World’s Most Incomplete List of Social CRM Experts

May 17, 2011 by 6 Comments

Social CRM is my new hobby. When I originally heard the term, I mocked it because I didn’t understand it. Sorry about that. Now I am listening, and I am starting to get it. Here is how I got here:

1. Ignorance: I ignored social CRM and when asked, I mocked it. Again, sorry.

2. Enlightenment: Salesforce.com bought Radian6, and I moderated a roundtable with some of the top social CRM experts in the business: Mike Fauscette, Brian Vellmure, Mitch Lieberman, Steve Woods and Esteban Kolsky. I realized that these are smart guys and I needed to figure out social CRM.

3. Education: I asked some people whom I should follow then started following them on Twitter. I started to read what I could (when I could). Brian Vellmure is now one of my boys, and is a resource for me on the topic.

Here are my observations on social CRM:

  • I have stopped reading regular “social media” experts. What I like about the social CRM crowd is they don’t talk about “how to set up your Facebook” page. Instead they are focused on tying social back to the organization.
  • Warning: It can be hard trying to distinguish the thought-leaders from the wannabes. From the looks of it, there are CRM analysts who added the word “social” to the front of their expertise. There are social wonks who have tacked “CRM” onto the back of their expertise. You have to be careful in determining who’s who.
  • If you want to know the definition of social CRM, I found a good one here on Focus.com.
  • The list at the end of this post might be wrong. I have thrown this out here to get reactions and am prepared to refine the list. Here is what I did: 1) Asked my respected friends whom to follow; 2) Added some of my favorite CRM guys (shout-out to Chris Bucholtz) even though I am not sure they all claim to be on the social CRM bandwagon. If they don’t now, they will soon enough.

How about this for a big, hairy goal that should prove to you I am beginning to understand the market: I hope Esteban Kolsky reads this and rips me. Then I know I have arrived. Seriously, if I am wrong, let me know, I am cool with that. But please don’t insult anyone.

So, here it is — the 70 (OK, 71 and now 72) people I follow on the topic of social CRM (in random order):

  1. Greg Satell
  2. Lauren Vargas
  3. Frank Eliason
  4. Rachel Happe
  5. Tatyana Kanzaveli
  6. Becky Carroll
  7. Blake Landau
  8. Ray Wang
  9. John Rourke
  10. Jeremiah Owyang
  11. Michael Wu
  12. Maria Ogneva
  13. Jim Berkowitz
  14. Graham Hill
  15. Jacob Morgan
  16. Jon Ferrara
  17. Laurence Buchanan
  18. Ed Sullivan
  19. Brian Vellmure
  20. Michael Fauscette
  21. John Perez
  22. Allen Bonde
  23. Robin Carey
  24. Blake Cahill
  25. Amber Naslund
  26. Adrian Ott
  27. Barry Dalton
  28. Arie Goldshlager
  29. Leila Summa
  30. Don Peppers
  31. Gregory Yankelovich
  32. Mike Boysen
  33. Wouter Trumpie
  34. Mark Tamis
  35. Marshall Lager
  36. Mark Reuter
  37. Russ Hatfield, Jr.
  38. Bill Odell
  39. Merlyn Gordon
  40. Nitin Badjatia
  41. Mark Behrens
  42. Bob Warfield
  43. Wim Rampen
  44. Bob Thompson
  45. Janet Jozefak
  46. Martin Schneider
  47. Paul Greenberg
  48. Jill Dyche
  49. Anthony Nemelka
  50. Clara Shih
  51. Christopher Carfi
  52. Jesus Hoyos
  53. David Alston
  54. Valeria Maltoni
  55. Brent Leary
  56. Mitch Lieberman
  57. Sanjay Dholakia
  58. Prem Kumar Aparanji
  59. Josh Weinberger
  60. Esteban Kolsky
  61. Natalie Petouhoff
  62. Andreas Gotthelf
  63. Kathy Herrmann
  64. Louis Columbus
  65. Don Tapscott
  66. Anthony Lye
  67. Chris Bucholtz
  68. Umberto Milletti
  69. Jim Storer
  70. Jeff Nolan (added 5/17  1.25pm)
  71. Brian Vellmure

Interested observer:

71.  Michael Krigsman

Craig Rosenberg is the Funnelholic. He loves sales, marketing, and things that drive revenue. Follow him on Google+ or Twitter

Filed Under: CRM, Social Networking, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,
  • http://thinkjar.net Esteban Kolsky

    Craig,

    First, thanks… I truly appreciate the thought of both including me in the list and thinking that a “reaming” by me means you’ve arrived. It actually made my day.

    Second, this is a great list; very well curated as it brings you different perspectives: you got beginners and seasoned CRM professionals, you got people who get it and some that are working on it. If you have time to follow all of them and process it all, you’d be the smartest CRM/SCRM person out there!

    I like your path to SCRM, it is the proper way to get there. Glad to help in any way I can, just let me know.

    Esteban

  • editor

    Hi everyone,

    Just to clarify: my list is NOT ranked. It is random order.

    However, if it was in ranked, my buddy Brian Vellmure would be “Mr. Irrelevant”

  • http://www.brianvellmure.com Brian Vellmure

    That’s for sure.

    Love,
    Mr. Irrelevant

  • http://www.focus.com Schmier

    Actually, Brian would be Mr super relevant. He’s on your list twice. ;-)

  • http://yammer.com Maria Ogneva

    Hi Craig, thank you for listing me, although for sure I don’t belong on the list of experts. This is a great list with some iconic people on it! I’m just learning and totally humbled. Thank you!

  • http://www.crmoutsiders.com Chris Bucholtz

    Sticking me between Umberto and Anthony – man, that’s like playing the kazoo and getting slotted in a concert between Metallica and the Beatles. :)

    Thanks, Craig! Impressive list. Y’know, a lot of these people are very close friends, so the “social” thing goes way beyond the technology…