19 Small Business Experts to Take You to the Next Level

According to the Pew Research Center, around seven in 10 Americans use social media—and that includes small business owners.

Small business owners can use social media for everything from generating leads to encouraging growth. It can also be a goldmine for learning new tips, tricks, and strategies for building a sustainable company and taking your business to the next level—if you know who to follow.

So who, exactly, are the must-follow small business experts on social—and what kind of value can you expect from following them? Let's find out!

1. Guy Kawasaki

‍Best for: Small business owners looking for motivation and inspiration based on real-world examples and anecdotes.

Top tip: Be bold and proclaim how your business or product can change people's lives (he calls it "evangelizing" your organization).

Guy Kawasaki is a best-selling author, venture capitalist, advisor, and current chief evangelist of the graphic design company Canva. 

Kawasaki hosts the Remarkable People podcast, where he invites successful guests to share practical advice and inspirational tips to help listeners become "more remarkable." 

He is also the author of (among others) The Art of Social Media, a book written to help readers learn how to use social networks to promote businesses, products, or personal brands. 

Kawasaki uses social platforms to share news about the VC world as well as intriguing and informational highlights from his podcast—all of which could benefit small business owners.

You can find Guy Kawasaki on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

2. Nicole Davis

Best for: Entrepreneurs seeking information about the intersection of running a business and managing their business accounting and taxes.

Top tip: The bodies are usually buried on the balance sheet. Start there.

Nicole Davis is a CPA, coach, and speaker, as well as the founder and principal at Butler-Davis Tax & Accounting. Davis has more than a decade of experience in accounting, tax, financial management, and advisory services, with a special focus on advising small and medium-sized businesses. 

Davis shares plenty of business and tax advice on Twitter, earning her a listing as a must-follow tax Twitter account for two years.

You can find Nicole Davis on LinkedIn and Twitter.

3. Omar Zenhom

Best for: Business owners looking for advice, guidance, and insight from established entrepreneurs.

Top tip: You don't need an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur.

Omar Zenhom is an entrepreneur and co-founder of WebinarNinja, an all-in-one webinar platform that allows users to quickly create, host, and share webinars. 

Zenhom hosts the $100 MBA Show, a past iTunes Best of podcast, in which he shares short, actionable business lessons to teach listeners how to start and run successful businesses without requiring an expensive business degree. 

Zenhom often shares business insights and podcast snippets on his social media, as well as actionable advice for small business owners.

You can find Omar Zenhom on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

4. Mark Williams-Cook

Best for: Sharing "unsolicited SEO tips" on LinkedIn, with the purpose of demystifying many of the incorrect and false claims about proper search engine optimization.

Top tip: Make sure your article fully matches what people actually want to see when they Google that question. 

Mark Williams-Cook is a small business expert with about 20 years of experience in search engine optimization (SEO). He is also the founder of AlsoAsked, a tool that lets users discover what questions people are also asking search engines, as well as the director of Candour, a digital agency located in the UK.

Williams-Cook has also published a top-rated Udemy course that serves as a complete SEO guide that helps beginners become professionals.

Williams-Cook leverages his SEO experience to share "unsolicited SEO tips" on social media. He uses many of these posts to break down bad or incorrect advice, sharing tips about using SEO more effectively to help businesses perform better in search results.

You can find Mark Williams-Cook on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

5. Brian Clark

Best for: Entrepreneurs looking for advice on finding fulfillment and planning for a rewarding retirement.

Top tip: The one thing you have control over is your own actions, so there's no better time to start working toward your goals than now.

Brian Clark is a serial digital entrepreneur and writer. Clark is best known for founding Copyblogger, a content marketing website that earned eight figures of annual revenue—with no venture capital or paid advertisements. 

As a pioneer of content marketing, Clark has been featured in multiple business books and currently publishes Further, a midlife personal growth newsletter. 

He also founded Unemployable, an educational community for freelancers and solopreneurs in which he and his team share business tips and strategies. 

Clark uses social platforms to share information and resources about personal development, well-being, and planning for retirement as a small business owner.

You can find Brian Clark on LinkedIn and Twitter.

6. Ramon Ray

Best for: Small business owners looking to learn more about personal branding.

Top tip: Posting videos on social media helps humanize and personalize your brand to let people know you're someone they can rely on. 

Ramon Ray—or the "Celebrity CEO"—is a serial entrepreneur, speaker, and expert on personal branding and small business growth. 

Ray was the founder of Smart Hustle Media and SmallBizTechnology before selling both ventures. 

He is also the publisher of the Breakfast With Champions live audio show and ZoneofGenius.com, which provides listeners with professional development advice and guidance. Ray uses social to share motivational business advice and insights.

You can find Ramon Ray on LinkedIn and Twitter.

7. Rhonda Abrams

Best for: People looking for resources on how to get started and launch a successful business.

Top tip: 99.99% of small business owners need a business plan if they hope to raise money.

Rhonda Abrams is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, and USA Today columnist, with her books on business planning and entrepreneurship in use by more than 1,000 business schools. 

Abrams started four successful companies and is the current president and chief entrepreneur of PlanningShop, which publishes content for small businesses. 

Having been consistently named a top small business influencer, Abrams frequently shares advice on her social profiles, including how to develop a business plan and find local resources that support small businesses.

You can find Rhonda Abrams on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

8. Brian Dean

Best for: Entrepreneurs looking to learn effective SEO and content marketing strategies and tips on how to improve content.

Top tip: Scale your content marketing by breaking down writing projects into tiny, achievable tasks.

Brian Dean is an SEO expert and entrepreneur. After initially founding (and failing with) his first five online businesses, Dean found success in 2012 and decided to share the lessons he learned, including SEO and link-building strategies, on Backlinko. 

Shortly before selling Backlinko to Semrush, a leading keyword and SEO research company, Dean co-founded Exploding Topics, which helps users identify trending topics before they take off. 

As a small business expert, Dean uses the social space to share advice about SEO, search engine marketing, and all things content.

You can find Brian Dean on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

9. Tara McMullin

Best for: Entrepreneurs looking for advice on balancing mental health and wellness with running a business.

Top tip: No one is questioning your motives or wondering if you've failed if you need to make changes to your business.

Tara McMullin is a business strategist, podcaster, speaker, and writer. In 2017, McMullin launched a peer support network for small business owners and independent workers (she's since sold the community to Mighty Networks). 

Today, McMullin and her husband run a full-service podcast production agency called Yellow House Media. 

In addition to writing about and speaking on mental health, evolving workplaces, and work-life balance, McMullin uses social platforms to share insights on everything from customer service to the role of mental health in the business world.

You can find Tara McMullin on LinkedIn and Twitter.

10. Anita Campbell

Best for: Small business owners looking for advice, insights, and trends on grants and funding opportunities, popular new business ideas, and recent tax scams to avoid.

Top tip: Leverage your experiences to find your next successful business idea.

Anita Campbell is a speaker and writer, as well as the founder, CEO, and publisher of Small Business Trends. Before founding the website in 2003, Campbell was a general counsel and CEO of a tech subsidiary of Bell & Howell. 

In 2009, Campbell acquired BizSugar, a community of small business owners and entrepreneurs. BizTech Magazine named Campbell one of 30 small business IT influencers to follow in 2020. 

Campbell's usage of social media platforms to share business trends and advice resulted in BizTech Magazine naming her as one of 30 small business IT influencers to follow in 2020. 

You can find Anita Campbell on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

11. Pat Flynn

Best for: Business owners who want to learn how to make a passive income.

Top tip: Email marketing is more important and lucrative than many other forms of communication, including podcasting and YouTube.

Pat Flynn is a business advisor, entrepreneur, podcaster, speaker, and writer. After getting laid off as an architect in 2008, Flynn became a small business owner out of necessity when he began selling study notes for an industry exam. 

After monetizing his blog, Flynn launched Smart Passive Income to help other entrepreneurs learn how to find success. 

Flynn also began selling SwitchPod, a vlogging tripod, and launched a suite of podcasting tools called Fusebox.fm. As a small business expert, Flynn is an advisor to eight SaaS companies and uses his social presence to share business insights, training, and inspiration.

You can find Pat Flynn on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

12. Melinda Emerson

Best for: Small business owners searching for empowerment and tips to help grow their businesses through adopting an entrepreneurial mindset and embracing digital marketing.

Top tip: Podcasting is an effective and affordable method to establish and grow your brand.

Melinda Emerson is a well-known small business expert, keynote speaker, podcaster, and best-selling author. Emerson focuses on small business development, social selling, and online marketing strategy. 

She is also the CEO of Quintessence Entertainment, a consulting firm that helps Fortune 500 brands better serve small businesses. 

Emerson previously published columns in The New York Times and Entrepreneur. She continues to share business advice on her blog and social media, with Forbes once recognizing her as the #1 woman for entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter.

You can find Melinda Emerson on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

13. Ivana Taylor

Best for: Business owners who need actionable advice for standing out from the competition and growing their brands—without breaking the bank.

Top tip: Budget on a profit-first basis: pay your profits first, then set a budget based on what's left over.

Ivana Taylor is a small business expert who leverages over 30 years of marketing experience to help small business owners learn strategies for marketing on a limited budget. 

Taylor aims to demystify marketing by sharing simplified business strategies via DIYMarketers, which she publishes. 

She's also the host of #BizapaloozaChat, an ongoing discussion and hashtag exclusive to social platforms that encourages participants to discuss business advice, industry trends, and other related topics.

You can find Ivana Taylor on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

14. Rand Fishkin

Best for: Insights on venture capital and what startups can do to grow—both with and without VC funding.

Top tip: Earning revenue should be celebrated as much as—if not more than—raising funding.

Rand Fishkin is an entrepreneur, author, business consultant, digital marketing expert, and speaker. He is best known for founding SEOMoz in 2004, which became one of the most popular resources for SEO and search content.

In 2007, SEOMoz transitioned into Moz, with Fishkin named as CEO. During his tenure, Moz grew to over $30 million in revenue and over 30 million visitors per year, with Fishkin securing two rounds of funding and overseeing three acquisitions. 

He also co-founded Inbound.org before selling the website to HubSpot in 2014. Today, Fishkin is the co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, a software startup that provides market and audience research. He continues to share marketing advice through his writing and speaking.

You can find Rand Fishkin on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

15. Barry Moltz

Best for: Interviews with small business owners who share relatable anecdotes and lessons about running and operating their businesses.

Top tip: Now is the time to invest in SEO—not shy away from it—despite its growing difficulty and challenges.

Barry Moltz is an entrepreneur, angel investor, author, business consultant, and speaker. Moltz began his career at IBM before leaving to join an IT consulting firm. 

Later, Moltz founded three startups, experiencing varying degrees of failure and success. Today, he leverages those experiences to provide actionable business advice across his social channels. 

After successfully selling his last business, Moltz has committed full-time to investing, speaking, writing, and his own weekly radio show, The Small Business Radio Show on AM820. 

Moltz frequently shares useful business resources and insights on his social profiles.

You can find Barry Moltz on LinkedIn and Twitter.

16. Cynthia Johnson

Best for: Participating in weekly discussions about entrepreneurship and marketing via the #incChat Twitter discussion.

Top tip: Work to live well. Find your "baby"—the thing that drives you in a way that success can't.

Cynthia Johnson is an entrepreneur, marketing expert, author, and speaker. She is the co-founder and CEO of Bell + Ivy, a personal branding agency, and the co-founder and chair of the nonprofit WonderKey Collective. 

With 1.5 million followers across social media platforms, Johnson focuses on helping small business owners with marketing. 

Additionally, Johnson has bylines in Forbes, TIME, and Entrepreneur, as well as a book, Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding, that covers how to develop a personal brand and build an audience.

You can find Cynthia Johnson on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

17. Jeff Bullas

Best for: Finding a wide variety of resources about how to successfully build and run a small business, from tips about hosting webinars to learning about effective keyword research.

Top tip: Outsourcing is a not-so-secret weapon of successful entrepreneurs.

Jeff Bullas is an entrepreneur, blogger, best-selling author, podcaster, and speaker who began writing about all things social marketing in 2009. 

Today, Forbes recognizes Bullas as a "top influencer of Chief Marketing Officers," with Inc. including him as one of 20 digital marketing experts to follow on Twitter. 

In addition to publishing a blog and podcast, Bullas's new business, Side Hustle Strategies, aims to provide entrepreneurs with resources to develop successful side hustle business models to start their own businesses. 

Bullas often uses social to share business resources, tool recommendations, and content marketing advice.

You can find Jeff Bullas on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

18. Brian Solis

Best for: Entrepreneurs looking for new approaches to solving problems and serving customers.

Top tip: Forgetting what it means to make great products accelerates mediocrity.

Brian Solis is a digital analyst, and VP of Global Innovation at Salesforce. He is also an eight-time best-selling author with nearly 30 years of experience studying the effects of new technology on business and society. 

Solis has attracted an audience of over 700,000 people across his social platforms, where he aims to help improve his followers' focus in an increasingly digital world while guiding them to develop a better understanding of the role of technology in their personal and professional lives. 

Solis uses social media to share business insights from a futurist and customer experience perspective.

You can find Brian Solis on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

19. Mike Michalowicz

Best for: Entrepreneurs worried about becoming and staying profitable—and wanting to learn how to accomplish both from a business owner that's been there.

Top tip: Allocate 1% of your business income to a hidden account (you can call it profit); then, gradually increase the percentage over time. 

Mike Michalowicz is an entrepreneur and author who founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies before he turned 35—before becoming an angel investor and losing his entire fortune. 

After bouncing back, Michalowicz focused on learning how to build healthy companies and began sharing his knowledge with business leaders via books, his blog, and, previously, a column in The Wall Street Journal. 

Today, Michalowicz shares the lessons he's learned—from both his failures and success stories—on his various social profiles.

You can find Mike Michalowicz on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Looking for Business Advice? Small Business Experts on Social Have You Covered

No matter which of the 4 types of small businesses you run—whether a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or limited liability company (LLC)—social media can be a treasure trove of valuable resources to help you identify and meet your business needs. 

And with this list of small business experts, you have everything you need to find actionable advice from successful entrepreneurs—and tap into their experiences and lessons to help take your business to the next level.

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