Who are the most successful Social Content marketers, and why?

The most successful social content marketers are those with the most relevant social content. That's a round-about sort of answer so I'll dig a little deeper. Let's say there are two content creators for local YMCAs. The first posts pleas for donations, unrelated articles, and fodder articles. The second posts the morning fitness class at 5am, the lunch time fitness class at 11:45, and the evening fitness class at 4:45. They are both creating content but the second has a specific targeted plan: push fitness classes to the 9 to 5ers. The first is just trowing content to the wall and seeing what sticks. So to answer your question: the most successful social content marketers are the ones who can find an audience and target them with valuable content.

I vote for Marcus Sheridan: http://www.thesaleslion.com/

After much thought about this, I find it's not the skills, tools, or techniques that matter as much as psychological perseverance and endurance. I made a list of six of the big psychological assets needed. It's here: http://shobhaponnappa.com/successful-content-marketers-are-people-of-steel-and-calibre/   My points are: you need infinite patience, generosity of spirit, courage in adversity, readiness to push the envelope, ability to avoid "frustration spending", and loving the process more than the results.   See if you agree with my thoughts?