20 PR Influencers You Need to Start Following on Twitter

If you sometimes feel like it’s Twitter’s world and we just live in it, you’re not alone. The platform that has taught us to think 280 characters at a time continues to defy predictions of decreasing relevance and instead remains the must-have forum for communications, real-time commentary, brand exposure and more.

This means that everybody who is anybody is somewhere in the Twittersphere, sharing the kinds of things you wish you’d thought of first. Having your own account means you can easily connect and make what they share part of your day, sharpening your professional skills in the process and sometimes making valuable contacts.

Those of us active in PR are seriously spoiled for choice when it comes to leading voices on Twitter to pay attention to. We’ve made it a little easier to separate the signal from the noise with this list of 20 Twitter accounts you need to start following to get the best PR tweets.

Public Relations: Twitter accounts to follow

Michelle Garrett, @PRisUs

PR consultant, freelancer, and general all-things-media all-star, Michelle also co-hosts “PRLunchHour”, a live Twitter chat with guests from all over the PR world. From her base at “the intersection of PR, content creation and social media”, she shares an impressive volume of work, commenting on the big-picture topics of the day as well as interesting bits and pieces of the daily headlines that catch her eye.

The “In the News” and blog sections of her site will make you wonder when she sleeps and just the content there alone is worth keeping Michelle on your radar. A word of warning, though - Michelle's PR tweets are very likely to make you feel like you need to seriously up your Twitter game now.

Tonya McKenzie, @TonyaMcKenziePR

Follow Tonya for a couple of days and you might forget that you probably don’t actually know her personally. That’s the kind of bond she creates with her followers so just imagine what she does for her PR clients.

As the founder of Sand & Shores PR, Tonya has had an influential hand in the creation and implementation of every possible stage of an effective PR strategy, but she proudly focuses on two aspects — storytelling and reputation management. Among the many other interesting and useful bits and pieces you’ll find in her Twitter feed, you’ll get to see what PR professionals talk about during #PRLunchHour.

Tamara Sykes, @baydiangirl

Tamara is a highly-skilled marketing consultant, content creator, and PR professional with a gift for securing earned media coverage. Her sweet spot is helping woman-owned businesses create the ideal public persona that supports their digital and traditional marketing. But she never shies away from educating her followers about the best tactics to use.

Authentic, knowledgeable, and relatable, Tamara's timeline is filled with digital PR tips, SEO insights, and heartwarming stories. Plus, besides her signature purple hair color, you'll notice that she's very passionate about work/life balance.

Lisa Barone, @LisaBarone

Brand VP at Overit, Lisa is the first person you want on your team if you’re trying to break through the noise and get noticed. Pitching and being pitched to is what she does and she knows every trick in the book for getting coverage and every PR face-plant that causes serious pitch fails. Her post on the Overit blog on the essentials of getting press coverage is among the best we’ve seen.

Kristin Marquet, @KristinMarquet

Kristin is the force behind FemFounder.Co, an all-in-one resource for building female-owned businesses, and her own agency, Marquet Media. She’s also a regular contributor to some real heavyweight business and tech publications, including Entrepreneur.com, Inc.com and Forbes.

From the habits that make you more creative to the skills you need to succeed and everything in between, her Twitter feed is a non-stop source of inspiration and intriguing, thought-provoking posts that can help you grow as a PR pro. Her most recent contribution to Forbes - as of this posting - is as part of an expert panel sharing insights into mistakes to avoid in your business career:

Sarah Evans, @prsarahevans

Founder & CEO of Sevans Digital PR, Sarah engages her 100k+ followers with the perfect balance of useful content you probably haven’t seen and tips & advice for how to make it in PR. One look at a listing of her clients getting media mentions will tell you that Sarah knows what she’s talking about when it comes to securing coverage making a career in PR.

Jeremy Pepper, @jspepper

When you’re included among PRovoke Media’s 25 Innovators for 2021, you just might be worth listening to. Jeremy runs the Pop PR blog, where he shares his thoughts on some pretty deep topics that will make you rethink a lot of things you think you know about PR. If you missed his real-time commenting on the commercials during the recent Super Bowl, go check them out. Now.

Mark Ragan, @MarkRaganCEO

As the boss of Ragan Communications, there isn’t much Mark doesn’t know about the PR world. His site is basically the crossroads of everything you might need to know as someone working in the field, from industry news to training materials and everything a wide range of business leaders needs to know. His daily news sites, PRDaily.com and Ragan.com, attract massive audiences and are required reading for anyone trying to keep their finger on the pulse of communications.

His Communications Leadership Council is dedicated to communications executives and its PR Daily Leadership Network is a must-have membership group for PR, marketing, and social media professionals. Ragan is also the producer of Communications Week, a premier industry event. How’s that for a footprint? If Mark Ragan is talking about it, you need to know about it.

Deirdre Breakenridge, @dbreakenridge

Deirdre wears a lot of PR hats — podcaster, trainer, author and strategist. Follow her for reposts of her very insightful blog and some interesting extras not found elsewhere on this list, like media training and preparing for life in the spotlight. Her FEEL model for developing media strategies is a really interesting exercise for PR pros and beginners alike.

As Deirdre says, “It begins with finding your Passion Potential, which is the intersection of what you care about and the pain points and passion of your audiences. At this intersection, you have the potential for far more than a simple connection and transaction, especially when you apply a FEEL approach to your brand.” Follow her PR tweets to learn more.

Renée Warren, @Renee_Warren

Renée’s mission statement does not leave a lot of gray area — “We help female entrepreneurs transform their visions into massive impact!” That’s about as straightforward as it gets and her site and PR tweets are packed with motivation, insider tips, and bits of wisdom that will keep you driving until you get to the top (and then keep driving).

If her explanation of the concept of “We Wild Women” doesn’t get you fired up, you might need to check your pulse:

Jennifer Berson, @JenerationPR

Founder of Jeneration PR & Jeneration Academy (see what she did there?), Jennifer's agency specializes in baby, beauty, and lifestyle brands. Her expertise lies in leveraging digital media into increased exposure and higher online profiles.

She has a particular talent for demystifying PR and making it accessible to those who are juggling lots of responsibilities in small organizations. Whether it’s her collections of “must-haves” and tip sheets or her regular participation in live conversations about quickly learning the basics of brand communications, Jennifer has a way of removing the jargon and speaking in plain language to newbies trying to catch up on important ideas in PR.

Jennifer Sanchis, @Jenny_Sanchis

Our list has been missing a more corporate-oriented approach to things and Jennifer Sanchis is here to help us fix that. She’s the go-to source for guidance on corporate communications and the related field of crisis management. She hits the bullseye here on the latter topic:

Remember the five things brands do that trigger negative reactions:

-Hit at core beliefs and values

-Attack social norms

-Go against its own ethics

-Take away our control

-Hurt something we relate to

Jennifer is also an Account Director at CARMA, where she helps to deliver data-driven insights that inform better PR strategies.

Scott Baradell, @DallasInbound

Scott comes at things from a completely different but very sensible angle — trust. It’s the foundation of his PR philosophy, and you will see that word a lot on anything with his name on it. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that he’s one-dimensional. Scott makes compelling arguments that trust is at the root of all relationships, not just in media and PR.

From fake online reviews and fake people (yes, that’s a thing now) to your speaking voice and the ‘language of trust’, you will not believe how convincingly he makes the case for putting trust at the center of your strategies.

Scott Baradell - IdeaGrove — *Source: Twitter*

Joe Robison, @josephrobison

Joe’s focus is on SEO and getting seen. This is about more than link building and the technical side of online visibility. Joe goes beyond this and uses his agency to create compelling design elements like visual data studies that engage readers.

In a world that typically defaults to the idea that ‘content’ means ‘words’, Joe is a great reminder that there’s more than one way to get attention (and besides, aren’t we visual creatures anyway?). Following him is a great way to not only get his own ideas on building the visual component of your content but also get inspired by articles and posts he retweets.

Stephen Waddington, @wadds

Stephen’s Monday Briefings are reason alone to follow him. You’ll get news items, trending topics, reminders about events, examples of the good & bad of the week and more, all with links to keep you busy until the following Monday.

For a really deep dive, check out the blog on his agency’s site and discover all the fresh angles on familiar topics that you’ve probably missed. In fact, you could say that Stephen has a particular talent for finding great additions to your reading list from all over the web:

Rich Leigh, @RichLeighPR

There’s just something about “#1 bestseller” that makes a resume look more impressive. Rich Leigh knows this and that’s one of the reasons he’s worth following. When he’s not writing bestselling books, he runs RadioactivePR, where they have a very clever way of breaking down their offer into conventional PR support, social media expertise, copywriting skills, and even email marketing to get your message out. We’re not sure which category the “humblebrag” belongs to, but Rich is good at that too:

Dorothy Crenshaw, @dorocren

Dorothy is the namesake behind Crenshaw Communications, a top New York PR firm offering comprehensive media services. Drop by and learn a little something about everything from content marketing to product launches, stick around for insights into corporate comms and media training and finish with a lesson in crisis management or just about anything else.

Her clients' list makes it pretty clear that Dorothy has moved in some pretty elite circles but, at the same time, she’s great at sharing small & simple ideas that make for an interesting read during a lunch break:

Mubashira Farooqi, @MubashiraNF

Mubashira is a passionate voice supporting diversity and representation in PR, along with a healthy dose of support for volunteering and mentorship. Also, if Toronto is part of your personal or professional circle, following her is a must because she’s plugged in to just about every community there worth knowing about. And, yes, we know at this point it’s easy to believe that everyone has a podcast but Mubashira’s is definitely worth a listen, especially if you’re looking for voices that don’t always get heard.

Naomi MG Smith, @naomimgsmith

When you’re named to PR Week’s 30 Under 30 list, it’s a good sign that you’re making some waves in the PR world. Naomi continues to do exactly that, as an active member of the London PR community and Account Manager at Ketchum London. If something important is happening in the UK capital with a useful or educational PR angle to it, you can either search every professional journal and newspaper out there or simply follow Naomi’s Twitter feed (our recommendation).

Frank Strong, @Frank_Strong

Frank’s Twitter bio makes it pretty clear that he probably does more before 8 a.m. than you do all day. Don’t be offended, use it for motivation —

With a strong analytical approach to PR issues, Frank brings a perspective you may not have considered before and opens your eyes to new angles that can help you be a better PR pro. His Twitter feed is full of just about everything, from human interest stories to PR do’s & don’ts to examples of the hard data that prove that you did or didn’t succeed in your campaign.

For an extra dose of his insights, check out his blog and wonder how he finds time for it all. And since it won’t hurt to squeeze in one more podcast, you can find Frank’s here.

So that should be enough to inject some new life into your Twitter feed for now. Did we miss anyone? Do you have your own favorites that don’t get the followers they deserve? Let us know via Twitter!

Cover image by Chris J. Davis