The following is my list for the top five social media and Internet marketers to look out for in 2011. These people have all made their mark in 2010 and I am expecting big things to come from them this year. If you have not heard of them, you should look them up now because they will become household names among Internet markets.
Oliver Roup – Co-Founder and CEO of VigLink
Dynamic CEO Oliver Roup runs Viglink, which enables bloggers and forum owners to monetize their content by installing simple javascript which then makes every out click an affiliate click. Oliver raised millions from Google Ventures and First Round Capital, setup Viglink and bought their biggest competitor all in 2010. With his tech background and skill at attracting investors, he’s the top of the list to watch. He’s taking the affiliate market by storm and I expect great things in 2011.
Deborah Carney Founder of Team Loxly
Deborah Carney’s Team Loxly is the best Outsourced Program Manager (OPM) company in the industry. She’s come a long way from her days as a photographer at cat shows to become a rock star in the marketing world. In 2010 she launched ABCs Plus, a highly successful affiliate forum. Rumor has it that in 2011 she will be running the Affiliate Summit forums. This will be the dominant forum in the affiliate marketing industry, the only question is when – not if – it will overtake wickedfire. To know Deborah Carney is to know the future of affiliate forums.
Murray Newlands, CEO of Affiliate Heat and Co-founder of Influence People
Author, speaker and international event organizer Murray Newlands was in demand around the globe in 2010 speaking at events and running his own. His team ran social media marketing events in London, Paris, Miami, Boston, New York and Miami. He founded the London Blog Club and the San Francisco Blog Club, both of which have over 100 monthly attendees. Kicking off the year in Las Vegas, Murray told me that he will be running truly global events in 2011. Anyone who puts together the strategy, relationships and logistics the way Murray does is going to be an important person in the industry.
Charles Calabrese of Performance Horizon
Charlie was Operations Manager at buy.at and the driving force behind the company in the USA. He is now working with some revolutionary technology at Performance Horizon. They’ve attracted great venture capital support and it looks like that’s just the beginning. Their cutting-edge technology and unrivalled experience deliver market-leading performance marketing solutions.Â
Brian Solis principal of FutureWorks
Brian Solis gave a great talk at Affiliate Summit New York in 2009 about the Conversation Prism. He moved up to keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit Las Vegas in January 2011 so I looks like his profile will just grow and grow. You have to know about Brian Solis, if for no other reason that you’re not embarrassed that you don’t know about him when someone else asks.