When many marketers and entrepreneurs think of Twitter and other social channels they think about broadcasting to an audience. It’s about engagement and getting followers back to the business website.
That’s a very big part of social media, but there is a flip side to it…
The other side is following people that share really great information that can help improve your business and life in general. That’s where I get the most value out of social media and because my preferred social channel is Twitter I thought I shared some of the best Twitter accounts to follow if you’re an entrepreneur.
1. Rand Fishkin, Co-founder of Moz
Rand might be the person I have followed for the longest period of time on Twitter. Every once in awhile I go through a good purge of the people I follow. I like to keep it around 20 at all times. I’ve found that once I get beyond that I start to lose information that I want to see.
Rand has made the cut every time and the reason he’s made the cut, at least I think, is because he always shares great information about marketing, SEO, business, entrepreneurship and life in general. He’s very honest. He’s shares pretty often and the things he shares always seem to have a reason and thought behind them.
Follow: @randfish
2. Mindful
Some of the accounts I currently follow are psychology sites and blogs. I also follow health accounts that are more geared toward nutrition and things like that. The mind is such an important part of our lives and unfortunately stress is a major part of life today.
The Mindful account shares some wonderful articles, their own and those of others, that help to deal with your mind. They teach about practicing mindfulness, but also about many other things that help make your life better and help to make you a better person too.
Follow: @MindfulOnline
3. Jeremy Dean
This has been one of my favorite blogs for a number of years. Founder, Jeremy Dean, updates it regularly and shares the updates on Twitter. I used to subscribe to the feed via email, but now I use Twitter. Jeremy must be constantly looking at studies and sharing the most interesting studies and takeaways on his blog. He focuses on the studies about the human brain and why we do certain things.
I think that it helps those in business if they understand why they do things themselves and why others do the things they do. This is a great account and the best one I’ve found for understanding the human brain.
Follow: @PsyBlog
4. Brad Feld, Venture Capitalist at Foundry Group
Brad is a VC and he shares tons of great insight into business. He shares his own thoughts on Twitter and on his blog. He also shares a number of interesting articles on his Twitter account. I really like a post he shared about why it’s important to find balance in life. It’s easy to fall into the workaholic trap.
Follow: @bfeld
5. Mark Suster
This is an account I’ve followed off and on for a few years. Mark is an experienced entrepreneur and investor (I think). He has a blog and a number of other content channels (including Twitter) where he shares his thoughts and insight into the business world. He covers the entire spectrum of running a business from operations to investing and everything in between.
Some of it goes over my head and maybe that’s why I’ve unfollowed him for periods, but I always seem to come back because he shares so much good insight. And he isn’t afraid to be himself on Twitter, which is pretty cool. He’s great with retweeting and quoting and responding too. It’s easy to see why he’s a popular follow on Twitter (and other channels like Snapchat).
Follow: @msuster
6. Sarah Parmenter
My wife, Sarah, has been listening to podcasts that Sarah Parmenter is involved with for a few years. She’s one of her favorite designers to listen to and to follow. That’s how I was introduced to Sarah Parmenter’s Twitter account (two Sarahs is confusing me as I write this…).
Sarah shares often on her Twitter account. She shares funny things like GIFs about the designer life. She also shares good insight into both design and business. She’s very involved in both industries and has been successful.
I think it’s important for entrepreneurs to understand the importance of design throughout the business process. It’s something that can often get overlooked and under-appreciated, but it’s very important. I’ve found that out with just about every tweak and update to my business website. Design can directly affect the top and bottom lines.
Follow: @sazzy
7. Gay Gaddis, Founder of T3
I’ve just discovered Gay Gaddis, but she’s an awesome person to follow if you’re involved in business. She runs a successful company and is on the board of others. She shares content pretty often and usually shares great insight (backed by stats) on the business world including the importance of women in business. She shares all kinds of good articles from sources that I usually wouldn’t think to follow. That’s one good thing about Gay’s account and others is that you get exposure to the sources they value for their content.
Follow: @GayGaddis
8. KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit
This is another account I recently discovered. After looking through the feed I realized that there is some great content shared here. For those involved in business, this account shares all kinds of insight and answers to the common questions and challenges that come up all the time. That’s the basic way to provide value with content whether it’s on social media or on a website or blog…provide answers to the questions your target audience has about their work or their life. This account seems to do a great job of that.
Follow: @KPMGInspire
9. Anne Field
The great thing about this account is that Anne is one of the best writers in the business industry. She writers about startups, management, growth and much more. It’s always good to have a business writer on your Twitter follow list because they are usually on the up and up on what’s happening in the industry. And they also know how to find the best advice for improving as a business owner, manager, etc.
Follow: @annefieldonline
10. Sarah Bird, CEO at Moz
Sarah took over for Rand as the CEO of Moz some time ago. And it seems like she’s done a great job. She is transparent in what’s going on with the company. And by following her on Twitter or looking through her feed you can see that she shares some great content that will help you in business. She also shares things that will make you smile and laugh. And that is another good reason to follow someone on Twitter.
Follow: @SarahBird
Conclusion
Hopefully you’ve discovered some new people to follow on Twitter. I tried to find accounts that might be a little different from other lists like this. I’m sure there is some crossover. There always is when you’re talking about great people and accounts to follow. These are some of the best if you’re an entrepreneur or working in business. I know that I get value from following them.
