Mark Traphagen

Brand Building | Content Marketing | Social Media Marketing | SEO

"Here, learn how to market us on the Internet."

That's what the manager of an indy bookstore said to me one day as he sat me in front of a computer. The store was dying because of Amazon. And I had no idea what I was doing.

Two years later I'd created a web presence and e-store that moved us from losing over $150K per year to profitability. The digital marketing bug had bitten. I've never looked back.

Since then it's been my daily, never-ceasing passion to learn as much as I can, and then convert that learning into content that stands out because it expresses truly innovative ideas and helps people to understand online marketing in whole new ways.

A high point of my career was the day I heard Rand Fishkin of Moz had me on a slide in his keynote at SMX Munich as an example of someone not settling for conventional routes for marketing solutions. In reference to my success with social media early adoption, Rand said, "This is not a man, but a machine intelligence, sent to show us what incredible participation in social media looks like."

I'm an in-demand speaker at major conferences such as MozCon, SMX, SEOClarity, Pubcon and SearchExchange, and have conducted webinars for SocialFresh, ASPE Training, and others. I write regularly for the top sites in our industry and have a monthly column about Social Media at Marketing Land. My network of over 140,000 social media followers helps keep me in touch with my niche.

Out of all that my overwhelming passion that I'm rapidly turning into a transferable skill for my clients is exploring the powerful potential of personal brands that represent larger brands. I'm researching how those Personal Brand Representatives (PBRs) impact content marketing, social media marketing, branding, and SEO. My goal is to produce a highly actionable book on this topic.