This post was written by Boston Content Co-Executive Directors Devin Bramhall, marketing manager at Alignable, and Mike Baker, content strategy manager at InsightSquared.
Boston Content’s mission is (and has always been) to support Boston-based content marketers through educational, collaborative programming that builds a supportive, welcoming community around our shared profession.
Four years later, we want to recognize some of the superstars that have emerged since we founded this group, which now boasts more than 1,000 members!
That’s why we created the Boston Content Marketer to Watch award: To surface the exceptional talent in Boston, learn from what they’ve done and how they got to where they are today.
Now, Boston is blessed with so many talented content marketers that choosing one was near impossible. So, we left the hard work to you.
How The Nominees Were Chosen
First, we asked our community to nominate someone they thought personified a great content marketer using the following criteria: Creative, collaborative and community-minded. And did they ever: we got 79 nominations.
Then the Boston Content committee pared that list down to 10 finalists (not an easy task!).
Finally, we turned it back to the community and had a public vote to select the winner. We received more than 1,000 votes.
And the winner is…
Boston Content Marketer to Watch 2015:
Todd Stewart — Marketing Manager, Hourly Nerd
Todd is the marketing manager at Hourly Nerd, a platform that connects small businesses to freelance business professionals. Since joining, Todd has built their entire content marketing program and now runs all of HourlyNerd's social media, events and content, including blog posts, webinars and podcasts. Under his management — and execution — the program has increased lead generation and contributed to the company's success with SMBs.
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT (RECENTLY)
Todd led the development of HourlyNerd's first infographic focused on the "Future of Work," which generated two- to four-times their average social media engagement, five-times their average page views and strongest paid results to date on Twitter.
CONTENT COMMUNITY WORK
He is an adjunct Public Speaking Professor at Bryant University in Rhode Island, specializing in introductory, persuasive, informative and motivational speaking. He also guest blogs for Boston Content and HubSpot, among others. Look out for more from Todd here on our blog this year, and learn more about him here.
The Runners-Up
Christine Zimmerman
Content Marketing Manager @ Startup Institute
Christine led the re-launch of the Startup Institute blog, The Whiteboard, as well as the email marketing engine behind it. She streamlined their efforts to focus on content that attracted the right Startup Institute students, and led efforts to recruit a new team of contributing authors, so the blog is powered not only by the Startup Institute, but by the startup ecosystem it fuels.
TED KARCZEWSKI
CONTENT MARKETING MANAGER @ SKYWORD
Ted Karczewski led the relaunch of Skyword's digital publication the Content Standard, transforming it into a media hub of content marketing news and education with more than 150 writers per year, producing approximately 60 articles a week. Ted is a regular contributor to Boston Content events as a speaker and thought leader, and writes for our blog. He is also active in Boston's startup community, working with startups like KleerMail and Belle on their product and company ideas to connect them with audiences through content.
We're so proud to celebrate these great Boston-based content marketers. They remind us what Boston Content is all about: Connecting great marketers, learning together and celebrating our awesome community. And don't worry — we'll run this again next year to celebrate even more great local talent!