The 2017 #Online18 Most Influential People in the Promotional Products Industry

This is the fourth annual list of #Online18 most influential people in the industry. Each year, I tweak the approach and attempt to identify at least one-third new influencers. This year, that was tougher than ever, as so many people on the 2016 list are still delivering great engagement. Engagement is the primary driver of who appears where on the list, so delivering good content is not enough, the content must be engaging.

This year there are four new people on the list, and thus four engaged influencers that fell off the list but are still influential. Everyone on this list, as well as previous lists, are to be commended for their online success. Follow them, engage with them and learn from them.

I'm sure I missed a few influencers that should be on the list, and look forward to hearing from you on who should be included next year in the comments below or on Twitter via @daledenham.

The 18 most influential online influencers in the promotional products industry are:

1. Kirby Hasseman
Kirby is a content marketing machine while maintaining excellent engagement.
Klout score: 68.
Where to follow: Facebook; Twitter @kirbyhasseman

2. Danny Rosin
Danny is extremely influential online and offline, and extremely engaged. Work, family, giving, causes, sports—you name it, and Danny talks about it in an engaging and useful way.
Klout score: 62.
Where to follow: Twitter @dannyrosin

3. Jason Lucash
Jason is authentic and provides very entertaining content. He has a large reach inside and outside our industry. (No. 14 in 2016)
Klout score: N/A. It appears he has removed himself from Klout.
Where to follow: Twitter @jasonlucash

4. Bill Petrie
Bill is extremely active on his accounts, as well as the accounts of others. Bill does a nice job leveraging the strengths of each network well while generating significant and interesting content. In addition to his content on his own pages, Bill is active in Salt & Pepper with PromoKitchen among many other areas.
Klout score: 65
Where to follow: Facebook.

5. Mark Graham
Mark continues to be extremely important to driving meaningful conversation both online and offline, whether on through commonsku.com or general social media networks.
Klout score: 52
Where to follow: Commonsku.com; Twitter @heymarkgraham

6. Paul Bellantone
Paul continues to leverage social media to carry the industry message forward bringing significant value given his success as CEO of PPAI.
Klout score: 58.
Where to follow: Facebook is where Paul is most engaged. Twitter @Bellantone.

7. Jon Norris
Jon is a primary player in the quest to improve online communication between suppliers and distributors as part of the www.promostandards.org group. He is extremely well connected and engaged online on multiple topics in and out of the industry.
Where to follow: Twitter: @Jnnorris

8. Charity Gibson
Charity is continuing her appearance on this list for her personal engagement as well as being the driver behind many social media business accounts.
Klout score: 61
Where to follow: Facebook or any of the PromoKitchen pages; Twitter @licensetowswag

9. Jay Busselle
Jay moved up the most this year from No. 17 to No. 9. He is very active on Twitter, and has created the "promochat" that has been gaining traction recently. He remains a solid voice for art and design related content in our industry.
Klout score: 59
Where to follow: Twitter @JayBusselle

10. Patrick Black
Patrick is a strong contributor to the online conversation on all channels. What separates Patrick from others is that Patrick is one of the industry’s most successful distributor bloggers. His content is useful, engaging, consistent, and drives SEO for his business.
Klout score: 58

11. Kenny Ved
A first appearance on this list and nearly in the top 10, Kenny has mastered the art of the soft sell with his pens appearing in photos of people sleeping—a brilliant use of engaging content to promote his products.
Klout score: 52
Where to follow: Facebook

12. Cathy Houston
Cathy is new to the list and new to me, thanks to a tip from Jason Lucash. Cathy has great content and high engagement with followers.
Where to follow: Twitter @CathyHouston_

13. Scott Boyages
Scott has been quietly building great soft sell content on his accounts and is doing a great job with Instagram, earning him a spot this year for the first time.
Klout score: 52
Where to follow: Facebook; Instagram

14. Dana Zezzo
Dana leverages relationships to drive business for his companies while entertaining and educating. You often feel like you are traveling with Dana while he keeps his brands top of mind.
Klout score: 53
Where to follow: Facebook

15. Michele Bell
If you don’t know Michele, you will get a pretty good idea of who she is by following her on Twitter. She is who she is, and I like that about her. She’s also quietly one of the most influential people in the industry.
Where to follow: Twitter @ASI_Mbell

16. Mark Shinn
New to the list, Mark represents the only (and first, I believe) industry multi-line representative to make the list.
Where to follow: Facebook

17. Jeff Solomon
Jeff is great at engaging with others, as well as sharing others content with his many followers.
Klout score: 60
Twitter: @FreePromoTips

18. Marshall Atkinson
Consistent and consistently good—that is Marshall on social media.
Klout score: 62
Where to follow: Twitter @atkinsonshirt

Who did I miss? Who deserves to be on next year's list? Leave a comment below!