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Are you up-to-date on current email marketing trends? Marketing tactics are always evolving, so it's challenging for businesses to keep up. To stay "in the know" you need to read trade journals, check out recent case studies and be a "stats junkie" who can decode the success behind metrics. But, who has time to do all that?

Leave the heavy lifting to the pros, and learn from their experience. By following email marketing influencers on social media, you can get a wealth of information right from your newsfeed.

How do you know which influencers to follow? We've got you covered. We've created a list of marketing influencers that have a wide array of knowledge, mainly in email but there are a few influencers that focus on integrated marketing that includes content and social media marketing too.

With the help of these email marketing influencers, you'll get the knowledge you need to take your email marketing to the next level.

1. Spencer Kollas—Experian Marketing Services

Serving as the VP of Global Deliverability at Experian, Kollas is responsible for product development of Experian Marketing Services’ email deliverability services in 30+ countries. He tweets about the latest in email marketing, data, strategy, digital marketing and leadership, and his Marketing Forward blog has good tips on subscriber engagement and email deliverability, the latter of which he gleans from his work with Internet service providers to understand their filtering systems.

2. Jordie van Rijn—Email Monday

Considered a true email marketing guru, van Rijn is an independent consultant who travels the world to share his knowledge and experience. He’s worked with such top brands as Heineken, Unilever and AEGON and his tweets and Email Monday newsletter are filled with practical email marketing tips, including effective strategies and tactics. If you want to ensure your company is doing email marketing correctly, van Rijn’s expertise on optimization strategies for mobile email, AB split testing, content, templates and more can serve as a barometer.

3. Ann Handley—MarketingProfs

As the Head of Content at MarketingProfs and the author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller, “Everybody Writes,” it’s not surprising that Handley has a strong knack for writing and sharing the best pieces on content that attract and retain customers. She’s been cited in Forbes as the most influential woman in social media and co-founded ClickZ.com, one of the first sources of interactive marketing and news commentary. She tweets and speaks about a wide range of digital marketing topics, such as encouraging purchase behavior, email campaign strategies and creating great content.

4. Joe Pulizzi—Content Marketing Institute

Referred to by many as the “leading evangelist for content marketing,” Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute (CMI), which teaches enterprise brands how to use multichannel storytelling to attract and retain customers. Every September, CMI hosts the Content Marketing World event, bringing together the best minds in the industry. Pulizzi also developed the bi-monthly magazine Chief Content Officer and the annual Intelligent Content Conference. His tweets help his followers stay up on the latest trends in content marketing.

5. Barry Levine—MarketingLand

Levine has extensive experience as a writer and has a true grasp of all things related to marketing technology. As the Martech Reporter for MarketingLand, he’s among the first to know about the latest and greatest tools for businesses. Levine tweets about customer behavior, technology changes that impact businesses of all sizes and new platforms and services.

6. Pinpointe On-Demand

Pinpointe On-Demand only posts in-depth articles and infographics, so when you see a link to a post you know you're getting quality advice. Pinpointe offers an advanced set of email marketing tools for businesses that have outgrown the basics offered by many email service providers. Learn how to up your email game with posts like, 6 Simple Ways to Keep an Audience Engaged or this infographic on the best kind of content for each stage of your sales funnel.

7. Dave Chaffey—Smart Insights

Chaffey is the author of “Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice” and the editor of Smart Insights, which helps marketers and businesses get more from integrated digital marketing. He shares marketing advice and uses ebooks, online training courses and planning templates to help businesses develop their marketing skills. Chaffey tweets about the latest tools for digital marketing, shares statistics on topics like open rates and email marketing challenges, and offers tips on things like integrating social media and email marketing.

8. David Daniels—The Relevancy Group

As the CEO of The Relevancy Group and publisher of TMQ Magazine (a digital magazine for marketers by marketers), Daniels is a tenured industry analyst and marketer recognized as a top influencer in the email marketing industry. He covers emerging trends, consumer behaviors and marketing tools and techniques. His company works with some of the top brands and vendors in the world and many turn to The Relevancy Group for their extensive research reports and survey results.

9. Alyssa Nahatis—Adobe

Nahatis is the Director of Deliverability Americas & Global Services for Adobe where she helps clients create innovative and effective emails to optimize delivery. She tweets and retweets about customer experience, digital marketing and cross-channel strategy. Her Digital Marketing Blog offers tips on everything from improving the email sign-up process, and driving customer loyalty to personalization and holiday campaigns.

10. Chris Towland—Local Marketing Solutions

Known by his clients as “The Email Marketing Guy,” Chris Towland owns Local Marketing Solutions and has authored several business books, DVDs, online courses and audio books. He tweets useful information and tips to help small businesses attract new customers and get their existing customers to spend more money. Original and shared content include topics like email design best practices, using images and graphics in your email marketing, email coupons, creating mobile-friendly emails, among others.

11. Return Path

Known for expertise in deliverability, Return Path tweets a lot about email marketing. Learn how things like how email providers like Google scan you emails, what to do ensure your messages land in inboxes rather than spam folders and how to protect your digital reputation from his tweets.

12. Jessica Best—Barkley U.S.

As the director of data-driven marketing for Barkley, one of the largest independent advertising agencies in the United States, Best is an expert is email, mobile and customer marketing. In addition to tweeting about such topics as generational use and adoption of email, future email marketing trends and A/B split testing tactics, Best presents seminars and webinars on popular subjects, like email marketing ROI and marketing strategies for nonprofits.

11. Chad White – Litmus

White works at Litmus, an email marketing company that's known for its research and testing. He's a former journalist too, so he knows how to write and find articles that are useful, rather than fluff. He's literally written the book on email marketing, its titled "Email Marketing Rules." His Twitter feed is full of great tidbits. In fact, he boasts more than 3,000+ posts on the subject.

12. David Moth – Econsultancy

Moth works for Econsultancy, a go-to spot for all things digital marketing. He runs the blog and handles the company's social media, so you'll find a lot of great nuggets of information on his feed. His tweets handle everything from newbie topics to advanced skills, which means there's something for everyone via his Twitter account.

13. Bill McCloskey

Called the "Godfather of Email Marketing," McCloskey knows his stuff. His feed is full of links to great content that he creates, and he shares a lot of links from others in the biz. Get help with everything from automation to testing by following McCloskey on Twitter.

By following the right influencers, you can get valuable advice for free. It's perfect for business owners who double as the chief marketing officer, and it's just as helpful for email marketing veterans who want to keep up with current trends. Add these 13 influencers to your newsfeed today and start learning from the experience of experts.

Lisa Furgison McEwen

Lisa Furgison McEwen is a freelance writer and co-owner of McEwen's Media, a content marketing company. She has a decade of journalism experience under her belt and creates top-notch content for dozens of clients.