Top 50 Digital Marketing Tweets of the Year [2020]

2020 has been mad. We can all agree on that right? For a lot of reasons, but also because Digital Marketing has *exploded* this year.

And while it was previously already exploding at a reasonable pace, the fact that everyone has been forced to do everything online has made that explosion louder and faster than anyone could imagine.

This increased level of intensity has brought Marketing Twitter together in a major way. I mean sure, there are still ridiculous fights, but it has also been bonding AF.

Hear me out.

When this is over, we have a massive Marketing Twitter brunch.

— Christina Garnett #ShopSmall (@ThatChristinaG) November 26, 2020

In spite of (or maybe because of) all the extra work we’ve been doing this year, some real gold has been spinning on Twitter. So to celebrate this excellent community, here is my list of the top 50 digital marketing tweets of the year.

First, a quick note on the judging criteria I used to take the sting out of not being chosen:

• One Tweet per person (inspired by Google’s Diversity Update)
• No links (because this is about Marketing Twitter, not Marketing… Internet)
• Tweets must have been *so incredibly great* that they made me either:
  • Tell someone about it IRL
  • Change how I work
  • Think about it weeks later

Obviously a million amazing tweets have been missed out because of these rules, but 50 got chosen so here they are (in no particular order):

Come with me as I remember that time…

When Christina Brodzky taught me how to give a better answer than “It depends” to SEO questions…

It’s our job to interpret insights in client reports.

Here’s a way to frame your #SEO insights that help inform next steps. (I’ll also share some better examples in the future since this one is simple for example sake.) pic.twitter.com/gLNP9hd4W3

— Christina Brodzky (@cbrodzky) September 18, 2020

When Jenn Crim put SMM work-life balance into perfect perspective…

life is just what happens in between scheduling content

— Jenn Crim (@jenncrim) September 16, 2020

When Kim Scaravelli made title case make sense again…

🤓30 words you DON’T capitalize in a title:

and as at but by for from if in into like near nor of off on once onto or over so than that till to up upon with when yet #WordsMatter

— KimScaravelli (@KimScaravelli) August 31, 2020

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When Alex Llull put the emphasis back on the marketing in Content Marketing…

Creation without distribution is like painting a picture and hanging it backwards.

Share your stuff everywhere.

— Alex Llull (@AlexLlullTW) October 3, 2020

When Elena Salazar told me to Sisyphus or die…

Social media is always evolving. If you aren’t constantly testing and making an effort to keep up to date on trends, you will fall behind.

— Elena Salazar | Digital Marketer (@elenacsalazar) May 11, 2020

When Joe Martin made podcast SEO simple…

A podcast transcript is an undervalued piece of marketing collateral.

— Joe Martin (@joeDmarti) September 30, 2020

When Kunal Shah pushed exit interviews up my priority list…

Always speak to customers who use your product a lot and those who stopped using after trying.

Insights prevail in extremes.

— Kunal Shah (@kunalb11) November 21, 2020

When Jack Butcher cast “dispell insecurity”…

Most ideas die from the overvaluation of negative feedback.

— Jack Butcher (@jackbutcher) October 31, 2020

When Adam Wathan helped me put a workable limit on my off-topic rambling…

The best way to build an audience is to simply be helpful on the internet. Give people a reason to pay attention to you, and keep your signal to noise ratio high. Better to tweet 4 good ideas per week than 10 useful ideas + a bunch of BS about how Starbucks screwed up your order.

— Adam Wathan (@adamwathan) August 20, 2020

When Alexa Heinrich made the accessibility case for camel case…

It’s hump day, so here’s your weekly reminder to put your hashtags in #CamelCase!

Camel case helps screen readers properly read your hashtags aloud. It also makes them easier to read for literally everyone. Capitalize each word in your hashtags to make them more accessible! 🐫

— Alexa Heinrich (she/her) (@HashtagHeyAlexa) September 23, 2020

When Cyrus Shepard reminded me how many fs Google gives about our websites…

SEO signals that Google considers as “hints” only:
• Canonical tags
• nofollow links
• hreflang attributes
• followed links
• Your website’s existence

— Cyrus (@CyrusShepard) October 11, 2020

When Ross Simmonds made me sing “Live Forever” about my content…

That blog from 2 days ago?
Republish it on Medium

That video from 4 weeks ago?
Republish it natively on social

That research from 6 months ago?
Republish it as a PDF on LinkedIn

That podcast from a year ago?
Turn it into a video w. captions#DistributionOverEverything

— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) October 1, 2020

When Jen Hartmann tapped into a core fear…

normal heart rate:
⠀ /\⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ /\
__ / \ __/\__ / \ _
\/⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ \/

when you realize you’re still logged in as the brand account:
⠀/\⠀ /\⠀ /\
_/ \ /\_/ \ /\_/ \ /\_
⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/⠀⠀ \/

— Jen Hartmann (@jenalyson) June 17, 2020

When Daniella Alscher’s poll exactly captured public feelings on whether emojis in email subject lines are indeed flavortown (ie split)…

Are emojis in subject lines flavortown?

— Daniella Alscher 🏳️‍🌈 (@daniellaalscher) October 28, 2020

When Dan Shure made evergreen optimisation an evergreen task…

Publishing evergreen search content should be like how a comedian works on a bit:

The first time you put it out into the public is when you really START working on it.

And that feedback loop (audience and/or search engine) is a required part of the process to make it “great”.

— Dan Shure (@dan_shure) October 21, 2020

When Saijo George had the most relatable mini-jargon-freakout I have ever seen…

What does #SEO stand for… I have to re-think everything now.

— ˗ˏˋ𝕊𝕒𝕚𝕛𝕠 𝔾𝕖𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖ˎˊ˗ (@SaijoGeorge) November 12, 2020

When Rand Fishkin reminded me that it’s ok to have opinions that go against the grain…

Ahem. This thing on?

I’d like to now automatically destroy any credibility I might have in SEO, search engines, metrics, & my understanding of anything I’m doing.

Here goes.

**Google uses (relative) bounce rate (or something that’s pretty darn close) to rank websites.**

😅🤪 pic.twitter.com/vX2vNLGoA3

— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) May 14, 2020

When Kelly Vaughn shared the only LinkedIn hack that matters…

I saw a post on LinkedIn that recommended adding an emoji at the beginning of your name because you could see who was using some sort of automation tool to send out connection requests.

I can now confirm it works. pic.twitter.com/YKgvCHF6xh

— Kelly Vaughn 🐞 (@kvlly) August 31, 2020

When Will Reynolds explained my now-favourite keyword targeting problem…

With Google taking away search terms it might take advertisers longer to find things like when rap songs are triggering your keywords, I saw a bank drop 60k on 21 savages “bank account” before they caught it, agency made $$, Google Made $$, Client was left holding the bag. pic.twitter.com/11Ew3JhPlS

— Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) September 2, 2020

When Brianne Fleming said the thing that we’re not supposed to talk about (but really should)…

The most important thing to know about advertising is that your audience hates it

— Brianne Fleming (@brianne2k) August 3, 2020

When Harry’s Marketing Examples made lead gen simple…

Don’t think about “capturing emails”

Think about creating something worth subscribing to pic.twitter.com/EF165USFO4

— Harry’s Marketing Examples (@GoodMarketingHQ) September 5, 2020

When Amanda Goetz made me think about myself… but in a good way…

Marketing 101: building a personal brand

– what does personal brand mean
– why should you care
– how to distinguish it against the company you work for
– how to do it w/ support from your boss
– how to build yours

A thread 🧵

— Amanda Goetz (@AmandaMGoetz) October 30, 2020

When Brian Dean gave the fastest keyword research tutorial of all time…

Easy way to find low-competition keywords:

1. Type keyword from Exploding Topics into Google

2. Check out the Google Suggest results

3. Grab a bunch of low-competition terms

4. 📈📈📈 pic.twitter.com/Obr8F7bC5g

— Brian Dean (@Backlinko) June 12, 2020

When Nat reminded me that Black Hats have no idea that what they are doing is wrong…

When a dodgy person trying to sell their services tells your client that “all SEO is black hat in Google’s eyes” 👀👀👀

— Nat (@__nca) November 23, 2020

When Anuj Mishra summarised the relationship between SEOs and Google in a single image…

When a #seo guy pretend,I understand #googlealgorithm completely.😉😂😉 pic.twitter.com/tinSbfyrz4

— Anuj Mishra (@mishraanuj17) November 1, 2020

When Madalyn Sklar explained that Twitter is a lot like parenting…

#TwitterTip: Not getting heard? Take time every day to listen and engage with people. Be consistent. You’ll see results. #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/xSSiGkOyJY

— Madalyn Sklar – Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) October 15, 2020

When Kristina Azarenko helped me stay focussed on what really matters…

Right now, at this very moment ask yourself:

Am I doing something that has the biggest impact?

This question helps you stay on track & don’t waste time and resources. It helps you prioritize your SEO tasks better. And it helps you not to check the inbox for the 100th time today

— Kristina Azarenko 🔥 (@azarchick) January 7, 2020

When Paul told me to promote my blog (so I did)…

It’s entirely possible for anyone to make a success of their blog.

But don’t believe those who say you’ll do it quickly…

… without advertising. 💸#bloggingtips @BloggersTribe

— Paul @ SideGains (@gains_side) June 24, 2020

When Kameron Jenkins broke SEO down into multiple disciplines in a way that makes so much more sense than the way I’ve seen any company do it…

the “big 3” in SEO, as I see it, are:

🕷️ Technical (is it easy for search engines to find/crawl/understand?)
✏️ Content (does my content answer questions searchers are asking?)
🔗 Authority (is my content reputable? does it earn mentions & links?)

— Kameron Jenkins 👋 (@Kammie_Jenkins) August 10, 2020

When Mark Friday normalised in-house SEO imposter syndrome…

While I’m agency side now, I remember being in-house and feeling like I’m on the hot seat, wondering if the external engagement is an outsourcing test run. Throw in some imposter syndrome and it’s not always easy to feel “OK.” (Agree on external SEO value of course but empathize)

— Mark Friday 🎁 (@markalves) September 17, 2020

When Joe Hall weighed a marketing cliche against SEO and found it wanting…

The old marketing cliche “talk about the benefits not the features”. Isn’t always great for SEO. Try to balance both to capture folks searching at all levels.

— Joe Hall 🦡 (@joehall) October 26, 2020

When Rebekah Radice inspired brevity…

If you want to write better content, make it conversational.

No long sentences.
No over-explaining.
No stories that drone on and on.

Chop it up, keep it short and engaging.

Use contractions, concise statements, and questions that inspire interaction.

— Rebekah Radice (@RebekahRadice) November 11, 2020

When Eoghan reinvented Google Tag Manager as website NOS…

Quick test on an e-commerce site: Can we improve page load times by loading non-essential tags (Bing, Facebook, Criteo, Intelliad & AWIN in this case) in Google Tag Manager later (on “window loaded” instead of “container loaded”)? First impression after 3 days: It looks like YES! pic.twitter.com/a1W5auJfLs

— Eoghan (@rebelytics) July 20, 2020

When JH Scherck told me to keep it real or risk underwhelming…

Little tip for technical SEO folks: tone down the dramatic language. In my entire career I’ve maybe seen a half dozen technical SEO recommendations that led to hockey stick growth. If you’re going to be dramatic in an audit, those recommendations better lead to dramatic growth.

— JH Scherck (@JHTScherck) October 19, 2020

When Nicole Tabak took the pressure off…

Every move on social media can feel massive.

There are 500 million tweets sent out per day.

Don’t sweat it.

— Nicole Tabak (@nicoletabak) June 18, 2020

When Jessica Thiefels reminded me that keywords are not what posts are meant to be about…

How to optimize your blog posts for semantic search:

⚡️ Focus on overall topics, not just keywords
⚡️ Use long-tail, niche keywords
⚡️ Answer your target audience’s questions
⚡️ Don’t forget about structured data
⚡️ Write for humans #SEO #SEOstrategy

— Jessica Thiefels | Mindset + Marketing (@JThiefels) October 11, 2020

When R/GA said their one-millionth apt thing of the year that cut to the heart of everything we do…

Everyone thinks their thing is “premium.”

— R/GA (@RGA) May 20, 2020

When Carrie Rose obliterated the accepted wisdom on nofollow links…

I don’t care whether a link is followed or not

Why?

Because 88% of all links we’ve built (5000+) have been followed. It’s not on the decline!

And having a mix of both is a natural link profile

— Carrie Rose (@CarrieRosePR) July 15, 2020

When Vivekananda Mondal showed the rollercoaster of emotions that is SEO…

pic.twitter.com/BwxkkH6Beo

— Vivekananda Mondal (@VivekanandaMon8) January 17, 2020

When Michelle Garrett made self promotion feel important rather than shameful…

If you’re “uncomfortable” with self-promotion – that’s OK.

But if you work for yourself, you’ll most likely need to get comfortable with it.

It’s OK to talk about what you’ve achieved. Really. #personalbranding #selfpromotion #freelancelife

— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) July 6, 2020

When Avinash Kaushik cut to the chase…

.
Data without purpose is analysts just f****** around.

Pardon my french.

— Avinash Kaushik (@avinash) July 11, 2020

When Jon-Stephen Stansel shone a light on how stretched Social Media Managers really are…

I’m starting to think that asking ONE person to be a

Content creator
Community manager
Digital strategist
Data analysist
Graphic designer
Videographer
Writer
Photographer
Crisis communicator
Ad buyer
etc

and calling them “social media manager” is a little much, don’t you agree?

— Jon-Stephen Stansel (@jsstansel) June 17, 2020

When Asangi reminded me that I am my target audience, and I definitely should not be boring myself…

Would you read what you wrote?
If the answer is NO, perhaps you need to re-write #conent #marketingtips https://t.co/1USncbJgQb

— Asangi (@asangi_j) October 6, 2020

When Grant Simmons distinguished between SEO for small and large sites, and nothing was ever the same again…

No. SEO for large sites is not about scaling small site SEO. And ‘large sites’ are not 1,000 pages. There’s process & distinct expertise required to dissect & prioritize site challenges and scale solutions that are most likely to work.

— Grant Simmons (@simmonet) September 7, 2020

When Dana DiTomaso encouraged me to go outside to look at a screen for a change (like a real person)…

Hey marketers, just a friendly reminder:

When is the last time you used your website on a mobile device?

How about on an old mobile device and a slow connection? In a dark room? Or outside in full sun?

Because that’s what your visitors are doing and they’re probably annoyed.

— Dana DiTomaso (@danaditomaso) July 23, 2020

When Suganthan Mohanadasan said that timing is everything…

Entire world: US election results.

Google: Your October Search performance… pic.twitter.com/pJvj4d5HGa

— Suganthan Mohanadasan ® (@Suganthanmn) November 4, 2020

When Aleyda Solis took it down a notch and focussed…

As SEOs we are not hired to optimize everything and obtain “perfectly optimized sites” (it’s unrealistic due to resources and times constraints). We are hired to optimize what actually matters for each site, in its specific context to achieve the expected goals/growth. https://t.co/ROknfDJSf2

— Aleyda Solis (@aleyda) November 24, 2020

When Jonathan Wilson put SEO into a more workable perspective…

SEO is like the stock market.

If you track + overreact to every fluctuation, you’re going to lose. Thinking long term about trends (user centric, good content, links, speed) will help you win in the long run.

— Jonathan Wilson (@jonathanbwilson) August 11, 2020

When Jenny Li Fowler said the most insightful thing about email vs social that you’ll ever read…

When you use social media platforms, you rent.

When you manage a newsletter or an email list, you own.

— Jenny Li Fowler (@TheJennyLi) September 23, 2020

When Izzy Smith made an SEO gif ONE MILLION TIMES funnier than any that had come before it…

Checking your new client’s crawl data be like pic.twitter.com/lOytgJL561

— Izzi Smith (@izzionfire) October 19, 2020

That’s it. That’s the list. I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any to add, throw them at me on Twitter @AdGuider