The M20: Top Marketer Blogs

The M20: Top Marketer Blogs (gamma)

Lots of thoughts swirling about measurement.  One last tweak to the methodology here; I've put together metrics of authority, attention, and influence.

• Authority:  20% Technorati Authority + 20% Google PageRank
• Attention:  10% Alexa traffic
• Influence:  50% Feed subscribers

Let me explain.

Authority:  40% of total.  Technorati scored by rank decile, Google straight up.

Attention:  users actually visiting the site.  I wanted to combine this with other ratings (e.g. NetRatings, Compete) but only Alexa measures the majority of blogs here.  I know Alexa isn't perfect...

Influence:  blog subscribers.  There aren't clear numbers on market share.  I'm using Feedburner stats from blogs that make them available and making an assumption that Bloglines subscribers are 20% of total for others.

Here's the list:

1. ExperienceCurve :: 74 
2. Strategic Public Relations :: 70
3. Listen Up! :: 57
4. BeRelevant! :: 51 
5. Marketing Nirvana :: 49
6. Conversation Agent :: 49
7. Todd And - The Power To Connect :: 48
8.  Decker Marketing :: 45
9. The Lonely Marketer :: 41
10. cgm :: 37
11. Flooring The Consumer  :: 36
12. The Marketing Excellence Blog :: 35
13. Bernaisesource :: 34
14. Biznology :: 34
15. Cross The Breeze :: 32
16. Churbuck.com :: 32
17. AttentionMax :: 32
18. "Turbo" Todd Watson :: 31
19. Masiguy :: 31
20. Community Group Therapy :: 31

Live launch in a fortnight.

The M20: Top Marketer Blogs (beta)

Here we go with Round 2.  Great reactions to the alpha version of the M20 list! The best part - new marketing voices are being highlighted in social media, getting beyond the "echo chamber" that exists in this space. (Another great aspect is the addition of many non-U.S. blogs to the list.)

This is also why I've tweaked the rankings.  I believe that the rankings should be totally transparent, so anyone knows where they stand at any time.  I also believe that rankings should reflect BOTH authority and influence.  I'll explain more about this after the list, because talking about it is kind of like watching sausage being made.

In the past fortnight or so, an additional 18 blogs have come to my attention.  I'm listing all 31 here as the beta version (download OPML file):

1. Listen Up! :: 63. John Porcaro, Group Manager - Online Communications, Microsoft.
2. ExperienceCurve :: 61.  Karl Long, Web/Social Media Integration Manager, Nokia.
3. Strategic Public Relations :: 55.  Kevin Dugan, Director of Marketing Communications, FRCH Design.
4. Todd And - The Power To Connect :: 48.  Todd Andrlik, Director of Marketing and PR, Leopardo Construction.
5. Marketing Nirvana :: 46.  Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist, LinkedIn.
6. Decker Marketing :: 44.  Sam Decker, VP Marketing, Bazaarvoice.
7. Flooring The Consumer  :: Technorati authority = 39.  Authored by CB Whittemore, Director of In-Store Innovation, Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber.
8. The Marketing Excellence Blog :: 31.  Eric Kintz, VP Marketing, Digital Photography & Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard.
9. cgm :: 31.  Pete Blackshaw, CMO, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
10. Bernaisesource :: 28.  Dan Greenfield, VP Corporate Communications, Earthlink.
11. Cross The Breeze :: 27.  Kris Hoet, Marketing Communications Manager, Microsoft.
12. Churbuck.com :: 148.  David Churbuck, VP Global Web Marketing, Lenovo.
13. Masiguy :: 162.  Tim Jackson, Brand Manager, Masi Bicycles.
14. AttentionMax :: 153.  Max Kalehoff, VP Marketing, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
15. Emerson Process Experts :: 130.  Jim Cahill, Marketing Communications Manager, Emerson Process Management.
16. BeRelevant! :: 23.  Tamara Gielen, Email Marketing Manager - Belgium, eBay.
17. Brandopia :: 22.  Geert Desager, Trade Marketing Manager, Microsoft.
18. Buzz Marketing For Technology :: 21.  Paul Dunay, Director of Global Field & Interactive Marketing, BearingPoint.
19. Community Group Therapy :: 21.  Sean O'Driscoll, General Manager of Community Support and MVP, Microsoft.
20. The Client Side :: 21.  Michael Seaton, Director - Digital Marketing, Scotiabank.
21. "Turbo" Todd Watson :: 20.  Todd Watson, IBM software group - web marketing, IBM.
22. John Dragoon's Blog :: 20.  John Dragoon, CMO, Novell.
23. The HP LaserJet Blog :: 20.  Vince Ferraro, VP of Worldwide Marketing - LaserJet BU, HP.
24. The Changing Face of Media :: 20.  Scott Berg, Worldwide Media Director, HP.
25. Marketing Monster :: 19.  Michael Morton, Marketing Specialist, Lampo Group.
26. Bad idea, indeed :: 18.  Philippe Deltenre, Business Development & Strategy Manager, Microsoft.
27. The Innovative Marketer :: 18.  Steve Gershik, Director of Marketing Innovation, Eloqua.
28. Sony Electronics Blog :: 17.  Rick Clancy, Head of US Corporate Communications, Sony.
29. John Heald's Blog :: 16.  John Heald, Cruise Director, Carnival.
30. The Kristasphere :: 16.  Krista Summit, Web Marketing Strategist, Lenovo.
31. Randy's Journal :: 15.  Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing, Boeing.

Technorati authority has been replaced by a composite score:  50% authority + 50% influence.  This breaks down as:

• 30% Technorati authority, by rank on list according to decile
• 20% Google page rank
• 50% Bloglines subscribers, by rank on list according to decile

The highest Technorati rank in the list is Todd And at 717; so any blog between 645 and 717 gets a 10, or 30 points.  Google pagerank is used directly; the highest page rank in the list is Eric Kintz at 7 (i.e. 14 points).  Bloglines subscribers are cut by decile as well. John Porcaro is highest at 372; so any blog with 335 to 372 subscribers gets a 10, or 50 points.

The number of links to a site measures authority.  But authority can also be gamed through blog tag and other memes.  Thus Google page rank completes the authority metric being a tool in use by the general population.  I considered two other sources; Compete does not measure subdomains and Alexa comes up as spyware for many people.

But links along aren't enough.  There's something to be said about the number of people subscribed to a blog's feed.  Engaged?  Maybe. Maybe not.  But subscribers mean influence of ideas.  I don't think that the number of Bloglines subscribers is a perfect metric by any means.  For example, the number of Google-related subscribers to this blog is more than 2x Bloglines on any given day.  However, Google numbers aren't publicly available, not everyone burns a feed through Feedburner (and has publicity turned on), and Bloglines is the only reader where you can see everyone's stats.  Perfect?  No.  But it's the best of what's around.

As always, your suggestions on additional blogs, as well as better ways to measure authority and influence, are greatly appreciated.

Next update (gamma or live) in two weeks.

Introducing: Top Marketer Blogs (alpha)

I've found some great new blogs through lists like Mack Collier's Top 25 Marketing Blogs, the Power 150, and the Z-list. However, it strikes me that most of the voices blogging about marketing today are ones that offer advisory services (mine included)...

There's something different about the voices that come from the client-side of the table.  While many of us might have been there and done that in some fashion, these are marketers who are *doing it* right now.  If you've ever been on the client side, you know the joy and pain of building a brand that an outsider may never know.  For me, it was working for a brand that was once sold in fishnets in grocery store checkout aisles and seeing it rise to become the logo of choice for actors, musicians, and trendsetters worldwide.

So I'm starting a list to highlight the most popular blogs written by client-side marketing professionals.  These are people who are doing their brands a favor by engaging customers and prospects in conversation.  If you know of others who should be included, please comment below!

Here's the draft list; let's call it the alpha version:

1. Flooring The Consumer  :: Technorati authority = 504.  Authored by CB Whittemore, Director of In-Store Innovation, Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber.
2. Marketing Nirvana :: 424.  Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist, LinkedIn.
3. ExperienceCurve :: 332.  Karl Long, Web/Social Media Integration Manager, Nokia.
4. The Marketing Excellence Blog :: 254.  Eric Kintz, VP Marketing, Digital Photography & Entertainment, Hewlett-Packard.
5. cgm :: 191.  Pete Blackshaw, CMO, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
6. Decker Marketing :: 167.  Sam Decker, VP Marketing, Bazaarvoice.
7. Masiguy :: 162.  Tim Jackson, Brand Manager, Masi Bicycles.
8. AttentionMax :: 153.  Max Kalehoff, VP Marketing, Nielsen Buzzmetrics.
9. Churbuck.com :: 148.  David Churbuck, VP Global Web Marketing, Lenovo.
10. Emerson Process Experts :: 130.  Jim Cahill, Marketing Communications Manager, Emerson Process Management.
11. Bernaisesource :: 99.  Dan Greenfield, VP Corporate Communications, Earthlink.
12. John Dragoon's Blog :: 29.  John Dragoon, CMO, Novell.
13. Randy's Journal :: n/a.  Randy Tinseth, VP Marketing, Boeing.

Here are the ground rules:

• For now, the rankings are driven by Technorati's authority metric.  There are other metrics out there, but this is a pretty good one to start with.  Your suggestions appreciated.
• Group blogs and brand blogs have been excluded.  These are personal blogs, written by individuals.  I intend to cap the list at 20, if we can find that many...I didn't leave it at 13 on purpose!  Your submissions appreciated.
• Blogs written by consultants, agencies, and service providers are excluded.  These are brand voices. 
• Updates will be irregular until we get this thing rolling.  The beta version will be published in a couple/few weeks with additions and methodology changes, if applicable.

Analysis: It's interesting that only the top blog has enough authority to make Mack's list.  There is certainly some long tail popularity in play here.  And also the fact that the era of the rockstar CMO is fading.  These are marketers with many different titles - level doesn't matter nearly as much as the passion.

My advice - subscribe to all of these for now and try them out for a week or two; you'll be a better marketer and/or advisor with the insight.  The easiest way to do it is by downloading this OPML file and importing into your feed reader.

Again - any suggestions for adds would be greatly appreciated, as long as they fit the ground rules!