Justin Kownacki blogged about the issue of what makes someone an expert that others follow and emulate, specifically in the social media space.

I just released an ebook called the ‘Social Media Marketing Plan‘ - but not too many people bought it, probably because I am NOT (yet) perceived as an ‘expert’ in the social media space.

And probably it’s also because there’s a price tag attached. If that’s the reason you didn’t get it, here’s a great alternative - available for free.

There are 2 people whom I consider experts in the area of social media marketing, based mainly on their blogging.

Chris Brogan blogs at ChrisBrogan.com, primarily about using various kinds of social media marketing. He is currently engaged on writing 100 articles covering this topic.

The first two are ready, you can take a look:

• Above All Else - People

• Snake oil in social media

Maki of DoshDosh.com is the other expert. The thoroughly researched and elegantly presented meaty articles Maki is recognized for have created positioning that not many others can compete against. The result: Influence in the social media space, through blogging.

See some of the fantastic articles Maki has recently published:

• Social Media Marketing in a Nutshell

• Social Media Marketing Strategy #1: Re-Submitting Linkbaits for Viral Success

• Social Media Marketing Strategy #2: The Mullet and Link baits

• StumbleUpon Networking: How to Easily Share Content and Build Relationships

• How to Get Strong Referral Traffic from Social Websites: A Simple Linkbait Tactic

• Five Ways to Grow Your StumbleUpon Network: An Ode to Altruistic Stumbling

If you liked these articles, spread the word and let your friends know.

And if you’d like a step-by-step plan that itemizes your action steps for every day of your social media plan, you may want to look at the Social Media Marketing Plan.

What would you like to learn about social media and marketing using it? Ask away - I’ll try and address the questions in future posts.