms, followed by Q&As with a live audience). Thanks to them, you can listen to real insights from real people doing real work in social media. Isn’t that priceless?

Convince and Convert has 19,7K followers
Jay has 212K followers

Contentology – B2B content marketing answers tough questions for B2B content marketers. Profile. Leads. ROI. Focuses on everything content, from how to create a visual storytelling strategy, to social content, and content marketing tools.

@Contentology has 710 followers

Marketing Technology Blogs

The Marketing Technology Blog – founded by Douglas Karr (@douglaskarr), the CMO of CircuPress and CEO of DK New Media, an agency specializing in assisting marketing technology companies with their inbound marketing – leveraging social media, blogging, search engine optimization, pay per click and public relations. The Marketing Technology Blogs delivers daily updates from marketing professionals on the latest in marketing technology. There, you will find news in 12 different categories: Advertising, Analytics, Automation, Content, Ecommerce, Email, Mobile, Sales, Search, Social, Tech, and WordPress – all written in a simple & understandable way. On Twitter, they share some interesting podcasts, for example recently, about video coming to your LinkedIn news feed or about Instagram Stories.

@mktgtechblog has 36,2K followers
Douglas has 31,1 K followers

The Hub – tracks the marketing technology industry, players and tools, and helps brands and agencies make more informed decisions about how to improve their marketing operations and systems. The Hub covers social media, content marketing, mobile, marketing automation, customer experience management and digital advertising platforms. The Hub also talks to digital marketers, revealing the tools they used for their campaigns and overall brand strategy.


@TheHubSpot has 1695 followers

Martech Advisor – a good source for marketing technology news, research, product comparisons & expert views. I very much like one section of this blog: MarTech Maven. It explores insightful content from their guest authors that comprise some of the most well-known names and opinion makers from the marketing technology world.

@MarTechAdvisor has 16,6K followers, 700K newsletter subscribers

Chief Marketing Technologist Blog – are you interested in marketing technology and how that’s changing marketing strategy, management and culture? Then you’ve come to the right blog. Why? “Marketing has become a technology-powered discipline, and therefore marketing organizations must infuse technical capabilities into their DNA.” – this is a quote from CMT web. Marketing technologist Scott Brinker, co-founder and CTO at ion interactive, writes about a number of different aspects of this transformation.

@chiefmartec has 26,1K followers

G2Crowd Learning Hub – we’re guessing everyone knows G2Crowd (we also have an account there and it fills us with pride to see all these positive reviews of our product PR pros post), but not many people visit their Learning Hub. And there’s so much great content you can find there – and all this good stuff is arranged in 6 convenient categories. In addition to the Marketing tab, you’ll also find the following: Sales, Productivity, Design, Management, and Technology. For those with less time on their hands, we recommend the “Most recent” or “Most popular” sections.

@G2Crowd has 27,6K followers

Social Media Content Marketing Blogs

Social Media Today – powered by Industry Dive. An online community and resource for professionals in marketing, social business, communication, customer experience, content marketing and digital strategy, or any other discipline where a thorough understanding of social media is mission-critical. Their sister sites include Marketing Dive, a daily news resource for digital marketers, SmartDataCollective, which brings together insights and best practices about big data and analytics, and SustainableCitiesCollective, a collection of bloggers who are passionate about the urban future.


@socialmedia2day has 555K followers

Social Media Examiner – helps millions of businesses discover how to best use social media to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness and increase sales. It hosts two popular podcasts, a weekly live video show (The Social Media Marketing podcast) and a daily 10-minute YouTube show (The Social Media Examiner Show). I can also recommend the Morning Social Media Marketing TALK, which is a weekly live video show where they review the week’s top news in social media and what it means for marketers.

@SMExaminer has 320K followers

Jeff Bullas’s Blog – content marketing influencer, social media marketing strategist & speaker, Forbes Top 10 Social Media Influencer. I wrote about him already in my 35 Twitter Accounts Every PR Pro Needs to Follow blog post. He works with personal brands and business to optimize their online personal and company brands with emerging technologies, content, social media technologies and digital marketing. His blog is about all things to do with entrepreneurship, social media, content marketing and digital.

@jeffbullas has 483K followers

Brand24 – everything about social listening, social media marketing, content marketing and customer service plus a lot of case studies. Blog run by Brand24 – a platform which is monitoring your brand or product on the Internet and measuring the buzz around your brand, product or keyword.

@brand24 has 16,1K followers

Buffer – actionable social media advice. Delivered daily. Buffer’s blog focuses on UX, productivity, customer happiness, writing, and life hacks to provide marketers with an all-encompassing view of business.

@buffer has 615K followers

Analysts & Research Blogs

Jake Sorofman’s Blog – Jake Sorofman, Research Director at Gartner, analyzes digital marketing strategy, trends and practices. He focuses on customer experience and content marketing and helps clients use these techniques to engage customers, evangelize their brands, grow revenue and transform their business. Why should you follow him? Well, better insights give you the support you need to focus on the marketing opportunities with the greatest potential to deliver positive returns for your business. Meaning? Smarter decisions, result-focused.

@jakesorofman has 4166 followers

Brian Solis’s Blog – His research and his books help executives, and also everyday people, better understand the relationship between the evolution of technology and its impact on business and society and also the role we each play in it. He writes about developing new digital transformation, culture 2.0, and innovation strategies but also about social business and how readers can use it to shape their organizations. They call him a digital analyst, anthropologist, and futurist. Don’t know a better description.

@briansolis has 267K followers

Rebecca Lieb’s Blog – Rebecca is a strategic advisor, research analyst, keynote speaker, author, and columnist. Her areas of specialization are digital marketing and media, with a concentration in content strategy, content marketing and converged media. She works with many of the world’s leading brands on digital marketing innovation.

@lieblink has 12,5K followers

Ryan Skinner’s Blog – Senior Forrester Analyst Ryan Skinner analyzes how brands should develop content and experiences that customers will desire, and even seek out, ultimately building closer relationships with customers that drive preference, advocacy, and loyalty. His research topics include defining a content discovery strategy (with search and social); understanding content consumption and engagement patterns; managing processes and tools for the production and distribution of content and experiences (technologies, agencies, and media partners); and using tools and methodologies that help marketers measure the business impact of content and experiences they have created, and how to continually optimize them. There is one negative – he posts quite rarely lately  He last published on May 10th.

@forrester has 357K followers

Marketing Experiments Blog – The first Internet research lab to conduct and publish experiments on optimizing marketing and sales strategies. Making it simpler: discovers what really works in sales and marketing optimization through testing and research.

@MktgExperiments has 17,5K followers

eMarketer – the main slogan on their website is “The first place to look when you need data about digital.” Well, maybe it’s not the first place, but certainly you should know this blog. It covers not only the digital marketing, but also ecommerce and online media, offering insights and advice for marketers about the digital environment. Today, more than 1,000 corporations (ad agencies, media companies, and brands in all sectors) rely on eMarketer. Ready to dig into? Topics you can choose are: advertising & marketing, B2B, demographics, ecommerce, email, media usage, buying & planning, mobile, search, social, and video.

@eMarketer has 281K followers

Michael Fauscette’s Blog – owned & written by Michael Fauscette, the leader of IDC’s Software Business Solutions Group, who offers advice and analyses on emerging trends in business software, business modernization and customer experience strategies.

@mfauscette has 15K followers

SEO

Search Engine Land – a daily publication that covers all aspects of the search marketing industry. The site is led by Editor-In-Chief Matt McGee, who oversees the editorial team behind Search Engine Land and its sister publication, Marketing Land. Daily news coverage includes breaking stories, industry trends, feature announcements and product changes on popular platforms used by search marketers to reach consumers online.

@sengineland has 370K followers

Moz – a great asset for marketers, a place where industry’s top wizards, doctors, and other experts offer their best advice, research, how-to’s and insights—all in the name of helping you upgrade your SEO and online marketing skills. There, you will read articles by Rand Fishkin, Dr. Peter J. Meyers, Ben Newton, Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré, Alexandra Tachalova and many more.

@Moz has 457K followers

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